Last Saturday morning I decided to go deer hunting where I had been going most of the year. My stand was in a good spot and I was pretty confident that I would see something because every time I had hunted there in the morning on previous hunts I always saw a couple of deer. In that same stand I had already passed on two smaller bucks and a few does. I had no interest in shooting any small bucks or does though. This year I had been waiting for a big buck. It was tough to pass on those smaller bucks but I just had a gut feeling that if I kept waiting I would get a chance at a bigger deer. Plus one of my best friends, Cory, who always shoots big deer, had been telling me all year to pass on smaller deer and I would get a chance at a big one.
When Saturday morning came around I woke at 5:45 A.M. I wanted to be in the woods by 6:18 because that is an hour before sunrise and that’s how early you need to get out there. I got up and went to put on my clothes and unbelievably I found all of my Under Armor in the washer and it was still wet! I wasn’t happy because I knew it was cold outside and I was going to have to wait for my clothes to dry before I could leave for hunting. I finally got dressed by 6:15 but I still had to go get all of my gear and go to the woods.
I walked out to the barn to grab my bow, some doe scent, a bleat call and my dad’s range finder. After cramming all of that stuff into my pockets I headed for the car. I drove down the road to my girlfriend’s house. The field I had been hunting in is across the road from her house behind a large bare corn field, her parents had been letting me park at their house for hunting in that woods. I was hunting in those particular woods because all fall I had been seeing 15 to 20 deer including some large bucks in the corn field in front of the woods every night. I started walking to my tree stand around 6:30. I was definitely late. I got out to my stand location but before I got in it I put out some doe scent in some scrapes that were 20 yards from my stand. I knew the wind was coming from the east so I thought anything coming from the west will smell it and come right to me. This sounded like a really good plan because most of the deer I had been seeing were coming from the west. There is creek bottom that they come out of over there.
I finally got into my stand by 6:50. I got out my dad’s range finder to figure out all of the distances around me. It turns out the scrapes were 25 yards away instead of 20 but I also figured out what trees were within my range for my bow. At around 7:45 I started getting bored. There wasn’t anything moving in the woods so I pulled out my phone and started playing a game. As soon as I started playing one of my new favorite games, I heard a noise behind me. It sounded like a deer so I put my phone away and grabbed my bow. I slowly turned around to see what was behind me. I saw a deer walking through the woods and I saw some antlers on it. It kept moving towards me from behind and I was able to see that it was definitely a shooter buck. The width of its antlers was wider than its ears and I could see at least 8 points so I knew I was going to shoot it if I got the chance. I stood up when the deer wasn’t looking and got ready to shoot. By this time the deer was coming around behind me to the right. When the deer got to about 20 yards away it turned around and then just laid down.
I couldn’t believe what just happened! The buck had no idea I was there and it was going to take a nap 20 yards from me? I decided that I was going to have to shoot it while it was lying down because the deer was facing away from me and if I were to wait for it to stand up it might just start walking away from me. I had a few branches in the way of a clear shot but I thought I could squeeze it in there. The deer was lying mostly angled away from me but it was leaving me a shot at its vitals. I drew my bow back and put it where I thought would be a great shot. I pulled the trigger on my release and the arrow went flying. I saw it hit the buck near its rear quarters and I was instantly upset with myself. I finally got a shot at the big buck I had been waiting for and I blew it.
I knew that if I wanted any chance at finding this deer I had to get out of the woods and hope it bedded down somewhere to die. I packed up all of my stuff and got out of the tree stand. Before leaving the woods though I checked to make sure there was some blood to track and there was.
I walked back to my car and went home to wait. Once I got home it was still pretty early so my parents were still asleep and I couldn’t make much noise. I really wanted to make breakfast to waste some time but I had to wait for my parents to wake up. I watched TV until 9 when they woke up. The first thing I said to my dad was "I blew it." He asked me what happened and I explained to him that I shot a big buck in the butt and we probably wouldn’t be able to find it. I told him my plans were to wait until around 10:30, then go back to the woods and look for the deer. He tried to cheer me up by assuring me we would find it, but I really thought the chances were slim because of the shot I put on it. I was really down on myself, convinced that I messed up a good chance at a nice buck.
When 10:30 finally came around, after all that waiting I got ready to go back to the woods. I put on some camouflage and got my bow. I wanted to have my bow with me incase I ran into the buck and it was still alive. My dad was going to come with me and just stay back about 50 yards while I snuck through the woods looking for the deer.
When we got to the woods I headed for my tree stand. As I approached I saw a buck about 60 yards away. It ran off. My first thought was it was my buck that was still alive and I had just scared it away. I found the blood trail for my buck though and I figured I would follow it. The blood trail started leading the opposite way that the buck I saw went. I continued following it. There was a lot of blood until I got about 150 yards away. At that point the amount of blood was very little. I could only find a drop or two every 5 feet. I followed it into a thicket where I found what looked like a spot where my buck had laid down and slept. I speculated that if the deer wasn’t at this spot, then it must have survived and gotten away. But then I found more blood and followed it about 6 feet. When I looked up and to the right behind some thorn bushes there was a big buck. I ran over to it and saw my arrow sticking out of it and instantly I started freaking out. The buck had run 150 yards and finally died.
I started yelling for my dad to hurry up and get over here. He didn’t know what I had found so I tried to yell that I found it but he didn’t believe me. Eventually he got close enough to see it and he was excited. He ran over and gave me a high five we started checking it out. It was a nice 10 point buck.
I had been yelling so much for my dad to get to me that my neighbor, who was hunting in the woods next to me, heard me yelling and got down from his tree stand to see what was going on. He walked over and saw the buck and knew why I was yelling so much. I apologized for yelling while he was hunting but he was done hunting anyway so it was ok. My dad and I talked to him and he said he could get his 4 wheeler and help us get the deer out of the woods. So while he went to get his 4 wheeler my dad and I began gutting the deer. Gutting the deer is extremely gross so I’ll skip that part. My dad and I dragged the deer to the 4 wheeler trail to wait for my neighbor. My dad left me there to go get the Suzuki samurai and meet me at home. Once my neighbor, Bill, showed up we loaded the deer into a little trailer behind his 4 wheeler and he took me home. I had already called my mom and told her we found the buck so she had called the rest of the family and they all came over to see it. When we pulled into the drive it was like a hero’s welcome for me. My grandparents, uncle, sister, brother in law, girlfriend and best friend all showed up to see my deer. There is nothing like the euphoria of a successful hunt. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day I took my first big buck.
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