FullStrutter

Does anyone know of a butcher in the southwest Florida area that I can bring a fat ol hog if I am fortunate this Friday afternoon? Even if you yourself have the capabilities to butcher a hog and would accept the job I will be happy to pay you of course in addition to sharing some of the harvest. Any leads would be greatly appreciated! I will be hunting in the Immokalee area and I live in the Estero area. Anywhere within an hour drive would be the goal for a butchering option. I may even be able to get you in on the property for some hog hunting with me in the near future!! Thanks!! Please email or call my cell instead of responding here or PMing me. I really appreciate it. Scotty Gasparini 8608304817 email: [email protected]

I was thinking 180-200, but a wicked cool looking buck either way. That black is old velvet that never came off

Close guys, green gross score 126 6/8. Beauty of a CT buck! It was private land.

WE FOUND THE BIG BOY! The recovery was a lot tougher than I ever expected it to be, given the outstanding blood trail. We were following it literally running at times, in the dark, with flashlights, it was so heavy. However, I felt that we must pull out when we found the empty bed, whether we jumped him, or his near death feelings caused him to get back up on his last leg of life and run until expiring minutes after getting shot. Either way I knew that bed was a bad sign and we should give it more time. We actually never found another drop of blood this morning. We found him by grid searching for almost 3 hours before stumbling on him in the most unexpected of directions, a solid 150 yards from the bloody bed. When we field dressed him, we found that the arrow sliced a long 1/4" slash right across the top of the close lung, and nearly center punched the far lung. I still have no idea how this beautiful buck went 400 yards but that's what makes hunting these magnificent creatures an awesome challenge...you never know what they are capable of or what they are going to do. Here are a few pics that I figured you guys might want to see! This is the best buck I have ever been part of recovering, enjoying, and celebrating over. Best of all, it was one of my best friends which makes it really special, he is on the right in the first pic. Enjoy! Scotty Any guesses on gross green score? We scored him! He is a monster for Connecticut.

Anyone that has the morning available to help track, another one of my friends shot a BIG 10 pointer this evening. Felt it was a double lung. So we pursued after giving it way more than enough time of 2 hours. Not so, we followed great blood for a couple hundred yards, heavy blood, bubbly lung blood, never found the arrow, but did find a bed. When we hit the bed, blood all over it and in it on both sides, we pulled out, that was 30 minutes ago. We will continue on the track from the bed tomorrow morning at first light. We GPS'd it. Any and all help would be appreciated. Please call my cell if you would like to join the tracking/search effort: Scott: 860.830.4817 It is in Wallingford. Thanks guys.

Hi guys, thanks so much for all the info, I learned a lot from this thread, even though we spent 5 hours looking for this buck, after waiting 5 hours, with no luck The blood trail petered out after about 350-400 yards, no beds, and not a really great trail except for a 50-100 yard stretch in the beginning where it was dripping pretty good and he stopped a couple times and dripping blood "pooled up". The blood ended after we found a part of the arrow, a middle section broken off with no broadhead...weird. It was a 6" section, that, coupled with the end of the arrow found within 25 yards of the shot, left the front 5" including the broadhead MIA. Interestingly enough, after finding the piece of arrow, the blood stopped completely, we search every direction he could have possibly went for hundreds of yards on hands and knees, slowly and deliberately. I believe he pulled that broken section of arrow out with his mouth and licked the wound closed, either that or it fell out and he felt it fall out and the wound that was being kept partly open from the arrow closed and/or he helped lick it closed. He was angling uphill slightly the entire time. This fact, coupled with the fact that he went that far at all without bedding down, not a great blood trail for the most part, and was never pushed, leads me to believe it was a non lethal hit and he will survive. We grid searched heavily for hours in all directions after losing the bloodtrail. My friend may go back tomorrow with more help for one final look, but I'm not convinced it will yield anything. One other point to mention...after seeing the situation for myself I believe the buck was more like 23-28 feet below the release of the arrow, not 30-35 as previously mentioned. Strangely enough, I think I feel at least as bad or even worse than my friend, one of my best friends in the world...I wanted nothing more for him than to find this once in a lifetime monster Connecticut buck. I was surprised to see how bummed and depressed I felt after coming to the conclusion that we probably were not going to find the deer. Thanks again, I appreciate all the feedback and discussion generated. After thoughts?

One of my best friends just arrowed a P&Y class buck in CT about an hour ago. Here are the situation variables: -20 yard shot -perfectly broadside, arrow entered directly middle of vitals, just high -deer standing still -21 feet up in a climber -deer 10-15 feet below base of tree (hillside) -65lb draw weigh -4 blade 1" 100gr slick trick broadhead -hit:HIGH - one to two inches below spine -arrow did NOT fully penetrate, sticking out slightly on opposite side -good blood trail, starting close to shot, no froth Possible one lunger?? How long to wait before tracking? 2hrs? 4hrs? 6hrs? 8hrs? Go back tomorrow morning? This is a 200+ pound monster buck. This a dead deer? Thanks!

Hey guys, does anyone have any experience with this company? Or, more specifically, with this actual sight? Any comments on the Hogg wrap? I have read great things about these sights, but only in the user reviews on cabelas. Lastly, how about this sight (Spot-Hogg Right On Sight) compared to the Spot-Hogg SDP7 Sight? What makes the SDP7 $50 more? It seems the Hogg wrap is an amazing light gathering system that this company has developed. Regardless of which sight I go with, I think I'd definitely get the hogg wrap. I truly appreciate any feedback!

I just counted a few weeks ago. This Spring will be my 10th Spring hunting gobblers and I'm gunning for my 29th currently.

Hey guys, I am heading up to my NY turkey camp this weekend and I was wondering if anyone has found or heard of anyone finding morels yet in NY? I live right near Cobleskill, NY. thanks! strutter

Hey turkey girl.... check your PM's... I sent you a message! I left you my email address, fire me an email cuz I have some info for you!

WOW... either you: A) don't hunt much/put your time in during the turkey season B) historically haven't had much of a turkey population around where you live/hunt C) don't scout nearly enough or D) are a lousy hunter! (A) seems to be the only viable possibility since I hunt in upstate New York a lot and the turkey population is incredible all over the place. This is agreed upon by most people that hunt anywhere in NY. This post indicates that you scout, so C is out. I have read other posts from you, and IIRC you are a pretty decent hunter. So.......... I am absolutly confused on how in the world you have not seen a longbeard in 4 years, or a strutter in 7+!!!!!!!!????????????? I think the variable is time spent in the woods. I would venture to say you are a weekend hunter, and only hunt turkeys maybe 4 days in the Spring. The reason I can make this conjecture is because I spend an average of 18 mornings in the woods during the month of May between CT and NY, and I see dozens of strutters/longbeards every Spring. I'd also venture to guess that you don't have anyone to hunt with like Dad, Gramps, a friend, etc. You just don't spend that many years hunting turkeys with someone that knows what they are doing and not shoot a mature longbeard in 7+ years. My father taught me from a very young age that success in the field is directly related to amount of time spent in the field. This is so very true. Good luck not only seeing, but shooting your first gobbler in many years this spring!

Re: Florida Osceola Turkey Hunt! Thanks for all the congrats guys! It was a sweet hunt and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Can't wait for CT's and NY's seasons, less than a month now!! As promised, here are some more scenery shots that I took. I really loved hunting that terrain! Bald Eagle, there were TONS down there!

What a heck of an experience this trip was! We arrived into camp on Sunday afternoon March 18th, around 4:30PM. I met the outfitter of the camp, Ratso as he was called, and he showed us the camp trailor where my Dad and I were going to stay. It was the same one my Dad and his friends stayed in last time they came two years ago. It was named the Hog-a-day Inn... ...and it was one of several that were located in camp. Here is a shot of where we stayed. After unpacking and getting settled in, we asked Ratso for some targets and where we could throw a few patterns through the shotguns since this was our first hunt of the season and I always like to make sure it was where I left it last spring. I also had picked up some new Xtended Range Hi-Density 3.5" #4's at the local Bass Pro Shops superstore the day before and wanted to see how they shot through my gun. After a 30 minute patterning session, both my Dad and I were sighted in and ready to go. We met up with Ratso, Charlie, and Brad who were all across camp in the outdoor cooking area. They were also guides in camp employeed by Ratso. We all went on a ride to roost some birds and do some looking around the area. The scenery was really beautiful and nothing like I had ever hunted in before. The local wildlife was different and really cool to see... some cranes: We ended up seeing over 30 turkeys including 15+ jakes, 10 in one bachelor group, and 4 or 5 mature gobblers in different areas. Talk about being over-run with turkey action! With the afternoon temps still in the low 70's, we watched the southern sun set out across a cow pasture and then headed back to camp for some grub. Back at camp, fried turkey nuggets... and fried frog legs were on the menu!! They were awesome! I have had them once or twice before, but these were wicked good. They had a big pot sized, gas-fired deep fryer and it did the job nicely. After dinner, we all hung around the big campfire right near the outdoor kitchen/dining area drinking ice cold brews and strategizing. Ratso had the gameplan set, and he was fixing to bring both my Dad and I to this blind that they called "Ace in the hole". It hadn't been hunted at all this year and he said there were 5 or 6 mature longbeards in the general vincinity. He said that it was a blind that produced time and time again, and the goal was for us to shoot a double on the same hunt... something my Dad and I had never attempted before. With that, we headed off to bed around 11:00PM and I slept like crap. I kept waking up every hour, restless, and excited like crazy. At one point around 3:00AM I remember getting up to get a bottle of water out of the cooler across the room and my Dad was awake too. He said "Cant sleep?" and I said "Nope, too excited", to which he replied "when this kind of pre-hunt anxiety ends, it's time to give this stuff up". Amen to that! Morning finally came, and Ratso barged into our trailor hooting perfect notes of a barred owl as our wake up call! It was excellent. I was already awake anyways so I was out of bed super quick. Within 20 minutes we were all geared up and met Ratso by the kitchen for a quick bite to eat, some hot tea, and we were off. Fiteen minutes later found us a few miles away down some dusty dirt roads on one of his leased ranches. We parked the truck and only had about a 200 yard walk around a big hammock of trees and across a 10 acre mowed field to get to the blind. One of the things I was really excited to see in action was Ratso's homemade decoy that I nicknamed bubba. It was a fully mounted gobbler with a jake tailfan that attached to fishing line that he could raise and lower at anytime. He set the deek spread out and we got settled in the blind. It wasn't long before I heard my first gobble of 2007 hammered off from a couple hundred yards away. Pretty soon hens were chiming in, clucking, yelping, cutting, and gobblers were sounding off from all around. There must have been at least 4 toms gobbling all from within a 1/4 mile of our setup. Hopes were high as we listened to the predawn woods ring with the sound of nature's king. It was indeed a great chorus with all the local songbirds contributing equally. I just sat there and smiled taking it all in. Dawn broke and shortly after more muffled gobbles indicated birds were on the ground. We called loud and aggressively as Ratso suggested and battled several hens that couldn't have been 100 yards away behind us. A short time passed and some hens entered the field down the field edge to our left about 80 yards away and fed slowly, comfortably. We were hoping a gobbler was tagging along, but it was still early in the season and not all hens were accounted for yet. They meandered through our spread eventually and continued on to our right, through the field. About that time we were surprised with a booming gobble that sounded directly in front of us across the meadow which was only about 75 yards wide. We glassed and glassed but couldn't see anything in the tall grass the our mowed portion backed up to. Then alas a fan pops up from somewhere in the grass and we could only see the tips of the feathers... but it was a strutter! He moved from right to left and dissappeared, all the while we were calling softly and Ratso was working that moving tail like a champ! It was only a matter of minutes before not one but TWO gobblers materialized out of the tall straw grass. At first glimpse they looked like jakes potentially, but soon we verified they both had long beards and were both shooters! As they moved in towards the spread I started shaking and hundreds of thought were going through my mind. Such things as are they both takers, which one do I want, are they going to get close enough, are they going to present shots to both of us, are they going to separate to offer two clean shots, when do I shoot, is this going to work!?!?!? etc etc my mind was flooded with adrenaline and anticipation as they determindedly worked right towards us, 70 yards, 60 yards, 50 yards, 40 yards... they are in range! About that time Ratso started whispering how he was going to say when to shoot and give us a count down. As they closed the distance, walking slowly the whole way, to 30 yards, then 20 YARDS, he kept saying ok anytime now, are you guys ready, and I kept saying no no no! Their heads are too close together, mine on the right is too close and lined up with the decoy (bubba), I must have said no wait! 3 times, and before you knoew it they were at 15 yards right in the decoys. Finally they separated and offered clean shots and I said ok I got it! and Ratso said ok on the count of 3 shoot... 3, 2, 1 BOOOM BOOOM!!!!!! Looked up and both birds were flopping around! A DOUBLE!!!!! It was a lot to process during the excitement of the hunt but we pulled it off effectively and we had our Osceola's in the bag. I was so overcome with the tension of the hunt that it took me a minute or two before I realized what had just happened and to get pumped about it! We ran out and grabbed our birds, mine was 3 years old and had SHARP inch+ spurs, 9+" beard, and felt heavy. My Dad's was a real whopper at 4 years old or better with over 1 1/4" spurs and 9.5"+ beard and felt really heavy. Some field pics! The blind: The spread (we had moved our gobblers to the right at this point, but they were right in the decoys when we fired): Back in camp, after measuring/weighing, my bird wore 1 1/8" spurs, 9 3/8" beard, and weighed 18lbs which for an Osceola is big, probably equatable to a 20lb Eastern. Dad's bird was 1 3/8" spurs!! 9 5/8" beard, 20 pounds...what a trophy! Notice how dark the wings are compared to the Eastern's. I thought that was so cool. My spurs: It was a celebration back at camp and we had pile after pile of fresh fried Apalachicola Oysters out of the deep fryer for lunch! (pronounced Ap-uh-lat-che-cola, and are the equivalent of our Maryland oysters up North) They were out of this world if you like fried seafood! Since we got our birds in the first 90 minutes of the first hunt on the first day, we did all kinds of fun stuff including eating, swamp buggy rides, eating, wild hog hunting at night with dogs, and I also stalked and bellycrawled to within chest-shaking distance of a strutter with a bunch of hens later on after the morning hunt and got some INCREDIBLE pics from inside 25 yards. If anyone wants to see them I'll throw them up too. It was an outstanding experience and it really was unique and "olde" style as my Dad's friend had said it was going to be. It will be a hunt that I won't soon forget!

Re: Gobble call It is the most effective tool in my turkey hunting arsenal hands down. At 24 years old, I have killed a few dozen longbeards and I can think of at least 10 where the ole quaker boy gobble shaker broke them from hanging up. Scott in CT

Yesterday, my friend and I met up bright and early around 8:00AM at his place and took off for a full day of pheasant hunting. The place was a spot he had hunted two weeks prior with a couple of his friends, in NY. He had told me after their hunt last week that the place was beautiful, with tons of property, and was run really well. So with that, we decided to go again, and yesterday ended up being the date. My friend Matt G. decided not to go so it ended up being just Keith and I with the pup Ozzy. We arrived at Lidos Game Farm around 10:15AM, met with the guys, signed the paperwork and paid for a 15 bird pheasant hunt. We followed them to the area and I hung out at the truck with Ozzy as they dissappeared and planted the birds. About 20 minutes later they returned and we gave the birds 15 minutes to wake up and start walking around. Apparently, they tuck their heads way up under their wing and gently rock them and the birds fall asleep! After the waiting period, with Ozzy going nuts not being able to wait anymore (me too!!) we loaded up and started walking the trail. It wasn't long before Ozzy put up the first bird, a beautiful rooster that was in some intermingled thick stuff and had to take off vertically. It rose right up in front of me giving me an ~18 yard floater. I touched off after lining the bead up a couple inches above his rising head and he crumpled in mid-air, falling right back down to earth and the awaiting jaws of Ozzy who caught him practically in the air! I snatched him up quick as Ozzy brought him right over and took a quick picture. They really are beautiful birds. The next hour and a half was action packed, with Ozzy putting up another 11 birds, mostly hens. I went 8/8 and Keith went 2/2, no misses!! There were some awesome shots presented, as Ozzy put birds up left, right, across, and every direction a wing shooter could hope to get a chance at shooting. With that, there were also some awesome shots connected on!! Keith made a 30 yard shot on a hen going left to right angling away at full speed with less than a second or two remaining before she would have been out of range. Another one was a hen that Ozzy put out across a logging trail we were on but he had gotten ahead of us and when she flushed, she was right on the left side of the trail, about 35 yards ahead of us. I was on point and I had about 2 seconds to aquire her as she crossed left to right and fire before she was across the trail and I dunno how I did it but I snapped the gun up, insta-fired, and she rolled in mid-air. I remember the sight picture and I instinctively lead her by a good two feet. That was pushing the max range of low brass #6 game loads! In seconds Ozzy was trotting back down the trail to us with a mouth stuffed full of a fat hen! One of the 11 birds was a rooster that flushed in a tough direction out across the swamp. We marked him and figured we'd go back for him later on. At that point, with 5 birds EACH in our packs and feeling pretty dang weighed down trudging through the 6" of fresh snow on the ground, we headed back to the truck for lunch and a break. Man was it tough going through that snow!! Here is a shot at half time... we had 7/8 hens down, and 3/7 roosters down. No one had missed a single shot yet. lol, dunno how the heck we pulled that off! We ate our ham and cheese sandwiches that we picked up on the way at a gas station, some ranch doritos, and washed it down with gatorade. We threw a couple sticks for Ozzy as we sat on the tailgate, and relaxed for a bit. Ozzy was pumped and ready to continue, so without too much further adue, we obliged. We had left at least one bird up near the tower area (where they launch birds off during tower shoots), so we headed back up that way. On the way we ran into a rooster that we determined had ran up the hill from our starting area, one of the birds we couldn't find earlier. I saw it running on the ground and it was a big rooster. Ozzy went after it, but it tucked in somewhere and he was having trouble finding it. I ran around the perimeter of the woodlot so I could cover two lanes. Right as I got to where I wanted to be, I took a puff of the backwoods cigar Keith gave me at the truck, and I heard CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK as the big rooster cackled and Ozzy flushed it right towards Keith. BOOOM......BOOOM..... nothing. I see the bird strafe left and head back down towards the swamp flying quite healthy. Then I hear Keith yell from 50 yards away "Damnit I forgot to put 3 shells in after lunch!" Apparently his 3rd shot, which made the notorious *CLICK* that you never want to hear when hunting, was the best shot presented of the three! Well, we had finally booked a miss! After a bit of good natured razzing, we commenced towards the tower area. It wasn't long before we located the tracks of what looked to be a big heavy pheasant. Within seconds, after watching Ozzy take up the track and seeing him instantly stop short and snap his head up looking forward, we saw it... another big rooster. Ozzy was on him in a flash and I didn't get the chance to get into a good enough position. I ran forward, losing sight of the bird, and I heard him cackle and go up. By the time he cleared the trees with me still running full out forward, I saw him as he was 25 yards away and flying hard at a mile-eating pace, quartering almost fully facing away. I fired a hail mary but missed. Keith had put a hix on us! I did mark the bird well though and I saw where he put down. I yelled back to Keith that I missed and I was going after it with Ozz. We ran down the hill and slowed to a crawl as we neared the area where I suspected he landed. We crept into the heavy brush, lots of pricker bushes and tangeld vines and brush. Ozzy was all over the place following fresh scent and it wasn't long before I heard a bird cackle LOUD and take off from my right to left, afterburners blazing. I was kneeling down trying to claw through the underbrush and I managed an offhand desperation shot but missed again... there was a lot of brush in the way. Not 10 seconds go by while I was trying to collect myself, and another rooster cackles out and flys the same direction, from the same area! I was savvy to it this time, and promptly smoked him at about 20 yards. After meeting back up with Keith, we decided that one of the two birds might have been a wild one that wasn't part of our 15 bird hunt. It was tough to tell though. With all the land to roam about on and no restraints, they could have been both ours. Either way, one of them was definately a reflush from the bird I had missed up near the tower. At that point we decided to go back after the rooster that had flushed in a bad direction and sailed off across the swamp. We put out through the swamp and picked up fresh tracks in the soft snow in no time. I was watching Ozzy work the fresh sign and all of a sudden he locked up, his head snapped up, and he charged forward! I knew he saw the bird so I ran thinking the bird was going to flush away from me, Keith was 40 yards behind me. Ozzy circled the bird and the rooster made the fatal mistake of coming right towards me! I watched him as he gained altitude, his flight path was going to take him about 5 yards to my left and about 20 feet off the ground. I drew a bead, followed, followed, followed... he got just over me and I put the bead an inch in front of his beak and let it rip. He somer-saulted back down to the ground, making the second re-flush of the day effective back to back! We were dam near pooped by now, walking 3 miles or more in deep snow really takes it out of ya. However, we decided to cut through one more piece of cover that we hadn't hit yet. As I was walking through it, I saw a dark object underneath a low-lying brush pile. I was only 12 yards away when I spotted it. I took a step or two forward and to the side to see through the brush and get a better picture of what it was and I saw what looked like fur! I kneeled down slightly and saw the black beady eye, and yelled to Keith I'm gonna take a bunny! ...right as I'm lining up from 10 yards away I hear Keith start to say, "you mean you see... POWWW! ...oh SWEET you did see one!!" and I hear him laughing hard from down the hill a ways. I had Ozzy fetch 'em up and we plodded tiredly back down to the truck for the final time with the good sized wabbit as a bonus for the day. Some final shots, with a total tally of 7 hens, 5 roosters, and a bunny. You can see the snow depth on our pants legs! All in all, it was a really beautiful place, nice strong flying, challenging birds, and not a bad price tag either. It was worth every penny for me and I'd like to go back asap! Some shots of the farm Pheasant holding pen (they must have had 250 birds or more) Lastly, Lidos Game Farm, info, rates, packages. When they say vast acreage, they mean it. I'm talking on the verge of 5000+ acres I believe the number I heard was 10 square miles!) If you go, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Re: what a horrible feeling! that is just pure nieve ignorance. Fire that Mom!!!!

A New Legend Emerges December 6, 2006 Newly trained Official Measurer Gerald Rightmyer was hunting in Morris County, Kansas this fall when he crossed paths with a buck that nearly defies description. The incredible mass, unique droptines, and great beams make this buck almost mythical. Unofficial green score on this tremendous deer is 285-3/8 gross and 269-1/8 net. Should that score hold anywhere close, it would become the second-largest deer in Kansas history. The state record, taken by Joseph H. Waters in Shawnee County in 1987, scores 280-4/8 points. Congratulations, Gerry, on a truly fantastic Boone & Crockett trophy! Did I miss the thread? any more bigger and better pictures around? What a sickkkkk deer!!!

Re: deer skull my brother found a few days ago... I'm thinking 147"-150", that left g2 look's to be 12"+ and the left brow tine 8"+!!!!

Re: Guess the score My initial impression was 133ish

Re: HE\'S BACK!!!!! mid 140's is right on the money. I'm guessing 146-147 NET. so what does it score?

Re: First Bow Buck DOWN!!!! heh, nope not an english major! I just love writing about my outdoor/hunting experiences. I think part of the reason they read well is because of my acute recollection of details and emotions. It all just comes together.

Re: rain and movement? a lot of big buck hunters would say the best time to hunt is in the rain. the old adage goes something like "the more miserable it is for humans, the more the deer like it"

Re: Drag Cloths absolutly, you can use anything. In fact, I have used Trails End #307 and dragged a line in with that scent and had several bucks over the years follow it right up to my stand. Actually, one time i was walking back out and noticed that the buck had followed the trail the wrong way and had made a scrape right where I had taken my traildrag out of the scent bag and dropped it onto the ground! The reason I like this particular scent is because it is effective all season long, prerut, rut, postrut.... although I have used it primarily prerut. It contains natural curiosity scents among others.

I know we as hunters like reading hunting stories, it's why we get all the magazines. So I figured I'd write a nice story about this exciting hunt that I will never forget. So here it is, my big buck story, the whole experience... Sometime on Thursday afternoon, while checking the weather for Saturday, I saw the confirmation that it looked like the only day of the week that I get to hunt was going to be a wash out. High winds and heavy rains were predicted, and I was bumming. Right about that same time I had an idea. Considering the weather looked picture perfect for the following morning, Friday the 27th, I decided right then that I'd come in an hour late to work the next day and get in a nice morning hunt. Thursday evening my friend Matt, myself, a couple of friends, and all of our girls got together for a wild game dinner consisting of marinated grilled venison steaks, wild sauteed mushrooms, and fried striper and fluke. It was outstanding. One nice addition that my friend Mo brought was a great tasting beer called Archer's Ale. We all toasted right before chowing down. I hit the hay by 9:15 that evening and 5:00AM couldn't come soon enough. With temps predicted to dip below freezing, I knew the morning was going to be magical. Over dinner the evening before, Matt and I discussed where we thought we would hunt the following morning. He actually had the day off already and was planning to go hunting by himself, but now he told me his mission was to put me on my first bow buck, and he was determined. Previously, I had only been able to harvest a handful of does over the last few years. A couple of close buck encounters with bow in hand and nothing to show for it had me wanting it more than ever this fall. We met at our rendezvous place at 5:30AM and proceeded to the parking spot at one of his state land honey holes. The plan we that he was going to set me up in his stand, a tree that he has had some great success from this fall and last! As we walked in, climbers on back, I couldn't help but smile. Frost covered the ground so heavily that it glistened brightly in the flashlight beams. It was the type of cold that makes your breath thick and crystalized. We followed Matt's GPS and it led us right to his tree, which we confirmed by seeing the EZ-hanger he left screwed in up the tree. After telling me which way to position the climber and which way the deer generally traversed the area, we pounded fists with a "good luck brotha" and he was gone, heading for his area which would be about 125 yards away. After I attached my climber to the tree and was ready to climb, I took my bottle of Trails End #307 and dipped a scent wick into it, hanging it on a nearby tree. I was setup and ready in my Summit climber, 24 feet off the ground by 6:10AM. The inky pre-dawn darkness was still wrapped around me as I awaited first light. It was very still in the woods. Besides the occasional autumn leaf falling and touching down on the crispy forest floor, not a sound was to be heard. Dawn finally broke and with it, dark turned to grey, and grey turned to light. I noticed when I could see my pins for the first time, and it was 6:31AM. As the dimmer switch slowly moved, the whole area opened up. By 7:15AM it was full light and I took notice of all my surroundings, lasering different trees for known distances. I was in a beautiful transition area with trails in sight. As the sun came up over the horizon around 7:30 the woodlot filled with warming sunlight. A light breeze rustled through the treetops causing hundreds of yellow and orange leaves to slowly descend to the ground. It was glorious and I was thankful to be enjoying it. I had been switching between standing and sitting every 30 minutes or so, and around 8:00 I stood up. It was just about crunch time, as Matt mentioned earlier that the buck he shot in Sept from this stand was taken at 8:30. I was scanning the local scenery as usual, about 10 minutes later, when I caught a movement about 100 yards away. It was a brown shape moving through the sunlight patches of the underbrush and instantly I affiliated that it was a deer. I love catching deer from stand when they are that far away. I grabbed my bow in a smooth semi-quick motion and within seconds I was facing the deer's direction with bow in hand. I grabbed my laser and ranged a couple trees for updated yardages, and in between measurements I would look up and check on the deer's progress. It was official, it was heading right my way. About that time he was 70-80 yards away and just meandering nice and relaxed. I checked it out in my rangefinder 3x magnification and it was at that point I noticed he was carrying some nice headgear!!! In that insta-second my heart rate multiplied exponentially. I put the laser back into my pocket and forced myself to look down for a second. I took a few deep breaths and told myself to stay calm. Steadily, the big buck was working my way, and as he crossed the 50 yard line, I saw that his rack was wide and tall and I told myself not to look at it again. Instead I focused on his body, which as he ambled closer and closer, I realized this was a huge bodied deer. When he approached inside of 30 yards my chest was noticeably shaking with every heartbeat. I silently clipped my release onto my loop as I watched him lick his nose a couple times. I also noticed him tilt his head into the air trying to catch the currents. Not sure if he was scent checking for does or was coming in to my scent bomb. There was not a twig between me and him, and he was coming directly on a beeline for my tree. I wasn't sure when or how I was going to be able to draw. At about 25 yards, knowing I was pretty high up in the tree and hopefully a little movement wouldn't be detected... I started to draw the Switchback XT. I have never drawn my bow that slowly in my entire life. I was so pumped with adrenaline the exercise was effortless. It had to have taken a full 5 or 6 seconds to come to full draw, and I remember thinking as I drew that the slight noise made was being covered up nicely by the consistently falling leaves touching down on the ground. The next 8 seconds were a blur and I can't really remember what I did, as instinct took over. I do remember after drawing that he happened to stop right around mid draw and turned quartering to. I brought the kisser button to the corner of my mouth, centered the pin right behind his shoulder through the peep, and touched off the first arrow that ever flew at a deer from my new Switchback. I distinctly remember the loud WHACK as the arrow connected solidly and the Spitfire mechanical opened, burying the arrow right through what appeared to be the boilerworks. Upon impact the buck wheeled, trotted about 30 yards with tail down, and stopped, looking around. Initially this didn't look like what I expected to see, but then I saw him wavering a little. After a minute or so of looking around, he proceeded to walk really slowly, and it appeared he was hunched up a little bit. I thought it seemed strange as I watched him through the bino's that were shaking insanely. He went another 50 yards and I saw him put his knee down and I thought I saw him bed down. Strange behavior I felt for a deer that I thought was double lunged. I called Matt right after that and was going nuts on the phone saying I just shot a big 8 pointer!!! At first he was like, you're joking right?? You just shot an 8 pointer? But quite quickly he realized the tone and excitement in my voice. Right about the time I heard a loud thrashing sound and I looked over in the direction of where the deer was and saw him crashing around down into a shallow ditch. I yelled into the phone he just went down! he's down!! So Matt said alright don't move, I'm coming over right now. While he was coming over I called my hunting buddy Mo and told him and he said "the Archer's Ale was in your blood man!" It took Matt about 15 minutes to get down and get over to me. I directed him to the area where the deer was standing when I fired. He found the arrow right away, sticking out of the ground, full pass through, and covered with good blood. The blood trail started right there and was solid. So I said OK hold on, let me get down and we'll go check him out together. Took me 5 minutes to get down and we were on the trail soon, following good blood. Not that we had to really follow it because I knew where he was laying, it was just part of the ritual. Well, at this point it was about 20-25 minutes after the shot, close to the recommended time to let a deer sit after the shot. We were openly walking following the blood trail when a great commotion in front of us broke out, we looked up, and much to my extreme amazement, my buck got up and hightailed it! As we watched him depart, we could clearly see he was in rough shape. It actually looked like the death run you see after a perfect shot. What the heck!!??? Wow, that was the last thing either of us expected. We went back to the area of the shot, examined the arrow, and discussed possiblities. First of all, we noticed amongst the frozen coating of blood on the arrow a few specs of grit. Now the story was starting to make sense. After reenacting the shot angle, based on the angle the arrow was sticking out of the ground, distance of the shot, what I remembered about how much he was quartering, how high I was in the tree, and where I remembered seeing the arrow hit him... we deduced that the arrow must have only taken out one lung, definately liver, and apparently part of the stomach. What we agreed on for sure was this was a dead deer that should be recoverable, the question was, do we wait and if so how long. We decided, based on the fact that there was bubbles in the bloodtrail that we had been following, that there was a good chance the buck died on that run after we jumped him. So, we followed the trail a short ways, saw where he came to the edge of the river, indicated by fresh tracks in the mud on the bank and a drop of blood right next to them, and decided to pull out. We would go back home, change into tracking clothes, get some food, and come back in a couple of hours. Couple hours later found us back in the woods on the other side of the river. We realized that directly across from where the buck entered the river was too steep for him to attempt to scale, so with the help of Matt's friend Rob, Matt and Rob went one way up the river, and I went the other way. We were looking for areas the deer might have went upstream or downstream to in order to get up the bank. Well, I hadn't gone 30 yards when a thought occured to me... what if the deer never made it across? What if he's under water? No sooner had the thought crossed my mind I found my eyes scanning the river in front of me and right there, in the middle of the river was a big brown hump! I YELLED MATTT!!!! They both came running over. Yes, indeed, it was my deer... and yes it was in the middle of the shallow river. Apparently he never made it to the other side, and he was a little ways downstream from where we saw that he entered the river initially, which is probably why we never saw him. Matt said it was probably about 2-2.5 feet deep out there, above the height of my Muck boots, so we went back to the car and grabbed Matt's waders. Soon, we were back in the woods and I was suited up and ready to go swimming to get my buck! Man was it exciting and relieving. I was pumped when I finally put my hands around his antlers. It was at that point I noticed he was a 7 pointer, his left brow tine never grew in. This was the first time seeing the rack close up and it was bigger than I thought it was. We also realized after a bunch of pictures sessions, and especially after we started dragging him out, that he was reeeeeally heavy. We were guessing 170lbs+ dressed, but Al our friend who runs a home butchering operation weighed him for me and reported back the next day that he dressed at 186lbs! That puts his calculated live weight somewhere around 235lbs, what a horse by Connecticut's standards. I couldn't be happier. It was one of the best day's I've ever spent in the deer woods, and doing it all with a good friend made it even better. Some pictures: Going swimming for my buck! Matt and I Think he made this or is there a bigger guy around?? Can't wait to get back out into the woods!