Manitoba November...Tall Tines in hand.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

I'm sure many bowhunters can understand my feeling of sadness as I put my arrow back in my quiver this evening concluding my 2012 whitetail season. As I often do on the last night out, I took note of the various opportunities I have been blessed with this month.

Tonight was a great evening, as I saw 6 different bucks (all 2 1/2 or younger) that all show very good potential for future years. Nothing like ending the season with sighting of future prospects. One of the deer in particular was a beautiful 5x5 with forked brow tines (6X6 I guess) that was likely 130"s for those that relate with scores. The only problem is that 1/2 his rear end was either blown or chewed off....hope he lives!

All in all, November has been quite slow here. Besides the 1st few days of the month and today, the season has been sub par for the effort put in. That said, I haven't hunted nearly as much as previous years due to my need to party hunt. You see, here in Manitoba you can still hunt after you fill your tag, as long as you are within earshot of your hunting partner who has an unused tag. Finding places to set up within 100-150 yards of one another has been tough....especially playing the wind and not trying to ruin each others hunt.

I guess the obvious thing here is that my tag got filled earlier in the season, and I've been holding out on "the gang".

[huntingarcher]

Well,the best thing to do now is tell us everything.  

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Rewind to spring,,,,, My new bows arrived as Brian Wessel rolled into bear camp. Of the 3 I ordered I immediately fell in love "my pretty bow". Long riser made of rosewood? and spalted maple, with a checkered grip made slightly lower wrist than normal. The bow has medium limbs making it 62"s and #56@28 which are myrtle with sheep horn tips. This thing is a dream to shoot!

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

I know I'm not doing a good job of camouflaging the deer. Focus on the bow people!

[SheltonCreeker]

I'm hooked......  

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Well my season started way later than usual. The deer season opens here in August and runs straight through until the beginning of December.  Seems as though everything I owned seemed to break at least once from Sept into Oct leaving me with a truck in the shop and bills to pay. Selling some bows helped take care of the bills but didn't give me that part of the season back.

Finally hit the woods with trail cameras and stands on Oct. 25 with plans to start hunting Nov. 1st. I would be on vacation from the end of October until Nov.27th ...... gotta love a firefighters schedule! My first hunt was great, passing on some young bucks, does and fawns, and getting to watch lots of chasing and vocalizations. I think I had deer around for more of the sit than not...great 1st hunt!

The area I'm hunting has no agriculture but is rather just wilderness. Using open clear cuts to funnel deer, and local cottagers feeding programs, is key in patterning deer movement. That said, big woods hunting is the furthest thing from "patterned" hunting. Baiting deer is illegal here so hunters need to stay over 800 yards from any known food placed for deer consumption.

[Steelhead]

"my pretty bow"No doubt about that

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

As most hunters, the wind dictates where I'll be going each day. My hopes were to hunt some public ground for day 2 (Nov.2nd) as it's an area near a cottage subdivision that always holds deer. The reason I like to hunt it early is that the terrain is great for rattling and calling, as well as it needs to be hunted before the cottagers begin feeding the deer. The time frame varies, but a certain lot of cottages order almost ten thousand pounds of birdseed each November for the deer to eat. Without negative intentions, the cottagers make the surrounding 1/2 mile illegal to hunt after the feed is delivered.

As it turned out, the wind did not let me hunt where I wanted which left me going to an old faithful South wind stand on the north edge of a 20 acre meadow. The meadow comes to a point on the north end making it like an inside corner, with the typical deer trails converging 50 yards into the woods off of the corner as the deer skirt the meadow.

Climbed into the stand at 1pm....hoisted up the "pretty bow", nocked an FMJ400 with a 200gr. VPA Terminator, and sat down to enjoy the evening. The temp. was slightly below freezing with a gentle SE wind. The area is all poplar trees which made wearing Skyline camo a must.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

2:30 pm a doe approaches from the SE looking back where she came. Moments later a small 4X4 (1 1/2 year old) follows her trail 10 yards from my tree. They both notice I'm there but are not bothered by the foreign object in the tree.

An hour later I hear a very deep grunt from the east, followed by the sound of a fast trotting deer. A second loud (and very deep) grunt proves he's moving north quickly. The pace of the trotting makes me stand quickly and grab my bow as I look left hoping to get a glance of the buck. Within a couple of seconds he changes his course and is headed straight for me. He then cuts south and then west again in a zig zag pattern. He's now coming straight at me again....and closing fast. At about 12 yards he stops dead in his tracks and looks up at me. (this is all happened so fast I've had no time to get excited.....his behaviour is so aggressive and I haven't even called or rattled yet) I hold my breath for a couple seconds and he relaxes and continues walking.

[SheltonCreeker]

Good stuff! Still hooked.....

[Ryan Sanpei]

[Jayrod]

I am waiting patiently...awesome story..PICS??

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

G'morning! Must apologize for my lack of pics compared to some TGer's. I'm sure many would appreciate the terrain and how the off white Skyline blends in with the white trees and sky.

So the deer continues walking from my left to right and his current path will put him through my shooting lane at 15 yards. I take advantage of clump of poplars as he walks behind them and I come to flu draw. The lane is only a deer and a half wide so I know I must quickly pick a spot and make the shot. I'm not a fan of stopping deer so right on cue he steps out at a slow walk. I focus just above his elbow and instinctively let go. As the string rolls off my fingertips he begins to turn down my lane towards me. It seemed to happen in slo-mo as the arrow struck him down through the back angling towards his back left quarter.

My 1st thought was "oh no" as he exploded out of there making a big hook towards the meadow. Convinced I saw blood squirt out on impact made me hope that this wasn't going to be a tracking job that needed to wait until tomorrow.

60 yards out the buck stopped....looked back over his left shoulder and fell over. REALLY.....Did that just happen? I thought to myself "I usually have to hunt 50 times before I get a shot."

[pete p]

awesome, looking forward to the rest of the story!

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

a short wait I climbed down, verified that there was blood on impact, and followed the route the buck took. 10 yards in I found the back of the arrow.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

10 yards further I found the VPA.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

20 yards further I could see him.  

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

[buckeye_hunter]

     

Handsome buck and great story!

[oldskool]