Steve Spence has offered to post the photos documenting this hunt. I'll try to shorten up the complete story as I have history with this one and it's rather detailed. So bear with me.
In November 2015 I was on my way into my stand for that afternoon. It's a short ladder (8 feet) in a small cedar tree in the right place. Therefore, I wear my Ghilli suit when in the stand. Stopping 50 yds. short of the ladder I put on my Ghilli and was just adjusting my armguard when I looked up and saw him coming. He was just out cruising. He walked by broadside at maybe 20 yds. He saw me standing there but the Ghilli worked great. We had a long stare-down and he accepted me as no threat. It appeared open but there were a lot of 2" diameter saplings between us. I gave it 50/50 odds of getting an arrow through. I don't like 50/50 odds on big bucks. So I let him walk off hoping he'd pick up a hot chick and bring her back through the pinch I would be covering. Oh, just ten yards from my ladder he let me watch him demolish a poor tree.
Fast forward March 2016. During one of my whitetail bootcamps I was parading 15 attendees down a dry creek bottom 1/2 a mile away. Something caught my eye and I said "Is that an antler way up there?" One long legged young guy runs up and brings it back. They said, "you gotta be kidding me... no way!" I obviously got accused of planting the shed but I swear to God I didn't. It was at least a hundred yards away but the light just hit it right and it caught my eye.
Fast forward late October 2016. I was in a stand in the timber one morning and here he comes right to me. The bad news is I had open heart surgery that summer and wasn't able to practice. So I promised myself not to shoot at anything over 15 yards. I'm proud of the fact I killed two big bucks last year and both were ten yard shots. Anyway, this one stood broadside at probably 27 yds. I just didn't feel comfortable with the shot so I again let him walk figuring it was early in the season and I might get another crack at him. It was really tough to let him walk away too because he had stickers and was obviously a fully mature stud. Never saw him again in 2016.
The morning of October 30, 2017 was windy (20+ MPH). In high winds deer tend to prefer the more open stuff because everything in the timber is moving. I chose another low stand in a bigger cedar. You guys would shake your heads at this one because although it's a big, thick mature cedar the stand (a Screaming Eagle) platform is only about 6 feet up. I never saw a deer until 8:32 AM when a single hot doe walked/trotted by. I could tell she was being followed. But he never came by until 8:45. It was a sight to behold. He was walking fast with his nose to the ground obviously trailing her. And he was very upset that she was not cooperating. He was growling the whole time. I don't mean a tending grunt but a constant growl. There was a big scrape right there 15 yds. from me. As he came by it he charged it and very aggressively started pawing, throwing dirt 20 feet behind him and loudly growling the whole time. Then he attacked the overhead limb, shredding it and breaking it off.
The doe had gone to the left but his body was facing to my right. I positioned my feet so I could take the shot either way. He started to my left a couple yards then abruptly turned to my right growling the whole way. I gotta admit it was VERY cool and the things dreams are made of. He was walking pretty fast at about 15 yds. when I plugged him. He was just slightly quartering away so the arrow angled forward, came out the far side and stopped just under the skin in the meaty part of his upper front leg. Then when he brought his leg back he snapped the shaft off (Woodsman stayed in) but he only made it 100 yds.
For those into measurements he ended up measuring 173 6/8" gross as a 7x7 typical. He didn't have the stickers this year but instead put that growth into mass. His bases were 6 5/8". The way his rack is built it's tough to see all the tines. For example on this frontal his left G3 is superimposed over an 11 inch left G2 you can't even see in the picture. Sorry. Anyway, I'm very pleased and proud of him, especially after passing him up twice. I think he's probably 7.5 yrs. old and field dressed 210 lbs. at the locker.
So.. that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Best of luck to all. BW
Topic: Barry Wensel 2017 buck (Read 4545 times)
