I raised my bow as he walked behind a tree. I put tension on the string and readied myself. My foot shuffled on a leaf and the buck stopped and looked at me again. I froze at ¼ draw, waiting for my chance. The buck walked forward into my opening, slightly quartering to me as he made his way into the woods with me. I drew back and focused on my walking target as it moved through the opening.
I would guess I had held my anchor for maybe a second before the arrow was on its way. My bow was quiet and my arrow swift and true. The arrow blew through the deer without it ever knowing what happened. The deer made a few strides back into the field and stood there. I grabbed my binoculars and watched. It stood there with its head down, obviously hit hard. After standing for awhile it stiffly walked 10 steps and bedded down right in the field. I quietly snuck over to Duane to assess the situation.
Two more big bodied bucks moved through the full moon lite field as Duane and I talked over what had happened. He could not believe what he had just witnessed. We were both stoked about the event. It was hard to comprehend that I had just gone face to face with a big mad buck. I realized than what an amazing event I had just encountered.
We watched the buck and saw that his head was down and he had not moved for quite some time. I wanted to back out for several hours, but Duane was quite convinced the deer was long dead. With that we decided to slowly approach the deer with bows ready. Our bows were not needed, as he was quite dead indeed. It was then that I finally got to see just what he was. His one side was a regular 5 point side. The other was a crazy heavy beam with small points and the start of a 3rd beam coming out of its brow tine. This 3rd beam flowered into 3 points at the top. With that it made 13 points total, and it was by far the most character laden buck I have ever shot. His body was huge and he was without question a mature buck.
I had wondered why he had stood so long in the field before going down, as I felt I had made a perfect shot behind the shoulder. Upon autopsy we found that the shot had been more quartering to me than I had realized. I had hit the bottom of one lung and solidly into the liver. I silently said a prayer, thanking the Lord for the amazing night he had gifted to us.
We field dressed the buck and picked him up with the car. On the way home I started to have second thoughts. The rut was just starting and I would likely have chances at better deer. Had I made the right decision? I hung him up in the barn and went to bed. It was a late night and I was exhausted.
This morning I woke up and decided to get some pictures of the buck before I skinned it and took it to the processor to be made into bologna and hot dogs. As I walked into the barn I got my first day time glimpse of the buck. He was much better than I had realized the night before. He was very thick with very heavy mass and awesome points and character.
It wasn’t until than that I realized what I beautiful buck I had harvested. I instantly said a prayer, praying my sorrow for my doubts the night before and thanking the lord for such a beautiful animal he had gifted me. I prayed not only the animal, but the ability for us to enjoy Gods County, watching the wild life or a beautiful morning sunrise. I gave thanks for such great times we get to spend with our friends and families. Don’t ever forget just how truly blessed we are. It all started as a deer hunt, but it ended as so much more….. God Bless, SS
My equipment: 58# super Kodiak with an axis 340 arrow and 200 grain Grizzly single bevel. This is my first big game harvest with a grizzly and I am really loving them.
Topic: AWESOME EVENING!! (Story and Pics added) (Read 1745 times)
