"The Haunting Buck"

[Terry Green]

Delayed recovery of a buck I shot Jan. 2nd.....

We all have hunts that don't turn out just the way we want them....some worse than others. And those can seem to haunt us eternally.

Sometimes fate is just belated, and a late victory, although not as tasty as an instant victory, is still mighty sweet.

I got a call last week from 'Peanut' Campbell at Solana Ranch asking me to describe my buck's rack that we never found. I did, and he said my description of the rack looked a lot like the one he was holding. I asked him where he found it, and he said "Only 50 yards downstream from where your buck crosses the river on his escape". It made sense it was mine, being in the back yard basically of my tree stand, and the fact that we were on the last hunt of the season.

Peanut sent me some pics, and I was pretty sure it was him, but I couldn't tell for sure. There was one pic from overhead that sure looked like the shape of the main beams as I remembered it. Peanut was kind enough to send it to me to have a look in person.

Soon as I opened the box and looked in I didn't even have to take it out, there was no doubt it was him. I immediately had the vision of this buck standing below me broadside in the opening. He was magnificent!!! I've never experience a recovery like this before, a recovery after the fact, but I'm thrilled let me tell ya.

We can only speculate at this point, as it 'seemed' the buck was held up in some really nasty stuff in the river bottom in his death bed, and he somehow eluded 4 of us and a dog. I'm still not sure just how that happened. But after we left, the rains came and they came causing a big flood that evidently drug my buck out of the thicket coming to rest in the edge of the river just a stones throw of his crossing. That's Peanuts take on it.

Sure, I'd love to know the real story, but I wont. I'd love to have had the thrill of the recovery, the photos, the camp celebration, and the fine venison, but I can't get any of that back.........

But I'll settle for the icing just the same.

Morrison Cheyenne - 62#@28 - Arrow Dynamics Trad Heavy - Zwickey Delta 4 blade.....

 

               

               

               

[Tim Fishell]

Terry, Sorry again about your misfourtune during the hunt.  But glad it ended good for ya.  Kinda bitter-sweet huh?    

[wapiti792]

Well that's bowhunting. Spirits and all mystical beings aside, there's many a slip 'twenna cup and a lip. All we can do is take the right shot at the right moment, practice to get ready for that shot. When it comes it sometimes doesn't work out. It's a fate we accept as hunters, and at times it is heartbreaking. There's no dishonor here...it's a bowhunter who gets some small piece of the animal as a reward. We'd all love to have the hero shot, thank the animal for giving us meat and life, but sometimes even when you do your best the animal has other ideas. These are living, breathing creatures who do crazy stuff from the time an arrow leaves and when it gets there!

Terry, same thing happened to me 2 years ago. A neighbor found my buck a week later in his pond. I felt remorse and a bit of sadness. I slept very little during that week. After I finally held his horns I knew I had killed this beast. I knew that I had done my best and felt lucky to have the closure. I killed a nice 8 last year and those deer are now melded into one: his cape and a 160 inch 8 pt rack from my pond buck. LONG LIVE THE KING! It makes me appreciate every animal I kill. I hunt big bucks only, with trad gear, and at times (I hope never again for the both of us) stuff happens. Enjoy the old boy on your wall. HE'S YOURS HONORABLY.

[rastaman]

Similar thing happened to me last year in Alabama during a Jan. rut hunt...made what i thought was a "dead in a hundred yards" doublelung...ended up being one lung...pushed the deer too soon...hunted with a dog that night & on horseback the next day sick about losing him.  Some quail hunters found him maybe 75 yards from where we stopped.  Am i proud of him...you betcha...did i him mounted...absolutely...
That is one fine animal you took there Terry!
Congratulations...Randy

[rastaman]

...and pardon the grammar..."did i have him mounted"
Congrats again Terry

[Terry Green]

That's exactly what I think happened....

He was totatly broadside when I released, and I aimed and the white patch or his arm pit, and as usual he dropped right into the shot..but as TX deer do, they drop - lean - and turn away...and I think I got only one lung as he was severely quartering away when the arrow impacted.

It looked as though it was perfect as he wheeled way and I though I double lunged him and jammed the off shoulder....I too expected to find him within 60 yards.

[rastaman]

The main thing is you can truly let that "nagging" feeling go cause you found him...later, than sooner, but found, is found.
Randy

[Kingwouldbe]

Wow!!!! Terry, man you been shooting some monster white tails.

You know that nothing is truly wasted, maybe God wanted to feed some of his other creatures on this fine buck, only to still let you recover it.

I see a fine European mount in your near future, maybe you still have the arrow you killed it with and that could go on a plaque below the antlers.

Be cool bro.
David

[MJB]

Terry,
What kind of skins are on your bow ?

Thanks,
Mike

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Originally posted by Kingwouldbe:
[QB] Wow!!!! Terry, man you been shooting some monster white tails.

You know that nothing is truly wasted, maybe God wanted to feed some of his other creatures on this fine buck, only to still let you recover it."

   Well said David, It took me many years to accept that sometimes that is the case.

Congrats Terry!!!

[Ybuck]

Beautiful antlers.
Glad he was found.

[tarponnut]

Way to keep things in perspective.
As previously said, nothing goes to waste and to be able to recover it later is a bonus.
Great buck.

[Terry Green]

Well, he sure made a pretty mount as a nice consolation, and I'm tickled at that.      

   

[Shawn Leonard]

Nice Terry, I have found a couple a while after the fact. Pretty deer was, it another Texas cape or elsewhere? Shawn

[Terry Green]

It was another cape...it was suppose to be a TX cape, but doesn't look as short as my BDay TX buck mount I killed last year.

No matter, it looks good to me, and that's all that really counts I guess.

[Shawn Leonard]

Looks great to me too!! Nice mount! Shawn

[Arwin]

That mount turned out great! I had the same thing happen to me in 05'. I shot a long tined spike and after a couple days, gave up. I was out rabbit hunting the following January and found him 100 yds from where I had shot. He was laying in tall cattails mixed with thick bushes. I must have passed him 100 times!

[jonsimoneau]

Terry, WOW, that thing is a beauty.  It hurts when you don't find them right away, but finding them later at least gives you some closure.  I had the same thing happen to me this year with my 2nd Illinois buck of the season. Did not get an exit hole and only got one lung.  Took like 16 hours to find him, and when I did, the coyotes had taken their toll.  The mount will still look nice, and I feel good knowing I did the best I possibly could.

I hunted pigs with Gene and Barry one time in Texas.  I have never seen so many P&Y class bucks.  I think I saw more P&Y bucks in that 5 day hunt than I have seen in my life, and I live in Illinois!  Never saw any really big bucks though...just lot's of nice ones.  That one you shot looks like a really big Texas buck.