Don't know how much of a story I can come up with on this one, but here goes.
As hot as it was yesterday afternoon, I contemplated not even going hunting. I was pressed for time being that this was an after work hunt. I knew that I would really be pushing it if I tried to get set up where I had an encounter with a good buck last Sunday. So, I decided to check out an area closer to the field where I put a camera on Sunday. When I walked in I found a good set of tracks that I knew were fresh, because we just had rain. I decided to sneak up close to this big acre plus size patch of vines that I knew the deer liked to bed and feed in. I wanted to set up to watch trails running parallel to the patch and see in the patch too. I had a nice buck this same time last year that I watched feeding/bedding in that patch and I thought that maybe there could be another one in there this year since I killed the other buck last year.
So this is where going slow and being extremely quiet really paid off. I had my lone wolf assault and two sticks. I really took my time and stayed quiet because I knew that deer could be bedded close. I got all set up and was soaked from sweat of course. By that time it was about 4:30. A little after 5 I heard some rustling and look up to see this buck stand up out of his bed. He was about 60 yards away. He started to stretch and browse and angled away from me. I lost sight of him and sat back down, hoping that maybe he would come my way. It wasn't 5 minutes later and I heard some noise in the vines. I look up to see him trotting my way at 40 yards. So I grabbed my bow, stood up, and turned around since he would be coming past me on the back side of the tree. He had slowed to a walk by then at about 30 yards, and stopped for a few seconds. For some reason he decided to take off trotting again and came right up behind me. He locked up when he caught a slight whiff of me, but it was too late at that point.
At 3 yards, it was a pretty easy shot. At impact, he let out a deep grunt/roar and tore out of there. The shot looked absolutely perfect, but my arrow didn't pass thru. In fact, it looked like almost the whole arrow was sticking out of him when he ran off. But I knew it was from hitting that opposite shoulder because I could see his off side leg flopping. I heard him crash, but couldn't see it. I waited about 20 minutes and climbed down to check for blood. I hadn't walked 20 yards and I could see him laying up ahead. He made it approximately 60 yards. On inspection, my arrow had indeed hit the off side shoulder on impact and completely shattered it.
This is my first recurve buck and I couldn't be happier. Now that both of my statewide tags are filled, I have to wait for gun season before I can go after another buck. I also have my landowner tags that I can shoot another buck with after gun season if I don't kill one then. In the meantime, I have a pregnant wife that I will be serving as full time guide for to help her get a buck. Been a great start to the season, and it's only gonna get better.
Topic: Hey MISSOURI hunters..... (Read 16663 times)
