Sasquatch Likes Heights & My Biggest Buck

[Bowwild]

This is a story about my largest buck with a recurve.

This has been an unusual season for me. Usually by now I've hunted 20-25 times.  I've had a motivation problem this year. My 7th hunt of the year concluded on Tuesday, November 6th (yep, that Tuesday). Don't know if it is work (which I love most of the time), uninspired scouting, or a hunting trip this past August?

Oh well, everything has worked out ok.

Last year I hunted with a Habu and had good success. Like I have since I returned to recurves three years ago, I shot a varieity of bows all year until mid-July.  I had been planning on hunting with a new Bacote Habu curve that I bought from Mike Walker in January.  However, Kirk at BigFoot finished my Sasquatch in July.  

I love the bow because it fits me great, is my quickest shooter, and I have confidence in it. Oh, and it is almost as nice to look at as the fall landscape. It is 47@26" and 60" long. The riser and back are BW Ebony. It has a Bear Compass imbedded below the grip.

I killed my first deer of the year, a button buck on a Saturday morning in September. That buck was one of 4 that approached my Lone Wolf stand locked in an Eastern Red Cedar.  They walked along a trail to a point about 7 yards from me.  

I was going to shoot the lead Doe but when she arrived broadside, about 4 yards from my tree, she got spooky. She turned back the way she came. That slow, stiff-legged stalk-away that lets you know she was getting suspicious. The three trailing deer, another adult doe and two fawns, stopped and watched her walking back among them. Then they reluctantly all started to slowly reverse their course.

When all the deer were looking away I drew and shot the rearmost and closest one.  He (BB)took off like a rocket when the arrow hit. He sped right past my tree, made a left hook and crashed at the base of an oak about 30 yards away. I could see my Beman MFX laying in the leaves where he had been standing.

The other deer ran out about 30-35 yards the opposite direction and just stared back where the ruckus had occurred. They took forever to amble off.

This was my 4th deer in three years with a single-bevel Helix.

Below is a picture of the Bigfoot hanging on a hook in my double-stemmed cedar. Some of you may recall three of my deer from the last two years -- all came from this tree!

   

[Ryan Sanpei]

Kirk builds some sweet bows!!!

[rastaman]

Beautiful bow!

[Big Ed]

And???

[Bowwild]

That Button was taken on hunt #3 of my season which had opened, 3 weeks prior on September 1st.

I saw deer the next 3 hunts in October and early November. I was out of town/country for most of October working and visiting my daughter's family. I only had one more deer in bow range during that span. He was a 4-point which walked on the same trail. I passed him as he stood in the same spot as the BB in September. I have a nice 14 second video clip of that deer.

Here's a photo taken from this Cedar stand. The sharp-eyed among you will notice that I'm hunting from an old model Loggy Bayou.  You'll also see I was using a cocobolo Habu curve in this picture. My son took the pic last season.


 

[Bowwild]

Oh, don't hit the Tab button when writing these posts. I just lost about 20 minutes.

Here goes again...

On Election Day afternoon I decided I need a respite from the electioneering.  I left the house for the 1/2-mile drive to my parking spot by my son's house adjacent to 120 acres we have hunted for 10 years.

As I left the truck I wondered if should I hunt the Cedar Road stand or the Cedar Fence stand?  I hadn't hunted the road (woodland 2-track)stand all year but I had already killed a deer from the Cedar Fence and I hadn't hunted it since Halloween. I headed for the Cedar Fence.

After about 300 yards I opened and closed the gate and walked another 200 yards to my stand. My trail camera caught my picture. I've climbed this stand WAY too many times (read--overhunted?)over the past 5 years but I love it. It's in a fenceline of eastern red cedar trees which provide great season-long cover even after the decidious trees have revealed my secrets.

Once in the Lone Wolf, about 16' up, I strapped my pack behind me, hung my Safari Tough on a limb and my Sasquatch curve on it's hook. It was about 3PM. It was a calm and just slightly cool evening.

The squirrels kept me entertained and sometimes annoyed for the next two hours. It is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the prying eyes of three grey squirrels denned in the tree adjacent to me!  They poke their noses, then eyes out the hole and look for ME!  I try not to move, but eventually I blink one too many times and they began their excited humming "gotcha".  I didn't alarm them much and they bailed to the ground in search of acorns they hadn't buried yet after just a couple of minutes.

Around 5:15PM I heard what sounded like a double buck grunt from about 60-70 yards south deeper in the woods. There was so much squirrel activity (why do I always have to look?)I couldn't discern deer walking. Of course with my hearing these days if the deer is further than 30-40 yards I don't think I can hear them anyway.

I couldn't find a deer. But I did start paying a bit more attention to the south.

At 5:30PM I heard the grunt again. This time I was sure it was a buck. I did a slow scan to the south, seeing nothing I took the bow from it's hook. I didn't stand because I can shoot seated just fine on the right side where the deer was sounding off.

I watched for 10 minutes and saw nothing but I was sure that some of the leaf rustling wasn't from squirrels. Then I saw the Doe. She was on a slow walk directly along a trail that would parallel me through my furthest shooting window at 21 yards. I killed my first recurve deer in 34 years from that spot after laying the compound down in 2010. I didnt want the buck to be on this trail. I had been spoiled by 10-15 yard shots and that was the "gimmee" that I wanted.

She stepped right in the window but I could hear walking behind her. I didn't even consider shooting the Doe. She move on and then I saw bits and pieces of the buck coming next in line.

He bore a tall, mildly heavy rack with more points than I had the stomach to attempt counting at that moment. The biggest buck I had ever killed with a recurve was my first, a 5-point back in 1970, so I wanted this one.

He was going to follow the Doe to that 21-yard spot. I thought, phooey, "can I do it?"  Then, "sure I can" and "I will if that's the best I can get". As he was headed he would go behind an oak about a body length from the shooting window.

As he stepped behind that tree I drew.  He stopped!  Uh, oh. Not knowing how long he would remain behind the tree, I had to let down. By the way, it is much easier to execute a controlled-let down with a recurve than those other bows!

He was looking forward towards the Doe he followed.

Then, instead of continuing to look at the Doe and step forward, he saw or heard one of "my" squirrels that was between him and I.  He looked at the squirrel and then started walking right (his Left) towards it...and me! I couldn't believe it, the squirrel was going to improve my odds!

He kept coming and again I decided to slowly draw (I'm a very deliberate, form-conscious archer)as he walked behind a tree. He stopped again.  I hadn't gotten to full-draw so I stopped, considered freezing at half-draw, but then let down for the 2nd time.  He started walking again and I could see he was moving to towards a spot between three small trees about 8 yards from the base of my cedar in the exact spot where I've killed 3 deer with 3 different recurves! I have a lot of confidence in that spot.

Below is a picture of those three trees. If you follow my arrow shaft to the Helix, the broadhead is pointed at the spot this deer will stop again.

     

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Alright , alright.........
,,Sam,,

[Bowwild]

Here's a pic of the quiver. I just bought it from a Trad Gang Sponsor special offer several weeks ago. I like it better than the bow quivers I had been attaching straps to and carrying in the woods. I don't like a bow quiver on my bow when I shoot.

This was my first time using this type of quiver and it worked great!  The arrows are well-protected and it is easy to carry. I probably couldn't snake a 2nd shot out of the quiver as fast as I can snap one from a bow quiver but I probably just need more familiarity.

 

[PaPa Ron]

Good story, but when do we read the results we are waiting to read. Too much suspense LOL

[Bowwild]

This is it. Sorry for stringing this out but I've been waiting 7 days for the picture in this thread to get from my son's camera to this laptop!

As I relaxed the string from half-draw I froze with the buck. He was still looking towards the Doe. I hadn't seen her since I spotted the buck so I had no idea where she went except...away...I hoped. Had she stopped out front 20-30 yards she probably would have caught me drawing and relaxing those couple of times.

The buck started to move, I drew and he stepped right in amongst the three little trees. I eye-balled a hole tight at his shoulder and let go of the bow string. I saw the arrow go into the shoulder, heart-high. The arrow didn't pass though but all I could see was a tiny spot, which appeared to be the nock growing out of his shoulder. He blasted straight ahead as fast as he could go.

He disappeared in about 15-20 yards directly in the fence line and I heard him crash.  Then I heard a bit of thrashing. Finally, a deer (the Doe?) blew 2-3 times about 50 yards away. Then all was quiet. It was 5:45PM -- 20 minutes until legal shooting time expired.

I was excited. This was a tall, tight, at least an 8-point mature buck. I was confident he was dead.  I sent a text (3 actually) to my son who didn't respond. He was at his son's basketball practice. I then called my wife but she couldn't tell what I was saying because I was whispering. Yep, did I say I was excited!

I thought I'd wait until 6:15Pm and then climb down and recover the deer. I made it to 6:00PM. I didn't go to the spot where I shot. Instead I walked up the fenceline about 35 yards, staying off the likely trail, and peered in. Nothing. I then walked a few more steps and looked. I saw his rump lying right there 47 yards (I paced later) from where I shot him. I didn't even touch the deer. I just headed to the house.

My son came home at 7PM and he, I and my grandson rode the UTV out to the deer.

The first picture below is one I took with the phone at the recovery spot. The better picture was taken by my son the next morning before I took the deer to the processor.

In all these years I've been fortunate to kill many deer with bows. I've taken a handful better than this one. I've never had a deer mounted. I'm planning to have this deer mounted because it is a recurve buck.

Oh, he is a 9-point with a very narrow rack.

Thanks for reading along.

 

 

[wooddamon1]

Nice, congrats!          

[cacciatore]

Well done Roy,congrats.You dedication is paying off.  

[varmint101]

That's awesome great job!

[DannyBows]

Well Done!    

[Rob W.]

Nice one! Good job.  

[Air Cleaver]

Beauty! And a great story.

[KentuckyTJ]

Great job Roy!

[Oldskool2]

great story and congrats, he is a dandy!!

[Richie]

Very nice  

[BrushWolf]