Let me start off by saying that this has been one of the hardest years for me to get out in the woods and hunt deer. I play college football now so hunting time in October and early November has basically gone by before I get a chance to go out and live my real passion. That being said, I have a great story for you guys.
Since I live away from home and don't have access to all my old hot spots, I had to make due with what I have here in Indianola. I met a guy on the football team who loves to bowhunt (but he's a wheelie shooter) and we decided to put up a few stands out on the public hunting land. I have never hunted public land and so this was new for me having to share my hunting spots with strangers, including pheasant hunters who scare everything half to death. So we put up a stand about two miles back from a road. Why we decided to go back so far, I don't know, I guess we had a feeling that's where the big ones lived. The best stand by far was right along the river, about 60 yards east of it, and surrounded by a thick timber that goes for about 800 yards in either direction. The area was clearly a hot traveling route and he had sat in the stand many times seeing lots of does and shooter bucks, but they never came within his shooting range. This weekend he decided to go hunt Southern Iowa with another football player and I said I would stay and hunt our best stand. It was a good thing I did! Friday night was uneventful for the most part, just two does at about 80 yards moving through trees. I was determined to kill a buck though and came back Saturday morning. This is when I first saw him.
On Saturday morning I was in the stand by 5:45 and watched the sun come up and the forest awaken. I was optimistic about what I would see since my friend had told me there were two nice bucks patroling the area for does, and only little six point. At about 7:30 I heard crashing off to my left and two does were running from something. The little six was right on the bigger one's butt, sniffing her with his lips curled. I love watching chases. They got 30 yards from me and started feeding carelessly. I was contemplating a shot when I saw them all pick their heads up. A big ten pointer came trotting up behind them and the six point took off. He ran right under my stand and stood there just watching the big boy steal his girls. They were now at 50 yards, too far for a shot but I tried waiting them out. All of a sudden I heard a dog bark and two men yell "rooster!" behind me. Their voices were followed by shotgun blasts and the deer took off away from me. I was pissed needless to say and I gave the deer another hour to come back but the pheasant hunters were too loud and wouldn't leave the area. I walked back to my truck frusterated and not knowing what the evening would hold. After going back to my dorm and taking a half hour nap, I grabbed a Gatorade and decided to head back out by noon. I never would have guessed just how lucky I would be.
I was in the stand by 12:45 and at 1:30, action started up again. The six point had somehow hooked up with the same two does again and was chasing them down the same path as before. The tiny doe wasn't his target and she ran 40 yards to my right, along the river and stopped. She looked terrified as she stared at the shrubs along the rivers edge. I noticed the six had stopped chasing and the other doe was watching the same spot. I noticed movement between the branches and saw anters glowing in the sun. It was the 10 point again. This time the little six slowly walked over to the big boy and licked his neck as if to say, "Sorry, I wasn't going to do anything with her, you can have her!" The 10 swung his head and jabbed the little guy pretty hard in the ribs. The bigger doe took off and the 10 followed, then the little six followed as well. I watched them all move into the thick brush up the hill to my left. I figured he wouldn't come back. I rattled and grunted and nothing seemed to spark his interest in turning back around. After 15 minutes of nothing I started to acknowledge the fact that he wasn't coming back and that was that. It was now about 1:55 and I still had a lot of hunting left to do, but I wouldn't need all that time.
I heard a twig break behind me and a deep grunt. My eyes got wide and I slowly turned to my right. It was the 10! He was grunting and pushing his way through some thick brush. He moved out to about 35 yards and took a sharp turn to his left and came right at me! My pulse was pounding, I kept telling myself "pick a spot" and "good release". I don't know if I had taken a breath since I heard the grunt. He jumped a log and turned broadside at 15 yards.
He was walking slow and I gave a tiny grunt. His big anters picked up and turned towards me as I let the arrow go. I watched it smack into his left lung area and the arrow didn't go all the way through. He kicked his back legs and took off running hard! He blew past some tiny trees and I thought the arrow might have broken off. He disappeared over the hill where he did when he was chasing does and then I felt myself exhale. My hands were shaking I was so excited. I knew it was a fatal hit but I didn't know how far he would run since I didn't get full penetration. I gave him 45 minutes and quietly climbed out of my tree. The blood was instantanious. Hair was scattered about and I knew he wouldn't go too far.
I followed the blood trail about 75 yards when I heard twigs snapping and I thought I might have busted him and my heart sank. Turns out it was a pheasant hunter and his dog walking through the timber. What they were doing I have no clue but he backed out and I continued looking for blood. I found my arrow that must've fallen out and then the blood really started pumping.
It wasn't but another ten or fifteen yards that there was a bunch of mud and a huge pool of water about a foot deep. Sure enough, I looked out into the middle of it and there he lay. Just his left antlers were sticking up, I was so excited! I drug him out of the water and snapped this picture, it shows how much he was spraying.
I called my girlfriend and she came back to help me take pictures. It was a two mile drag out through thick grass and there was no way I was going to be able to actually drag him. I called my Dad and he drove the two hours over from Iowa City with a deer cart to help me drag him out. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, but it was such a rewarding feeling. This is the first deer I have killed with my new Black Widow PSA and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is my second "Traditional" buck and so far I guess both have been really nice deer. I have been very fortunate. Traditional archery is awesome! I could never think of going back to training wheels, I'm hooked for good on this stuff! Thanks for all of your help and advice guys!
He has ten countable points and a really thick neck. His back is all scared up from fighting and he has a hole through his right ear. He was a fighter, and I'm very proud to have taken such a stud buck! Thanks for listening to my story! Keep flinging arrows!!!
-Nate
Nate, Congrats bud....please resize this pic to no more than 640 wide...thanx
Topic: Black Widow Bites a Big One (Read 6228 times)
