Quick hunt
Contributors to this thread:Mule Deer
From: Marty
09-Nov-15
My oldest son, who is 20, made a trip home to hunt this past weekend. This is our story, hope you enjoy it.
From: Marty
09-Nov-15
He hasn't shot a buck in the last three years and was really looking forward to shooting something this year. He was really hoping to get one nice enough to mount!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
After checking the weather and wind, he wanted to set Friday night and try for a whitetail. He goes to college about 4 hours away and between classes and basketball practices/games, just hasn't made it home much the last few years. I told him that I thought his best chance for a really nice buck would be out in the hills chasing a mule deer. Our whitetails are bouncing back, but on our place they were hit pretty hard with EHD a couple of years in a row. He had practice again on Sunday at 1, so really only had a day and a half to try and fill his tag.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Living in North Central Nebraska, we are lucky in the fact that we can take two bucks a year, and have both mule deer and whitetails right at home. Nick has always been pretty selective in what he shoots, mainly because his younger brother has always kept the freezer full. I had been seeing a pretty nice mule deer buck behind the house early in the season, but had blown a chance at him myself. Here he is early in the season.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Before I start this hunt, let me go back and share a couple of hunts from earlier in the season. Nick was bound and determined to get a "big" one this year. He really wanted to get one spot and stalk. So our very first hunt found us pounding the boot leather up and down the Sandhills and glassing for the "one". I was rather in shock that we actually found a really nice mid 150's 4x4 mule deer and not so in shock that we got busted by him twice that day. Then as most bigger bucks do, even in the open Sandhills, he was just gone. We looked high and low and kept after it, but with sore feet and weary legs, finally headed back. We did get some great practice stalks in on some does fawns and lesser bucks.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
It only added fuel to the fire that his younger brother has taken some decent size animals and a couple of antelope spot and stalk in these very same hills, including this antelope before he had to head off to college this year also.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
I made a few trips on my own, with both my boys gone it seemed a little strange. Seems the hand of time keep ticking. Didn't seem that long ago that they begged to tag along or that long ago that they had made their 1st successful hunt with bows. As the sun set on those thoughts and that day I caught this little guy heading over the hill as I walked back to the rig.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Now with 2 boys, one that really loves to shoot stuff, I have always loved to shoot too, but have been pretty selective myself because we usually have some wild game in the freezer. I had not been able to locate any really good bucks in anymore of my walk abouts, but still enjoy it very much. I guess I am to that point in my hunting life, that I am just hunting for me now. I really enjoy it, don't need to shoot anything, but really still like to shoot stuff sometimes too. One day I might pass a really nice buck because he is young, then turn around later and kill a smaller buck because something about the hunt was really neat. I'm not scared to end the season with a tag in my pocket either. I never did find a good enough antelope this year...yet. Last year in the same area, I killed a really good Mule deer and an antelope. I will post pictures of them.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Mulie
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
After another quick trip and long walk over the rolling hills, I had found a few shooter bucks, but not one I wanted to try a stalk on. The next day, I made the same trip again and had just started my walk when I spotted what looked to be a good buck bedded in a blow out, not 50 yards from where I had spotted my buck from last year before I snuck in and shot him. I could not believe it, it looked like the perfect setup. He was bedded with several does in a sandy blowout that was about 20 feet below a ridge with really good hills all around. I high tailed it about 800 yards around him to the ridge and peeked over, sure enough, bedded right there. I got a quick range at 38 yards, ranged again to be sure, and a doe jumped up. She had spotted me and jumped up and stood right in front of the buck. He had not a clue I was there. I waited for her to clear him, which when she did, he stood and looked at her. After trying to melt into the grass, she finally looked away. I slowly drew back and raised to my knees. He looked straight up at me. I was suddenly very calm and settled my 40 pin low and tight to the shoulder and felt very good at the shot. It sounded like a solid hit but to be honest I didn't really see it hit.
From: Julius K
10-Nov-15
Beautiful animals!
From: Drahthaar
10-Nov-15
Great story, beautiful animals. the boys , it is really something how quick they grow up. blink your eye they are grown and having your grandchildren. Forrest
From: Bowboy
10-Nov-15
Congrats on some nice animals and to get to do it with the boys is priceless!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
As calm as I was at the shot, I almost totally lost it after. Shaking and couldn't hardly focus my binos on the deer, he ran 60 yards and stopped and looked back. I finally got focused on the deer and could see some blood low on his shoulder, then he wobbled a bit and went down! The emotions I felt were almost overwhelming, you see at the beginning of the summer, after a two man scramble golf tourney with my oldest son, I got bit by one of my pet cats on my right hand. It immediately swelled up and I was in for a long summer. Long story short, I guess cats have some really nasty germs in their mouths and I almost lost my hand. 11 days in the hospital and 5 surgeries later, I didn't know if I would ever get to shoot my bow again.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
A few pictures of that train wreck!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
They had to remove part of my knuckle, so my right hand is a little screwed up, but I still have it and sure do realize how lucky I have been. Wow, sure am getting off topic, lucky Pat lets us ramble on! Back to our hunt!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Another photo!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
My oldest was very happy for me but also a little jealous that I had shot what we thought was the buck that we were chasing for him. He wasn't able to come home for a couple of weeks and then we were right back out there pounding the hills again. We found a buck that I later figured was his buck, with 4 buddies bedded in a deep cut, we were able to get to about 90 yards and were stuck there. There was probably 3 bucks out of the 5 that he would shoot and consider hanging on the wall! One being the buck from behind our house earlier in the season. We were hunting probably about 5 or 6 miles from our house that day! We laid down and soaked up the sun and waited.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
From: Z Barebow
10-Nov-15
Keep it coming! Drove through the Sandhills for the 1st time in Sept (North of North Platte) I can see why this country can capture a hunters soul.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
You can't tell in the cell phone picture but this was a wide and tall 3x4 from our house and two of the smaller bucks walking away after about an hour. The biggest buck and another shooter were in the bottom and would soon follow suit and head over the hills. We waited until they all cleared the next hill, then quickly covered the ground until we could peek over the next one. They were about 100 yards and feeding slowly away. Another 10 minutes and the last one fed over that hill too. We again followed as quickly and quietly as possible. Peeking over the next hill, they seemed to have vanished?? It was slow rolling smaller hills below us and we could see for miles, so we sat and glassed.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Within minutes, we saw one of the smaller bucks, in what must have been a deeper cut hid down on what looked to be a wide flat, but he quickly disappeared again. We discussed options, if we ran down there and they came out, we would be caught in the wide open. It was probably about 500 yards to the cut? If we waited and they fed out or moved out, we would not have a realistic shot at getting on them again. Especially if they went southwest out of the cut, that was 1/2 mile from someone elses land and I wasn't sure whos. Nick wanted to know what I would do....I opted to run! I like to push it, you don't get these chances very often and I would rather try and fail then not try at all! So we headed out on a sprint......
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Half way there we saw the small buck on the edge again but we were dropping off our hill and quickly lost sight of him. He was walking up and out of the cut to our left when we last saw him. We made it 40 yards from the cut and then slowly worked to the left edge and I peeked over. I had my rangefinder handy and had left my bow up at the top of the hill at the start of this stalk so it would be all Nick. I peeked over and saw it was a nice drop, probably 20 plus feet down and not real wide. All the bucks were walking up and almost out on the opposite end! Lucky the cut was only about 90 yards long, so we dropped back and got to the other end rather quickly. I peered over once again and found the largest buck of the group to be straight across from us at 39 yards perfectly broadside!!
From: Mark Watkins
10-Nov-15
Great stories Marty!!! Keep 'em rolling!
Damn cats!
Mark
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
We were both breathing really hard by now (not all of it from the run either), so I told him to take a deep breath, pull back, and put his forty pin right on and take his time and follow thru after the shot. He said "should I stand?" I said "no" just raise up on your knees and shoot. He slowly pulled back and raised up and steadied his bow, I, right at his side watching it all unfold! The buck glanced up and was slightly quartering away when I heard the quiet snap of his bowstring being released.
From: SteveB
10-Nov-15
Beautiful bucks a d great hunt!
That would be one dead cat for sure!!
From: WV Mountaineer
10-Nov-15
FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: drycreek
10-Nov-15
Great muley ! Dead cat ?
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Thanks guys, yes, dead cat. I had to wait 14 days before I killed it, to make sure it didn't have rabies. My wife thinks I'm nuts cause I still like cats, just one of those things I guess.
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Back to the story. I watched as Nick's arrow zipped across the short space and the big boy just stood there and took it.......right over his back! Nick let out a huge sigh and hung his head. The bucks trotted out to about 90 yards and milled around and even pushed each other around a bit. We thought for a minute that we might get another chance. Then the big boy said enough and lined out for over a mile until he was well on property we didn't have permission to follow on. We headed back on a looooong walk to the rig. We collected gear we had left along the way and extra clothes we had shed as the day heated up on the stalk. Nick was pretty dejected and couldn't believe that we didn't make it happen. I explained that my motto for the fall had been "Fail to Succeed" It has long been my theory that it you try and fail enough, that eventually you will learn what works and doesn't work. I had failed on antelope for 10 years spot and stalk before killing a string of 6 over 75 inches spot and stalk in the next 10 years. He just needed to stick with it!
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
He wasn't really sure what had gone wrong, buck fever?? He was pretty sure he didn't use the right pin in the excitement. He is a very good shot to 70 yards, so it is what it is. I once missed a B&C antelope at 25 yards cause I dropped my bow to watch the arrow. I get to look at that goat on my best friends wall every time I stop and see him! I think his handle on here is Beav! Speaking of friends, I have learned so much from their failures and successes, it is great to have a large group of bowhunting buddies. We get to verbally bitch slap each other on occasion but only when we need it! We bounce ideas and ethics off each other all the time and when one of us does something off the wall, one way or another we are good enough friends to "discuss" it. ha ha Some of these guys I visit with all the time and some only once or twice a year, but they have had a huge influence on the way I hunt and taught my kids to hunt. The hunt was far from over.....
From: Marty
10-Nov-15
Nick had to return to school but I made several trips and a lot of foot patrols over the next couple of weeks. At first I didn't see much, does and a few small bucks, but eventually a few nice ones showed up again. I even closed the distance to under 60 yards on a couple of Nick's shooter bucks. I held out hoping for something really really incredible. Only one that I trailed and stalked would have got an arrow from me but I never could close the distance as he trailed a doe and fawn. Never saw him before or since, a big old warrior that only had a giant fork on one side and looked to be 3 on the other. Probably one of the biggest bodied deer I have ever seen. One large flat, darkness, and the deer won another battle that day. Can't say as I was totally disappointed, I don't know what I would do if I tagged out early. I am enjoying the hunt side of this more than ever before. Plus, Nick was planning a return trip home soon......
From: John Haeberle
11-Nov-15
The sandhills are a great place ... headed there next week, in fact, for the rifle season. It's good to hear there's one or two deer still around after the EHD epidemic of a few years ago.
Those of you who have never been to Nebraska's sandhills are missing something truly unique and beautiful.
From: Franzen
11-Nov-15
Nice photos and story. I enjoyed it and hope there is more to come. Fin cats... sorry I had to ;^).
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Ok, back to the beginning of this story. So he called on a Thursday night and reported that he was done with classes on Friday at 10 am and had BB practice earlier in the morning, no practice Saturday and then practice at Sunday at 1. We checked wind speed and directions and discussed what he wanted to do when he rolled home at around 2 pm. He said he wanted to sit Friday afternoon, then look for mulies Saturday all day.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
I have 12 stands spread out in about 4 different shelterbelts or little groves of trees but most of those are in one 3/4 mile long tree belt. Nick wanted to know where I was gonna sit, I said depended on where he wanted to sit. I have one double ladder stand that I used to sit with the boys in a high traffic area when they were little. Probably not my best "big" buck stand but he wanted to sit together again. I haven't sat with him for probably 5 or 6 years at least. So off we headed, I left my bow behind again. We got settled in a little after 3, I didn't remember it ever feeling like a tight fit before but it sure wasn't as roomy as when he little!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Action was decent, we had a couple of little buttons walk right under us, then a little 4x4 cruised by. Then the wind switched and we were trying to decide whether to get down or not, usually it's a no brainer, we just leave but he only had a day and 1/2 to hunt. So we opted to stay put, since the wind was just kind of iffy.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
The action slowed back down. We hadn't seen a deer for 30 minutes or so and we were just whispering back and forth, catching up so to speak, when we heard the soft crunching of leaves and 2 fawns walked by with a doe following behind. As is often the case, the old doe stopped and veered off the trail, of course almost straight down wind. We lost sight of her in some thick cedars and had to trust in our scent control. I whispered to Nick..maybe she saw a big buck over there and is gonna lead him to us. We both chuckled at the thought. We waited a bit, then tried a light rattling sequence and some grunting. Nothing. Another 10 minutes went by and all of a sudden we heard a deep grunt coming from the direction the doe had gone. I told Nick to grab his bow, that wasn't the grunt of one of those little bucks grunting. He grabbed his bow and his eyes got big. He whispered I see horns coming thru the cedars!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
I couldn't see the buck, so I asked if he was a shooter, he said yes. The buck was moving from in front of us to our left, which was the side of the stand Nick was sitting on and he is right handed also, so it should give him a good shot if it stayed on the same trail that the two fawns took. He slowly walked out on the trail and started to pass by us. He looked to be a short tined heavy 4x4, with a very big body, for sure mature anyway. I asked him if he was gonna shoot sitting or try to stand and shoot. He does both very well, he just seemed to be froze in place at the moment.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
But then very calmly he slowly stood and drew back on the fairly hard quartering away buck at this point. I don't know if he heard something or what but the buck suddenly stopped and looked back and Nick took his shot at that moment. I wish I would have thought to get a pic or to even video but I didn't, it all happened so fast. I honestly had just looked at my phone and the time wasn't even 5 yet, I thought we wouldn't see any decent bucks, if any, until closer to dark! I watched as the arrow entered just behind the last rib, perfect height. I was thinking I would have liked to see the arrow a couple of inches more forward but as hard as he was quartering, dead deer!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
It's funny, when it's not you that shoots, the things you notice. Nicks breathing was very ragged and his eyes were wide! He high fived me and then sat down. It took him a few minutes to calm down! I know the feeling well, I hope it never leaves me! We waited about 10 minutes, then climbed down to inspect the arrow. It looked like we thought it would, a little gut and dark blood.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
We started the trail slowly, it was very easy to follow. Nick was shooting a Carbon Spyder, with 75/95 gold tips, tipped with a slick trick. The blood looked a little dark, I was thinking maybe liver. We went about 50 yards and decided to go just a little farther before we would back out and give him more time. Within a few more yards, the blood looked pink and foamy. We both figured this was a good sign and was probably lung blood coming out his mouth? So on we went. Another 20 yards to a clearing and no deer? I looked around and spotted his white belly hair in some waist high grass and pointed it out to NIck.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
His smile said it all. Gutting showed, guts and lung. Forgot to look at liver? Nick said Euro mount, but not shoulder mount. 3/4 of the way thru butchering this deer, Nick said "get me another tag please and lets look for a mulie that I can hang on the wall tomorrow"
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
I had to feed calves at first light in the morning, then we were off. We had the rest of the day to hunt!
From: midwest
11-Nov-15
Nice!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
This picture is from earlier in the fall that Nick took. It shows the yucca's in full bloom. The Sandhills are a beautiful place and I love hunting the hills. In recent years, I have grown a little bored with sitting stands and have taken to just wandering the hills. Part of that is due to the fact that our whitetail numbers were down and I could still find critters in the hills! :)
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
We hadn't gone far when we spotted two deer bedded on a hillside over a mile away as we were glassing. We rarely take the spotting scope on our long walks but had it today. It was a buck and a doe, he looked decent, but was still far enough away that we really couldn't tell if this was Nick's "wall hanger" or not. So we packed up, swung way around to get the wind right and headed closer. We didn't think he was what we wanted but as we got closer he looked pretty good!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
We closed the distance to 55 yards by my rangefinder. He was nice, would have been Nick's best mulie, but we decided he was young and border line pope. He had everything you want, just needed a year or two, so we walked away and continued walking from hill to hill and glassing. Soon enough, I could tell Nick was getting a little discouraged again, as we weren't seeing much else and the time was ticking away. We discussed what to do, as if he hit something late in the day and we couldn't get it, he had to leave early for basketball practice the next morning. One thing my buddy Beav and I have always stressed and is our biggest pet peeve, is when someone shoots a deer then doesn't put in every effort to recover it. ie they have plans the next day and don't even go look. He said if that happened he would just have call in sick! With that said, we went on with our plan and put our faces in the wind and headed on to the next hill. I reminded him of his morning helping me feed calves to lighten the mood. He had accidentally bumped into the electric fence while he was getting gates for me and got quite a jolt! We both laughed and continued up the next hill.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Peeking over the top of the next hill, I spotted two bucks chasing a doe down a draw about 400 yards away, one looked good. Problem was they were headed past us and into our cross wind. We dropped off our hill and high tailed it back the way we came and around to get in front of them. It took awhile, but we finally found them and it was 3 does and 4 bucks running around. One shooter and it was the buck Nick had missed a few weeks earlier!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
We slipped up to the top of the next hill as soon as all the deer disappeared. We crawled up to the very edge, picking up several cactus in my knee in the process, big boy was across the draw at 70 yards. I whispered the range to Nick. He just shook his head and said too windy and too far. We watched them chase back and forth and even almost got busted because some of the little bucks were really going all over. Big boy tired of the fun and walked back over a small rise with one doe and bedded down! Pretty soon all the deer followed and soon all were bedded down. I couldn't get any pictures of the buck, because a doe bedded above him on the hill and one of the little bucks bedded off to the side and above him also. We were stuck....no way out, just had to wait for them to make a move, they were bedded about 90 yards from us.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
The good news was, we were in a great spot to make a move on them, if they moved from their current spot and they would have to travel quite a ways to get out of the "good" stalking hills. The bad news, they had quite a few eyes and when they are getting fired up and chasing, who knows what deer will go what way or the other. Sure enough, a small buck jumped up and decided time to go for a walk, and of course his walk brought him within 15 yards of us trying to melt into the side of the hill. He didn't have a clue we were laying that close to him.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
But soon enough he hit our wind and about ran out of his skin, luckily he was past us and ran away from the other deer. But Nick's luck, what luck he had with big bucks anyway, he ran right back past us and blew all the deer every which way. We sat up and got ready, just in case and sure enough the 3 does trotted by at 63 yards, with one little buck and big boy in tow. I was running the rangefinder, so still no pics of him. He looked a lot like my mulie from this year tho. Maybe just a tad smaller with no kicker and weaker brows. But a really good buck for this area and us! He stopped had looked back. Range was 82, so still a no go. They seemed to have no clue we were there tho, so we held still until they went over the next hill.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Then the chase was on again. All hope was not lost! I could tell that Nick was rolling with the punches and was looking forward to his next chance. They just kept moving tho. We followed for over a mile thru the rolling hills, always when they disappeared. We finally got even with them with a strong cross wind and watched them settle down and saw the big guy chase a doe back down into a fairly steep cut about 400 yards from us. We glassed the little buck and a doe and needed them to get down out of sight too. Soon they went down and we hauled butt over to the top again, as we reached the edge, the little buck chased a doe almost into our laps and turned and high tailed it back down the hill. We both hustled to the edge, hoping that as mulies will sometime do, big boy would pause to look back and give us a shot.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
As we looked into the bottom, it was a lot bigger than I thought, chaos was going on. Apparently our 5 deer had joined another 15 plus in this pocket, deer were running everywhere! There was one other decent buck in there, possible that it was the one we had left earlier over two miles away? Anyway, it wasn't meant to be as the big buck stopped at 85 yards and looked back. Then they all took off and we just sat and watched them head off into the sunset.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
After about 3/4 of a mile, they all stopped and started milling around and the little bucks started chasing again. Maybe we still had hope! We figured with the sun setting, we had maybe 30 minutes. We glassed them and picked a route that maybe would get us another chance, slim tho it may be. While glassing, in the general direction we would have to sneak, we spotted what looked like a great buck with 4 does running around in a pocket almost a mile away. We couldn't tell what he was but could tell he had a very very good frame, even better than what we were chasing now! Big boy made our decision easy, as he lined out and took all 20 plus deer with him to parts unknown. In fact we never did see him again, not that we looked real hard. We were on a time crunch and headed out at a trot towards the new big boy!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Now let me tell you...After being laid up half the summer with my hand ordeal and very very very poor eating and drinking habits, this fat outa shape 44 year old was not too ready for a full day of hiking hills AND a mile sprint at the end of said day! But I knew how bad Nick wanted it, so did my best to keep up with him. Did I mention that he is in VERY good shape?
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
I was soaked with sweat and breathing very heavy by the time we had closed the distance to under 100 yards. The worst part was, we had to cross the wind that was going at them in order to get behind a hill that would allow us even a remote chance at a shot. But light was fading fast and we had to try. Fail to succeed I say! We slipped up where we thought they were, only to find the pocket empty. Maybe they had winded us after all or heard my fat butt dragging thru the grass! I pushed on, hoping I was just one pocket short. We started up the next knob and saw a small mulie buck walking back away from us straight to our hard left. He saw us and Nick ducked down. I said lets go, we can't worry about him we only have 10 minutes. He ran and we went on sneaking up the next hill. We weren't quite to the top when I guess, the little buck ran and must of spooked the deer we were after. They were in the next pocket after all.
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
Lucky for us, the 4 does ran thru the tall grass past us at less than 30 yards! I told Nick to nock an arrow and get ready, big boy 2 would probably be following. I need not have wasted my breath, as he was already kneeling beside me with an arrow on! Sure enough, here he came, and even stopped broadside in the tall grass to look back at the little buck that had spooked them. The bad news, I could not for the life of me get a range in the tall grass. I peeked at Nick and he was at full draw. I was freaking out and he looked perfectly calm! I quickly calmed down and tried again...still no go. I said 40 right on the nose and almost instantly heard his bow go off!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
I have never used a lighted nock but Nick was trying one out, thankfully! I heard the arrow hit but didn't catch exactly where as he spun and ran over the hill back the way he came! It looked to be perfect height, so I must have judged the range right. We ran to the top of the hill and watched him walking away. This is where it got a little weird. He had hit hit back....probably very middle but his arrow had only went in about 7 or 8 inches? We could see it very well with the lighted nock. We watched him walk into a draw and bed down. Now the question, we were a long way from the rig, it was getting dark fast, the pasture he was in, had a million pockets and very tall grass, and Nick had practice tomorrow and had to leave shortly after 1st light to make it in time. The buck got up and walked about 40 more yards and laid down in a pocket of waist high grass, only his rack was visible. We decided to try and get another arrow in him quick. We quickly snuck within 30 yards and Nick hit him again but this time his nock didn't light up, so with the tall grass we didn't know where. He bolted out of the pocket like nothing was wrong and ran full bore into a barb wire fence about 50 yards farther. We slipped around him and above him once again, getting to 20 yards. This time we could really only see his neck and up. We decided at this point that any shot was better than none, so he took aim at the bucks neck. He pulled the shot to the side and the buck bounded up and away like nothing was wrong. We watched the lighted nock disappear over a hill 100 yards away......
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
This time we ran after him. Folly? I like to think not, he seemed to be hurting pretty bad and Nick wanted to end his suffering sooner rather than later. We crested the hill and if it wasn't for the lighted nock, might not have spotted him bedded in a bottom about 75 yards away, we backed up and sprinted down the edge of the hill and then gathered ourselves and peeked over. The rangefinder read 33, wide open, and Nick put a perfect shot on him. He didn't even get up! We were elated. We watched him just for a bit....to be sure, then started the long walk back to get our side by side. It was pitch black by the time we made the rig. The temp was dropping, into the 30's and I was soaked with sweat! It was gonna be a long ride in the open air back to the house but a happy one!
From: Marty
11-Nov-15
He probably won't score real great because of his back forks but neither of us really care, he is a true trophy and wall hanger in every way to us! We ended up staying up until after 1 am caping and butchering him and then were both back up by 7, him to head to practice and me to feed calves! Hope you enjoyed the story! Sorry I am sooo long winded! The End! Kevin
P.S. we think he may even be the buck from behind our house, earlier in the fall, over 7 miles away!
From: Beav
12-Nov-15
Thanks for sharing!
From: Bullhound
12-Nov-15
Wow! Great story, great animals, great pics, and great times!!!! Congrats to you and your sons.
From: BOWNBIRDHNTR
12-Nov-15
Very fun reading your story. Thanks for sharing!
From: Marty
12-Nov-15
Thanks guys, was kind of fun reliving it by writing it up!
From: TD
12-Nov-15
Great story.... very well written. Thanks much!
Congrats to both of you! Got it done on a couple dandy bucks in a very short time. Pretty cool.
From: elkmtngear
12-Nov-15
Great read...nice work by both of you! Thanks for sharing the story.
Best of Luck, Jeff
From: Willieboat
12-Nov-15
Great story..Thanks for sharing
From: HUNT MAN
12-Nov-15
Great post. Thanks for posting. Hunt