October 30 found me sitting in a cedar tree over looking a trail with multiple scrapes within 20 yards. Deer usually move from west to east toward a cut corn field about 200 yards away. Eventually a forked buck came and worked the scrape 16 yards away, and then a short time later a medium 8-point buck worked the scrape ten yards away. I passed both bucks. As the sun set, I heard more deer including grunts and a soft wheeze from the heavy thickets. I positioned myself for a shot coming in that direction. Soon a nice buck with 9 points, a large body, and swollen neck slipped from the brush walked down the trail. I drew and shot him at 12 yards. I saw the arrow strike high chest as the buck ran down a hill and go east down a grassy service roadway.
I’ve used a tracking string for bear and turkey in the past, but this was the first time I used a string tracker for deer, and I’m glad I installed the Trad Tracker a day earlier. The entire length of string burned from the spindle, stopping, and pausing a couple times toward the end. After a half hour, I climbed down and waited another 15 minutes before following the string. The buck ran 125 yards down the grassy roadway through the timber and cut into a thicket. I did not find any blood following the string but it marked A good trail where the buck ran. Since the thread spooled out empty, I knew the buck ran quite a bit further in the thicket. I left the woods and went back to the farm house, waiting another four hours before taking up the trail.
Upon returning, I found the string that went into the thicket now making a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction. This indicated that the end had broke and another deer walked by with it draped over its shoulders or rack and misplaced my string. I walked it to the end to determine that the buck was therefore in the thicket at least 150 yards. Returning to the trail, I found no blood but followed the running tracks carefully up and down some ridges. Eventually I found the first spec of blood, and then a few more. After two hours of painstaking tracking, I found the end of the string and followed it 20 more yards to the downed buck. The hit was high lungs with no exit hole due to hitting the opposite shoulder, which explains the poor blood. I was very thankful for the truly unexplained decision to use a tracker for the first time on deer.
The buck was mature and weighed 220 dressed, while antlers measured 153 6/8 gross for those interested. I used a Homage bow which is a limited production by Brandon Stahl. It pays homage to Fred Asbell and is a Big Horn replica. Mike
Topic: 9-pointer 2023 -Video Added p. 3 (Read 4402 times)
