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Great buck by your brother Wausau

Yesterday was a good day. Green Bay Bowhunters won and I sent an arrow through a doe. She made it 120 yards and died. When she was walking in she hit my ground scent where I walked in and she stopped cold. When she finally came through it was at a lope. I did the "meah" thing on her and she stopped for the 18 yard shot. First time I ever did the "meah" thing but that song "you had me at meah" was in my head. Also saw a three legged buck. Land owner said he was three legged last year. His rack was all screwed up. Not sure how he's able to avoid the song dogs.

This was a lower 48 DIY hunt. I even put the almost too heavy for me Robertson limbs back on. One of the things that made this hunt so special was that last winter I REALY messed up my back. I was in so much pain that there was no way that I could have done any part of the hunt. Found out that I have degerative disk disease, bulged disks , narrowing of the nerve channels, arthritis, and am on borrowed time for surgery. Many trips to a good chiropractor got me back in the game just in time. I was so grateful to just be able to do it. My son flew out from Cleveland for the week. Dale's son was in camp for five days. We got to have some quality time with our kids. Awesome, just awesome!

Dale didn't have a tag. He was just there to help and be camera man. Ha! He forgot to hit record. But he did get her going down. Oh well, we got even more laughs.

I hope we can do it again.

I shot this bull in Arizona on 9/16.

Craig, you're too good with that thing. Could you at least tighten the odds, and shoot with a slingshot instead? Well done.....again!

Noc, good to see someone on the board. This is the longest span of time I've gone without hunting. Today Mark's 14 days, and I'm skipping tomorrow for sure.

Never seen this deer before, including on camera. He comes into my decoy which I just that day, put new antlers on. Rigged up a neat saddle to carry him in like a paperboy, and set it up looking at me, at about 20 yards. I find the deer tend to want to make eye contact with the decoy, putting them in a good shot range. So, he comes in side-stepping, bristled up, licking his chops, and does a couple jittery mock charges at the decoy. (If you've ever decoyed, these deer are on edge). He never quite settled for the broadside shot in his uneasiness. I draw my bow for what was over a minute between another charge, and he finally commits. Just as I release, he charges again. I wasn't certain about the shot, because he turned toward me, and I hit him quartering. I watched him run towards the woods, and he finally was blocked by some foliage as he did an arcing retreat. Then silence as I thought he likely made it to the woods? I had three bucks at my decoy, as it darkened. I was pinned down for 30 minutes which is how long I'll give any deer, but it got dark in a hurry! Well, I finally decided a barred owl call was in order, and the three bucks moved off.

Got down, no arrow, but decent blood at impact. I looked a bit further, and couldn't find any blood in a 40 foot circle, beyond the impact?

Well, I have a friend with a Teckel (dachshund), and he's a fine tracking dog. I called him, and we had two options. Go out and look further, avoiding coyotes which are thick here, or first thing in the morning hit the track. Well, this is where I sided with caution and I feel dumb for it. Now mind you, I can track a deer, but......but, I have a friend with a dog. Had I not known a blood tracker, I'd have done the job I've done so many times. I was just unsure, and didn't want to booger up the track for his dog.....but hindsight says I should have. Of course I was worried about coyotes.

He comes over in the morning and we head out there. The field is not flat. It has high and low spots. I even drove past it in the very early morning, and there was a doe and two fawns feeding right where i felt that deer would have entered the woods . We walk out, get about 200 yards, and he says what's that laying in the field? Like seriously shocked and embarrassed, I was like....my damn deer! Oh, I was happy, but I felt stupid too. There were a couple things keeping me from going that night, and a couple things making me want to look further. I took the cautionary approach. That blindspot of foliage, and the fact I never heard him enter the woods, was because he was heart shot and piled up 20 yards from the woods, just where I couldn't see him any further lol.

So, we had his other younger dog there as well, so we did a little teaching, and what better way, than a nice 160 yard heart shot deer, dead within eyesight lol. The arrow was still in the deer. It entered heart, exited gut. I was extremely lucky. I can only assume I shot low, which I have been trying to overcome, and something I need to work on further apparently. Went back to the impact site, and there was literally no blood for like 40 yards, except where the shot happened at. Always lessons to learn I suppose?

That's the story. Butchered him up, caped him out, and that's "all" I gotta say about that.

Seems like all your planning and effort fell into place and worked just as it was supposed to. Ya had all your ducks in a row and it worked out. Your plan came together in fine fashion. Again, well done.

Nice set-up on the decoy, that's sure fun isn't it? Just curious, do you know the brand decoy you have? I, and I am sure many others, enjoyed your story. You did not need to apologize for your effort, we all enjoy your narratives. They are just the sort of thing that serve to make this forum interesting and keep the grand sport of bowhunting alive!

Bill, the brand was I believe featherlite? I bought it perhaps 30 years ago. I don't think they own the decoy any longer? Essentially it was a deer that assembled via two front legs (as one), two rear legs (separate), and the head and neck. To be honest, I screwed everything into place because I carry it out in one piece and it's much quieter all tightened up. It's not a very aggressive looking decoy like the Primos brand, but it is an eyes and ears forward looking decoy, that the deer simply cannot resist? Over the years, I'm almost certain they react to it, because they do not recognize it as one of the locals. Sort of like walking into a pub the first time. All eyes upon you lol. Well, until you buy the bar a round, then you're one of the gang! Ha! One thing I'd like to share, because you are handling the decoy, is to rub it down with the vegetation it's sitting in, once you have it staked down. It seems to mask the human scent a bit, and although you're obviously not killing human odor completely, combined with the obvious visual effect, they seem to overlook the odorous effect, and yes, pins and needles, but typically not heading to cover. They want to investigate, and in this case, charge it. (Obviously this guy did not buy the bar a round lol.)

Thanks again everyone. Just lucky is all, and Jim, what am I going to do? Read all the rest of the stories about to come, and perhaps shoot a doe. Cruisers are cruising! Good luck all!

Good luck everyone. Can't wait to hear all the success stories.

As George Costanza would say.

The buck was following the other side of the creek towards me. He got a drink and crossed in front of me. Then he went up the bank. There was a hole about the size of a basketball in the brush at the top of the bank. As he went up I drew. The shot was at 22-24 yards. He ran out into the corn field and dropped 55 yards from me. The arrow was a complete pass threw so I can use the arrow again. Not the broad-head as it broke ribs going in and out.

Nice was able after dark to drive my dad’s ranger right to it. Absolutely no dragging.

About 5:40 she heard the buck coming through the middle of the woods. She saw antlers and decided it was one she would shoot given the opportunity. With her knee she wasn’t sure if she should stay sitting and hope he would come in front but she decided to stand. He stopped about 30 yards broadside out front to the right but she knew that was a little bit of a stretch for her so she waited patiently. Once he started moving closer and put his head down she decided to draw. He was going to her right so when she drew her tether was in the way so she had to readjust. Of course he stopped directly behind a tree when she was full draw. She wanted to let up but played the waiting game because she knew as soon as she let up he would move from behind the tree. So she held for about a minute and he finally moved to the field behind her. She gave a little mmrp to get him to stop and let her arrow fly. He ran back into the woods about 30 yards down with the arrow sticking out. She got down and found good blood but we decided to wait about a little over an hour before tracking. My daughter, myself, and my son went out and followed a great blood trail. She spotted her luminock farther up in the middle of the woods but when we got there it wasn’t in the deer. She said her heart sank for a minute but then she spotted the buck dead about 10 yards away. Unfortunately in that short amount of time a coyote had already started working on it. Thankfully we didn’t wait until morning or there probably wouldn’t be much left. Super proud of her for her dedication and persistence and happy for her as this was her biggest buck with a bow. She was also thankful that her big brother was there to help drag it out as just walking through the plowed field was rough on her knee.

In just a few weeks I will be shifting my efforts to coyotes. You can never kill enough of them but you sure can slow the pressure almost to a halt.

I would have no problem eating that deer, cutting away any meat surrounding the eaten portion, which shouldn't be much.

Congrats to her!

If you have been lurking for awhile you have a good idea on what is smoke and what is fire.

Trapper, I'm very jealous of all that moose meat. Some day perhaps? Goals!

Moose goes well with caviar.

Hoot, I think I was really smiling when I reached the truck on the last load. The middle loads not so much. Definitely not smiling when I woke up the next morning until the Ibuprofen took hold.

You don’t see DNR biologists fired very often.