The 3:00 am alarm clock blasted me awake, and, while I was unaware of it at the time, it signaled the start of what would become one incredible day in the deer woods. It was an hour plus drive to the property that I planned to hunt, and I needed to be sure I could find the tree that I had set a waypoint for in my GPS last weekend since it would be my first sit in that tree. The property is one that I share with good friends Greg S, his brother Doug, and Rob, (Rookie80) and his brother in law Greg.
I had stumbled onto an area with three active scrapes and a few rubs last Saturday, while walking back to my truck after an uneventful sit in another spot. While it was close to the neighborhood homes, it was obviously a terrain feature that the deer were using, although I suspected mostly after dark.
I find my tree without any issues and climb 20 feet up and set up awaiting the dawn. It is cold and still, without much of a breeze really, but the winds shifted from SSW to NNW which has me a little concerned, but not knowing where the deer may show from, I just stay put.
As is often the case while deer hunting, I don't see anything and I just soak in the surroundings and watch the squirrels do their thing.
At 9:15 I stand for a bit and stretch my legs, and am facing the north, with the sun now behind me. My hands are buried into my coveralls to keep warm, when I look over my right shoulder to scan the surroundings and, whoa... there's a deer right there walking towards me! I never heard a leaf rustle, a twig break, nothing- it's just there and coming fast, 50 yards away. I grab my Hoyt, which was cradled on the front of my climber, and quickly clip my release onto the string loop and slowly raise up my bow to prepare for a shot opportunity.
I look again, and the deer is now 30 yards away and closing fast, simply moving through at a fast walking pace, headed right to the scrape that is 25 yards to my right, my shooting side. Now, for the first time, I can see that this deer is a buck, of some sort, and I'm extra excited to get a shot at my first buck of the season. I can't see the exact configuration of his antlers through the thick beech leaves and saplings, but he looks big and he's headed right into the clearing where the scrape is. Before he clears the thick shield of beech leaves, I draw my bow and acquire him in my peep site... and breathe out through my face mask.... AND FOG MY GLASSES!!!!! Sheer panic races through my mind! I hesitate for a second and instinctually bleat at the buck to stop his forward progress, although he's only 3 feet away from the scrape that probably is his destination. He halts, 23 yards from me, and stands perfectly broadside,looking right through me!
The fog begins to clear from my lens and I again align my sight pin on him. There he is, there's his shoulder, slide it back...right there... and I squeeze the release. The NAP Killzone strikes home with a THWACK! At the shot, the deer runs a low, horse like, death run that allows him to cover 100 yards in about 5 seconds. His rack looks big, and really wide as he races away from me, oh man, he's a really big buck! His tail is tucked as he runs and he appears to lean hard left while trying to turn hard right just before I lose sight of him. I search with my range finder to try to see him, but no luck. I mark the exact spot that I saw him last, and take a lot of mental landmark notes for when I trail him later.
I can't believe what just happened, and keep cool and sit to let the adrenaline take hold. After 20 minutes, I climb down and look for my arrow, and there it is, a bright cherry red, arrow stuck in the dirt. The blood sign looks great, and I can see blood even at the point of impact.
Since my cell service is with AT+T, and I have no coverage here, I can't text anyone! Doug is hunting in the spot where I sat last Saturday, and since we had agreed to hunt until 10-10:30 I decide to leave everything and walk to meet up with him before taking up the blood trail. I meet Doug and find out that he also saw the buck, running full bore down the hillside, obviously spooked by either something, or someone and it had headed in my general direction, which I never realized. Doug had taken a nice doe so we got her ready to take out and in the meantime, Doug called Greg and told him the news of my encounter with the big deer. Greg soon arrived to join in the search and to help get the deer out of the woods. It took a while, but finally I led them both to the first blood and we began to trail him, while following the landmarks that I had noted. I saw him do the side shuffle by a pine tree and we made our way towards that area. Blood... blood...blood. It was steady and easy to follow. Suddenly, I looked ahead, and there under the pine tree where I last saw him, is the buck. Not just a buck, not just a good buck, but here lays the buck of every hunter's dreams! He's a 10 pointer and carries his mass from his thick bases all the way through out his beautiful rack. I'm speechless! The best part was that I am able to share the highlight of more than 35 years of deer hunting with my great friends Greg S and his brother Doug. After hugs, high fives, fist bumps and hand shakes, it began to sink in what caliber of deer this buck really is.
He's a true Connecticut giant! A deer that you would be proud to hang your tag on in the finest deer paradise states such as Iowa, Kansas and Illinois for that matter. I'm most happy that my shot was true, striking the deer high lung on the entrance and right through the low shoulder on the opposite side. A double lung shot that allowed the deer to live 5 seconds after the shot. That NAP Killzone broadhead is bad medicine on whitetails. So after the pictures and the celebrations, the work began and soon we had both deer at the trucks. Later on, Greg stopped by and put a tape to his rack and we both were blown away at the dimensions. Unofficially, we came up with 153 3/8" gross. Later at my club cooler, the buck weighed in at 185 lbs, and boy was he a stinky buck. His tarsal glands were wet and as black as tar. This old boy was the top dog of these woods, and he was in prime rut condition with a huge neck and some bark in his rack from making rubs. Huge thanks to Greg and Doug- you made it even sweeter having you guys there! I thought this buck was the 10 pointer that Rookie80 had been chasing, but when I sent Rob the pics, he isn't the same buck so hopefully Rob will get that one soon too.
I'm not sure that I'll ever top this buck as long as I hunt, but to just have it happen even once, is like hitting the whitetail lottery. Like the lottery, which, as they say, you can't win if you don't play, we keep after it, chasing the dream of the big bucks,losing sleep, leaving our warm beds to freeze, sweat and ponder our sanity sometimes. Then, almost magically, the lucky encounter happens, just being in the right place at the right time and you execute the shot under pressure, and somehow you are rewarded with a giant. I love happy endings! Hopefully ol' Kickstand will be next... Here he is:
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