Public Land Buck - Sat 10/15

So I went back to the same spot I hunted last weekend with the new backpack straps on the climber. I must say, THOSE ARE THE TICKET when it comes to packing a climber anywhere regardless of how much walking you must do.

So I get to my spot this morning and find I have company in the tree already

Pretty sure he was just a small garter snake that was clung to the pine tree. I gently removed him and put him in his new home for the morning - the hollow log near the base

Got climbed up and started wondering what the morning would hold with the full moon. I catch myself day dreaming and take my "maybe one day my buck will come" pic from behind the bow.

I hadn't seen anything all morning other than the extremely active squirrels most of which were behind me. I'd been texting back and forth with my usual hunting buddies when I heard a "squirrel" behind me. As many time as I'd heard them I didn't immediately turn to look. But it kept up so I finally looked over my left should and there was a deer. OK, another one coming in from down wind 😮 Then the deer puts it's head down and...THERE'S BONE UP THERE! Through the brush I can see G2s and G3s on both sides. 8pt! Sweet! So I go into killing mode and end up doing this one right. I quit looking at antlers and started watching deer and holes. I'm wondering which direction he's going when he turns towards the tree, hits a trail that runs as close as 6 or 7 yards N of me and heads NE towards the pine ridge.

He walks behind some brush and I come to full draw not sure where he's headed yet. He continues on the path and I know he's WAY under 20 and quartering. I aim for the exit, grunt softly and he momentarily pauses before taking a half step when I touch the release and away he runs...and runs...and...he's still running? :huh I finally lost site and, considering some of my history last year I began to doubt myself. By my accounts I should have got double lung and/or possibly liver. Since I watched him go 80 or so yard before loosing sight I decide to sit for an hour before getting down.

At this point, in between all the texts being sent out, most of which were returned and reassuring that I'd find him, I began to doubt myself. So I started looking through the binos for the arrow and blood. Found blood but just a few specs here and there headed out. Finally found the arrow and it wasn't where I thought it should be and at a different angle than I thought. "Did I gut shoot him?" "Was he not quartering as hard as I thought?" At this point I know I need to :chill

Finally 45 minutes rolls around and I decide to pack up and climb down and just take my time. I got to the arrow and paced it off - 11 yards :rockon - and start taking up the trail. It wasn't the blood trail that I thought I should have. Specs of blood here and there, nothing strong, but enough to follow out of the bottom and onto the thick pine ridge filled with gallberries and other grasses. Yay, the fun begins. It was tough at first, not too much, but the farther I went the stronger it got. Blood smeared 2' up on the bushes. I kept pushing, slowly, and stop looking for more sign when I smell deer, but I can't see him? Push about 10 more yards and there he lays, the last time I saw the white "flag" in the pines in a small clearing :rockon Based off my exit when I find him, my shot was perfect! When I cleaned him I center punched one lung and clipped the far front of the off side lung. When I got to him he actually turned out to be a nice 6pt that just didn't grow any brow tines :shrug

After a rocky start with trying to take a buck with my bow (had 5 8pts within bow range and only 1 shot taken) I finally take my "first" with the bow that worked out like it's supposed to. Buck comes in, I shoot buck, buck dies immediately and I'm able to recover him. No wounded deer. No weeks to recovery. He's no monster but a good buck for this WMA. I wasn't about to pass him! Needless to say, I'm stoked I finally got my first "official" bow buck. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the flood gates being opened this year.