Time to punch my Kansas buck tag!! (Hard work and a little luck pays off "RECOVERED")

[K.S.TRAPPER]

First off, I hate to post a thread about any lost deer and I have had many conversation's with all of my Tradgang buddy's about this exact thing. Yes, I know it happens but ammunition is ammunition for the anti's. My buds don't even know I'm posting this thread sorry guys.

  But this is something I need to do, This has been a very special season for me with Mr. Lamb finding the time to come over and hunt with me and my son not once but twice!! How can it get any better then that           :D           Charlie brought me a wonderful Hill style Sunbear bow he made that we had talked about. Unreal!!

         

  I can shoot the bow like no other bow I have ever shot, Maybe it's the awesome doug fir arrows Treekiller made me or the special gift from Charlie I don't know but its unreal how that bow feels in my hands. So my goal for the rest of this season was to take a buck with this bow.

It's been a long buck season so far, I chased a big buck around for about a month that I put Charlie on while he was here. But like they say "They don't get big from being dumb"

         


 I have been after him for a few years now and he always give me the slip. Good seed I guess!!

 I am sad to report that another hunter shot him Friday so it will be sad to not see him on my trail cams and field photo's anymore.                                           RIP buddy!!                       I will be watching out for your off spring.

After he disappeared I headed up to one of my favorite spots in the big timber and was immediately into deer. Trail cams were set and some nice bucks were posing for pictures in no time. Charlie came over hunted and was back home before I knew it but that's on another thread.

Right before Charlie got here I passed up a big ol mature buck that had been busted up something fierce from fighting. I was able to get some video of him that day and looked over it and never could figure what buck it was. All I know is he had 6 pts on the left side and 5 pts on the right. Later I would catch him in the trail cams.

         

Tracy

[steadman]

RIP Muley Buck!!

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Last Friday morning was quite cold 16 deg. But I had my camo fleece sleeping bag and was very comfortable on the stand. I had seen some really good bucks all week and the were chasing does all over the place so there was no way I wasn't going to be out there cold or not this could be the day to break in the new bow.

A little after 7:00am a buck came across the creek nose on the ground and was within 50 yds before I knew it. I could see immediately it was the broken up buck and he was on a mission headed strait for a small pond behind me a couple hundred yards. He walked right by one of my broken up blinds that I haven't used since Guru was here a few years ago and I was thinking I need to get another blind and replace that piece of junk. It sure would be a little warmer in it then up here in the 5 deg wind.  

Tracy

[kennym]

I know that feeling Tracy! Kinda sad.....

There will be more tho,stay with em!  

[Mudd]

[xtrema312]

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Broken up or not I had already decided he was a mature buck and given the chance I would try to shoot him. He was out of sight in no time and I had snort weezed him in last time so this time I would try a chase grunt and see what happens.

There are several scrapes around the pond including one big main scrape that is in the same spot year after year and that is were one of my trail cams will always be until they stop using it. He went strait for it and right fully so, I had been getting alot of doe picks in this scrape and they were all marking it.

In a three shot group of picks he checked the licking branch above the scrape and was moving on quickly as mature bucks do.

   

I had a big buck named "Hook" by Ryan Steadman last year come by me a few days before and when he was about a 100 yds away I gave him a grunt and man he looked like a race horse running away with his tail between his legs. What the heck!! They never do that around here, Not the big bucks.

Anyway, I gave this buck a few minutes before I did the chase grunt and you can see by this pick he must have liked what he heard. He is looking directly were I was sitting but out of his sight.

   

Tracy

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I was in a ceder tree and had no shot behind me but was straining looking through the branches trying to spot him. Alright!! Here he comes strait up the logging road and if he stays on course that would bring him right by me at 6 yds.

I did grab the camera and turned on the video for a short moment but saw how fast he was coming and said no way I'm going to mess this up this ones for Charlie and quickly hung it back up.

On he came ears back all hairs standing on end trying to look as big as he could, Pausing a couple times to look and listen for the intruder then ears back down and stiff legged walking strait to me not knowing what lay in wait in  the branches above him. Here's his view coming in.

 

Tracy

[K.S.TRAPPER]

He did pause one last time, Looked strait up at me and I was thinking o man this is not good!! Here is what he saw minus me and my camo sleeping bag.

 

  Then just as fast he quickly dropped his stare lowered is head and ears as was on his way again. It's funny how fast everything happens in such a short time, I was able to wait for him to walk behind a small tree draw my bow pick a spot and watch my arrow pass completly through him about 2 inches below and 2 inches back were I was aiming.

Tracy

[K.S.TRAPPER]

My first thought was Dead deer!! My second thought was just a little low and a little back but good.

  He kicks like a mule and takes off only to stop about 40 yds away, I'm thinking he's going to go down right there. You never know how far a deer will run after shooting them with a arrow and I have seen everything I thought after 35 years of bow hunting.

  The logging road is higher then the base of my stand so I was probably 9ft off the ground at the shot so the little lower shot shouldn't hurt anything. Here is were the arrow went through.

 

  He didn't drop and started to walk away only to stop shortly there after. I did watch him bed and his head go down. I finally looked down at were I had shot him and there lay most of the arrow.

 

I could clearly see a massive blood trail with and without the bino's.

 

 So I waited a hour before getting out of the tree and resisting checking out the arrow or blood trail still thinking I had a great shot but feeling weird about the bucks reaction. I went to get my son to help me get him out and waited a couple of hours just to make sure.

Tracy

[K.S.TRAPPER]

We picked up the blood trail and it's as good as I have ever followed coming out of both sides. at the first place he stopped this is what we saw.

 

  It was like this all the way to the bed but he wasn't in it and I saw this from quite a distance with the bino's but was hoping he was in the wash out beside it. No such luck!!

  We did find his trail 50 yds up the hill and it was still good but he was on the move and never stopped again. I will say we trailed that buck across 2 more property's that I have permission to be on and it went down to nothing. We looked the rest of the day and went back and re-tracked everything after finding the bed the next day.

I played this over and over in my head and didn't get the best sleep most of the week. I went back two more times and the whole time getting text and calls from my Tradgang buddy's( Thanks guys) Giving me positive comments as best they could. I have talked to the landowners and told them of the bad situation and they were understanding, This is the first time I have had to tell them something like this is 18 years of hunting this spot.

Tracy

[rastaman]

Tracy, that is just incredible!  i feel your pain...   :(

[K.S.TRAPPER]

So I pick back up hunting this weekend and finally replaced that crummy old blind and put a very nice and large blind to accommodate my long bows. We will name this blind Motel #7 because we already have a Motel #6      :D      


 We had checked the cams late in the week and some fantastic bucks were there almost everyday. One was not broken up at all and had been around through the whole season. Must be a lover not a fighter, This buck ended up giving me a great shot at 12 yards but I didn't take it!!

     

     

  I wonder what this guys going to look like next year!!

  Something just didn't feel right about the hunting this time and my failure to recover this fine deer so I feel there is something I must do.

  Buck tag punched!!

     


  My season is not over, I will continue to look for this buck until it is and we like to shoot are does late and turkeys are open so now I will turn my attention toward them. Thanks for following along.
                         

Tracy

[silvertip73]

Awesome story, sorry for the loss of your deer.  If you hunt long enough things like this happen and we can all feel your pain!  Classy move punching the tag!

[steadman]

Time to kill them old does, so they don't bust me next year    
Still feel your pain bud!

[jhg]

 ...Something just didn't feel right about the hunting this time and my failure to recover this fine deer so I feel there is something I must do.

  Buck tag punched!!

   

[/QB]

Man, do I ever respect that gesture! A code of honor. A statement of commitment. It is taking responsibility for what happened in a very real way.  Giving up a tag like that is no small act. When lip service seems the norm what you have done Tracy has solidly earned my admiration and respect.

Joshua

[glass76]

Sorry you didn't get your buck.

[Follower]

My hat is off to you bro!

[Hookeye]

I can understand the upset of having an intended target and somebody else getting it before I did, but the "rifle" comment IMHO was unneccessary.

We should be glad for other hunters' success as they should be of ours.

As for the tag being "punched", I know of a lot of hunters who consider a lost animal "tagged". BTW, quite a few are gun hunters.

When I first started deer hunting I used to get a bit bent about others' success on deer I was after. But I eventually started seeing bigger deer, and learned that any decent buck has probably got offspring around.

Read: worst case- wait 2 yrs and kill a bigger one.

[Whip]

In this very serious pursuit that we undertake things don't always go as we planned.  The margin for error is so small, and even when things go almost exactly as you hoped the results sometimes cannot be explained.  

I applaud your effort and follow through to do everything humanly possible to recover the buck.  And the gesture of punching the tag is above and beyond. You are a man of integrity Tracy, and all bowhunters can learn from your example.  I have always had high respect for you, and this just confirms how right I was.