Silvertip Doubles Down........

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

It has been a great season so far hunting with friends old and new. Was fortunate and took a nice Buck back in October with my recurve and have had a few close encounters since. I sat last week and almost got a shot at a cool buck ( one more step as the story goes ) but a doe sniffed the arrow stuck in the ground and blew the deal when she snorted. The arrow was stuck there because I had shot over a hog on a easy 15yds shot oh well can't win em all. Back up a little now to the story at hand. Several months ago I met a fellow trad shooter Paul at a local 3D shoot. We did not have a group to shoot with so we shot the course and got to talking hunting and bikes. Was pretty fun so we shot a second round and kept on talking ( pretty sure he beat me both rounds) main talk was elk hunting and I thought we hit it off pretty well. We said we would keep in touch and we did just that and have became dang good friends since. We talk on the phone fairly regular and I have been out to his place and done some fishing and hunting. His wife is one of the sweetest lady's I have ever met and is an outstanding cook but she never lets me help with anything. On my first trip to the place Paul gave me some Simmons TreeSharks cause I had said I shot them. So far I have  killed a Sika doe an Aoudad ram and a Whitetail buck with the same TreeShark that Paul had given me , I'm guessing these have built-in luck.

 We were hosting some out of state hunters for a week , they would hunt Paul's place and my place. I met up with them at Paul's and shot bows in the down time , well Paul brings out this beautiful Silvertip longbow for us to look at. And I like it seemed I did not want to put it down but we had guys needing to hunt. They ended up shooting several deer each over 5 days and headed off home....

[wooddamon1]

[ron w]

     this could be good........

[jcar315]

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 I'm in Sam!  Keep it coming!

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Things are starting to heat up with the rut here in my part of Texas and the bucks are on the move. I got home from work and loaded up and headed to Paul's for a quick visit and hunt if it worked out. We were shooting our bows and he brought out the Silvertip for me to shoot again so like an little kid I shot it with joy. I even hunted with it that afternoon , I was after a hog but only sat surrounded by deer. The rut is on at his place also had a big 7pt buck running the doe all around and even had to look away while he mounted one. Paul shot a doe with his recurve so we got her loaded and in the cooler and had another great meal of fish that I had caught the trip earlier. We slept in or at least I did had another awesome home cooked breakfast and did some work on some stands and got things in order. Before I left Paul asked if I wanted to take the Silvertip with me and I said no I better not. As I loaded up my truck it got the better of me and I said yes I would love to borrow it cause it's been a while since I have killed a deer with a longbow. With the rut going on and bucks everywhere I hoped one would jump in front of one of my arrows.......

 When I pulled up my drive a nice buck was running a doe across my front pasture. So come morning time I knew where I would be and there I sat as the sun rose up. And about 30 minutes later the wind switched so I moved across the field and it was the right move cause here comes some deer....
It is a few doe milling around doing what deer do the weather is cool and very overcast just one of those days. A small buck pops out and starts dogging them pretty hard , they go out of sight several times then back again. They hit some heavy woods and are gone a few minutes and when they return the little guy had grown a bunch more horns on his head. Enter stage left my heart in my throat and the shakes and the Silvertip in my hand...

[South MS Bowhunter]

And............................

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

I give a few grunts and hope for the best and thanks to my awareness and awesome calling I do get a shot. No not really pretty sure they never heard me at all I did get the shot because the very sexy doe he was after came and stood under my stand. When he walked over he checked a scrape then started feeding like nothing was going on. Several other deer came up from beside me in the woods so now I have a bunch of eyes to deal with and I'm still shaking and my heart is moving farther up my throat. I start to draw and am half way back and he picks his head up in my direction. That lasted forever got recovered from that and everything looks good so here it goes. Hit a solid anchor and held then cut loose a TreeShark that flew true. He was down in seconds after the hit and I was one happy hunter.....

He is only the second deer I have killed on my place in the five years I have owned it. He is not a monster but I am very proud of him and to kill it with my buddy Paul's Silvertip and the same TreeShark he had given me was very cool....

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Loading pics now and will post them shortly , an  don't forget I still had one buck tag left after tagging this guy. So the rest of the Silvertip story I will start once I get these pics posted..

,,,,Sam,,,

[Big Ed]

Very cool!

[JakeD]

Stories like these are part of the reason I love Tradgang so much.  Nowhere else is it even close to being this good.    

[Car54]

Knock knock

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Sorry for the delay pics and rest of the story on hold , it took until just now for it all to load ( 3 try’s before it worked )

My tec guy is my son and he fell asleep and has school so hope to get it done in the morn , Sorry I don’t like to drag things out...

,,,Sam,,,

[TIM B]

Love them simmons....they do have built in luck!
Looking forward to the pics Sam!
Tim B

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Congrats Sam, Looking forward to the pictures and the rest of the story.

[Chad Orde]

Sounds good Sam thanks for the story!

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

 
 

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

 
 

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

So I still have one buck tag and a month and a half to use it but I figure why not start early in the morning. So I get on my bike and head for the cabin in the woods on my in-laws place with thoughts of the one that got away. All my friends know the buck I'm after cause I have talked about him for a few weeks now and he is the same one the doe snorted from the missed hog arrow. He is a cool looking 8pt frame with splits on both G3s and I've had him under 20yds twice in the last week's and not got a shot. With a good sleep in the cabin I was up well before light and me and the Silvertip were out the door with high hopes. On the walk to the stand I could hear deer running around in the leaves. The sun rose to another overcast cool morning. But I figure how lucky could a guy be surely this will be another deer watching sit. As I sit and look at the beautiful Silvertip hanging in front of me and thinking about my hunt yesterday. A few deer are off in the distance as shooting light comes in so I do some grunts and a few snort-wheeze calls. And I get a instant response from off to my left but never see him. And as the story goes I hear some deer moving my way at a fast pace so I stand up and get the bow ready. A doe pops out with a buck not far behind and as they pass me I'm at full draw and stop him with a voice grunt. He slams on the brakes and I let go the same TreeShark and it now has killed its fifth animal can't wait to see what kind of luck the other 5 have I them cause Paul gave me 6. This one still looks good as new so it ain't done yet , I still have 2 doe tags also. Well the shot was good and they tend not to go far with a Shark hole in the chest. He is a really neat buck and like I tend to say he is no monster but I'm proud to have him. And he is the buck I wanted with the forked G3s , they are both cool bucks for central Texas. And to shoot them with a very cool bow borrowed from a good friend made it even better. I always say I like to shoot and if I see a critter I want to shoot then I shoot it big or small so I'm a happy hunter. So now out of buck tags I'm going to fill my doe tags and hunt some hogs now and prob some exotics and ducks might do some predator calling oh and the crappie should start bitting soon. And I just got invited on a south Tx Javelina hunt for next month. So no need to feel sorry for me , but dang I wish I had another buck tag.....

A big thanks to my friend and fellow tradganger Paul for the broadheads and letting me borrow the Silvertip it has been several years since I have taken a buck with a longbow.....

,,,,Sam,,,,

[SAM E. STEPHENS]