Where do I begin...
This hunt started to come together last Wednesday at 10:00 am when I was lucky enough to grab a returned permit for local WMA near me. I have only stepped foot on this area a couple times while doing forest inventory work but knew the area held some good bucks. My first priority was to study Google Earth Aerials and I also enlisted help from a couple forum buddies (thanks fellas!) to try and narrow down where to go. I also printed out a buddy permit for my father and to anyone who says the new quota system doesn't work for them well they just aren't playing it right!
Day of the hunt...11/11/2011 Veterans day
We had decided that there was no reason to get there before daylight since we were gonna scout the first part of the morning. Being that it had been a harvest full-moon that night we knew that the deer would move during the middle of the day. This worked to out advantage and allowed us to do some ground pounding and find that perfect spot. So as we pulled up to the check station you could see the new day just starting to peak over the horizon to the east. The nice check station lady took our information and to our surprise the tally board was pretty empty with only 3 Doe's, 2 button bucks, and 2 hog's being checked in over the the last 3 weeks of hunting. Seeing this we went from being excited about the hunt to "well maybe we should have hunted out spot in Citrus WMA". But we pressed on and headed to the area I had been told about and scoped out on Google Earth. There are 50 quota permits for this area and this morning there were 13 other hunters checked in ahead of us and to our surprise there was nobody in this area. We started our scouting by splitting up and checking a large oak hammock that surrounded an old lake bottom and some cypress. Hog sign was everywhere but deer sign was lacking. To our south was and area of 6 to 7 year old pines with alot of Scrub Live Oaks throughout it. We regrouped at the truck and I told my dad that there was a small hammock south of us in the pines that we should check out. We made our way through the pines to where this beautiful Live Oak hammock opened up and once there I knew this was the spot. Immediately I spot spotted a fresh scrape under a limb and there were trails criss crossing everywhere with one very dominant trail heading back to a small cypress pond. I decided to take a look at the cypress pond and boy am I glad I did. There was a fresh line of "BIG" rubs going straight through the dried up pond and it was a perfect setup for me and my recurve. So I backed out and we went back to the truck to gather our gear to hunt. We made it back in to the hammock at about 9:15 am and I gave departed dad telling him good luck and I will talk to you in about an hour ( on our radios). I finally got settled in my chosen tree at about 9:45 am after clearing a few saplings out of the way and climbing back down to adjust my stand.
At 10:00am I talked to dad all is well except for the wind gusting up every few minutes blowing right into his face. For the next 45 minutes everything is quite and the wind is actually starting to die down. At 10:45am I hear a couple of clucks coming from my left in the pines surrounding the cypress pond. A minute goes by and suddenly 4 shiny black turkeys are heading straight to me with there bright red heads bobbing up and down. Luckly you can take turkeys on this WMA during archery and so I put tension on my string and get ready for a shot. These were all mature gobblers and I can see all of their beards swinging as they walk. The first bird steps out in an opening at 15 yards and stops. I quickly drew, aimed, and release and BAM! My arrow hit a limb that I did not see sending the arrow down and it lands at the gobblers feet. To my surprise the bird just stood there for a few seconds and then they all just make a big circle around me and head off south of me. So I just sit there staring at the 3 inch limb and then down to my arrow sticking in the ground and then back to the limb again. I ask myself how long it would take to cut down a 10 inch tree for which this limb is attached to with my little pocket saw.
I start second guessing myself on my shooting ability but realize that I just need to calm down and focus harder next time. Little did I know that the "next time" was approaching to my left. So not 10 minutes goes by and I catch movement out of the corner of my eye to my left and then I hear the crunching of leaves. I turn my head to see a good buck approaching me fast with his antlers shinning in the sunlight. Before I knew what was happening I had turned around, had my bow up with tension on the string, and once the buck cleared a bush at 18 yards I gave a quick moth grunt and the arrow was on it's way. I could clearly see the impact of the arrow and knew it was a bit forward and in the shoulder. The buck took off and I heard the arrow snap off on a tree and then the buck came to a quick stop in some brush before taking off again. I quickly tried to raise my dad on the radio since the buck was headed his way but he had his radio off. I sat there for a few minutes trying to stop from shaking. I had to see what type of penetration I got so and to let dad know what was going on. After I descended the tree I first picked up my arrow the was launched at the turkey and then found my arrow from the deer. From the sign and size of my broken shaft I had about 8 inches of penetration which was plenty enough to open him up. And from the start there was a blood trail a blind man could follow with lots of bright red blood. I decided to slowly make my way to my dad and try not to push my deer at the same time.
So I made it to my dad and told him what had happened and he said he heard the deer run and crash south of him. We decided to gather our things and head back to the truck and wait for as long as we could before taking up the trail. At about 1:00 pm I couldn't wait any more and it had been almost 2 hours since the shot. So we quickly picked up the blood trail and took our time following it. For the most part it was an easy trail to follow except when the buck made an occasional 90 degree turn. To our surprise the buck had ran straight towards where we were parked. We had gone about 200 yards if measure in a straight line from where I had shot him and then it happened....we jumped him!:banghead
I could see him run through the Gallberrys and it looked like he crashed again and 50 yards out. Knowing we were so close to the truck and woods road we made out way back to the truck and watched the road to make sure he doesn't cross it. We gave him 2 more hours before I slowly put a stalk on him to the the last spot I saw him run. I left my dad out on the road just in case he was still alive. To my disgust he was not in the Gallberry's where I saw him run. I whistled for my dad and we started to blood trail again. All during this time I could smell "dead deer" in the air and we found him not 75 yards away piled up.
This was by far one of the most exciting and memorable hunts I have had and I got to do it with my father and on a day set aside to remember our hero's.
Shot him using a Quinn Longhorn Classic Recurve 52@28", Homemade POC shaft, and a ACE 2 blade 125 grain broadhead.
God Bless America!
Topic: Veterans Day - Florida WMA Buck (Read 266 times)
