Yesterday was a great day for hunting. I'd found a buck that was clearly in rut. In a small area he had made numerous scrapes and rubs. Some of the trees he'd worked over were large so I knew he was a very good buck. Tuesday morning was foggy and I was hunting on a bluff overlooking the river. The bluff is filled with red and white oaks, all of which were dropping acorns. The corn fields on the opposite side of the wood lot were cut within the past two weeks so the ground was still littered with corn.
I drove in at 5:15 and was sitting on the stand by 6:00 a.m. It was a still morning with just a slight breezed coming off the river.I patiently waited with eager anticipation, knowing that deer would appear any second. Any second.
One hour passed and then two. Soon it was 9:00 and to my surprise, no deer. At 9:00 I saw movement. Two big longbeards passed in front of me at 40 yards eating acorns. After the turkeys passed I was reinvigorated for the hunt. Fog still filled the trees with a haze. The situation seemed perfect.
At 9:30 a.m. I heard a twig snap to my rear. I turned my head and saw two large does feeding in a deadfall tree. They were extending their necks to reach the green leaves of a vine that grew in the top of the tree. I eased around for a shot but didn't have one right away. As the does fed I picked a lane that I thought would give me a good shot. The doe was going to pass at over 20 yards which I didn't like, I like 10-15 yards shots with the recurve bow, but it was what I was going to get. I readied myself for the shot and she stepped into the lane. I drew and slipped off a great shot. The arrow flew like a dart to the deer, hitting her right behind the shoulder. She exploded forward and then around in front of me. She stopped about 25 yards past me and began to spin then fell.
No sooner had the doe fallen than I heard something on the opposite side of me, coming forward fast. I looked back and saw a big buck looking at the doe. I immediately drew the bow but he stopped behind a tree. I was a full draw and estimated him to be about 25 yards away. He took a couple of steps forward and I let it go. In slow motion I saw the arrow fly direct to the deer. I appeared to hit right in the small ribs, mid body. I suspected a liver shot. He spun and exploded out of the woodlot.
I got down and called friends to come help. I had two deer hit, one down and one that would need to be tracked. After an hour we began the track. We had good blood. He went about 200 yards towards a pond. As we approached the pond he jumped up, went about 50 yards and then disappeared. I told my friend that we should go mark the spot then back out and leave him. We didn't know that he had immediately laid back down.
We moved forward to mark the spot and he got up again. This time he headed out across the, several hundred acre, cut corn field. He was hurt and not moving great but he walked about 200 yards to a fence then disappeared. We noted the spot and left.
We took care of the big doe, which dressed 120# and gave the buck another 3 hours. We contacted the land owner where we last saw him and asked permission to track. He agreed so we began looking. We searched for about an hour and were beginning to worry when Mark Baggett said he was going to go look at a wood lot a bit further on. As he entered the woods a big buck jumped up. He went a ways then disappeared into the brush. Mark didn't know for sure but I assumed it was him. We decided to try and find out so I went to the other end of the woodlot and Mark and Greg Bagwell began slowly pushing through the woods. Within minutes I saw movement then he jumped a fence and came nose to nose with me. He was a very big deer and I could see where I hit him. The shot still looked to be in the back of the ribs but this guy was still going. He spun and ran right back by Greg. This time he headed back to the pond where we originally found him. We saw him walking in and decided to stop for the night.
After a sleepless night worrying about this buck I picked Greg and Keith Vaughn up to go back and look. The deer had now traveled over a mile and was back to his original bed. We walked in at first light. I decided to go straight to the lake. I knew that wounded deer go to water, particularly gut shot deer. As I approached the lake I saw him in the water. I don't know if coyotes pushed him in or he just went in but fortunately the cold water kept him in good shape. I stripped down and went for a freezing dip and retrieved the very nice Tennessee buck.
We hate it when this happens but it is part of hunting. Persistence paid off on this buck. He was an 8 pointer and dressed 180# so I wound up with 300# of deer from that hunt. I shot him with a Bob Morrison riser and Trad Tech Extreme BF 40# limbs. The arrow was an Easton ST Axis with 125 grain Muzzy Phantom broad head.
Topic: Tennessee Double - big buck and doe (Read 1345 times)
