hoosierhunter Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) The unkillable Squirly finally ran out of luck. This old man came to us last season in the summer. All we knew is he was fully mature then but he has a mangled right side thus the name squirly. Last season he only was within bow range one time and all our tags were filled early in the season so he got another year. After the season he showed a great deal of aggression on our feeding stations towards other deer. We immediately put him at the top of the hitlist on that property. He wasn't the biggest buck but he was showing some much dominance we were worried about him running off our other bucks. This summer he showed back up with a matching right side in the summer. We guessed him to be around 140 inches and somewhere in the 250 lbs range. His body was simply massive. He got pictures and video of him all summer long. Late in the summer we picked up another lease that we knew held some tremendous deer. Fortunately squirlys home was in a urban zone which allowed us to hunt him starting sept 15th. On our first sit I filmed my buddy shooting another hitlister. The next day I filmed my other buddy from the same stand and squirly came in to 8 yards and we never could get the camera and shot put together and he lived another day. The next weekend my same buddy went in to another stand and had him come into to 30 yards and stuck him in the shoulder. Upon reviewing the video we could see there was literally no penetration on the arrow. He tracked him for 300 yards and lost blood. We decided to give him time to heal up and left the property alone for 3 weeks and then put out cameras to catch him. He showed back up looking just fine on Oct 16th! We knew he was back so we pulled the cameras until Nov 10th. Immediately we got multiple photos of him but we knew something we wrong as he had dropped nearly 60 lbs since we last saw him. Upon inspection of the photos we could tell he had a bow wound low in his gut on the right side. Even though it was the rut he shouldn't have lost that much weight. We waited to hunt him until conditions were perfect. We have a brasscias plot and 3 acres of standing beans. On thanksgiving night I hunted the brasscias and had one heck of a night that had me passing a deer just a touch bigger than him because he was in view. He indeed came in and I shot over his back at 46 yards. I was absolutely sick to my stomach and it's starting to feel like this deer is just unkillable for us. I did not have an opportunity to go after him until last night and fate seemed to intervene. I was on my way to another property when Brian called me and we decided I should hunt him that night. I elected to go into the brasscias that night given it had frosted every day for the last 8 days. I figured those had to be tasty and upon arriving the plot has been getting hammered and it was 22 degrees outside. I saw great movement and as I was watching a injured small buck in the standing beans behind me at about 4:25. When I turned around I saw squilrly stepping into the plot at 65 yards away. He proceeded to walk out very calm and feed broadside at 42 yards. I came to full draw, but he seemed so calm I decided to let down because he should walk right under me to those beans. After a few minutes a 2 year old came out behind me and snapped a twig and squirly's bad attitude kicked in. He threw his head up lifted his tail and started trotting at the buck to run him off. He was quartering to me and I stopped him at 23 yards, settled the pin and history was in the making. I hit him high in the spine and he dropped straight down. After a quick follow up shot through the boiler room it was all over!!! Squirly dressed at 182 lbs. He grosses 142 3/8ths and nets 138 5/8ths. Upon inspection he also has a 4 inch gash in his neck on the right side. This guy was a true bruiser and he had no teeth left in his mouth except the front ones! He have cut those out to have him aged, but I'm guessing he will be at least 10 years old! So that's how it all ends. Thanks for the great battle squirly. It's one I won't ever forget! Edited December 12, 2011 by hoosierhunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebohio Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 gotto love taking a buck with history. congrats on proving he wasn't arrow proof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Glad you got to him before he waisted away to nothing..he would have died this winter for sure..way to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Congrats on the bruiser! That's quite a story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deer slayer Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 congrats buddy he's a nice looking buck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Congratulations Pat! Yep...having history like that with an old warrior sure makes it extra special! Gotta love a buck that'll give you more than one chance/season too. :yes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted December 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 Gotta love a buck that'll give you more than one chance/season too. :yes: I'm not sure of the exact number but I know I'm over 200 hours this year bowhunting. Believe me it was starting to feel that way too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 That is a dandy buck, Pat! All that history to boot! Quite a story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 I'm not sure of the exact number but I know I'm over 200 hours this year bowhunting. Believe me it was starting to feel that way too! That kind of time in a tree will sure pay off! I hate to think how many hours I spend in the woods/season deer hunting. On average it's ~300/season if I don't tag out too early on our 3 buck MS limit. While I'm on the road the game is hunting all day cuz there is no tomorrow. Still recovering from my KS all day hunting trip till the MS rut kicks into full swing. You know what they say...you can't kill them at home! Congrats again Pat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 that's awesome! a buck that old that's been shot at that many times is a real trophy. that's more than equivalent to a booner in my book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 Very nice Pat, congratulations on a great buck! Great story too, gotta love it when you've got so much time and history with one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted December 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 that's awesome! a buck that old that's been shot at that many times is a real trophy. that's more than equivalent to a booner in my book. He didn't have the biggest headgear on our farm, but he most certainly was the top deer we wanted based on his age/dominance/history. It was a very special hunt that's for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 He didn't have the biggest headgear on our farm, but he most certainly was the top deer we wanted based on his age/dominance/history. It was a very special hunt that's for sure! yea i'm struggling to get a buck half that age on the farm i hunt. a buck that old is just awesome. he very well may have been a giant a few years back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggs Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 super buck, man. nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 That's a great deer. Congrats man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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