Ohiobucks 2012 Ohio buck


Ohiobucks

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OK - here’s the story.

With Hurricane Sandy in the rear view mirror, and decent weather finally upon us, I decided to take a little time off of work for some “tree therapy”. Tree therapy is something I view as a necessity, time to unwind, and not be distracted by life. Especially this time of year, when the bucks are starting to think about one thing and one thing only. My oldest son and I hung a stand last week, which was suited for a south – southwest – west wind. The more out of the south, the better, but west wind was OK. I saw west wind was forecasted for the afternoon yesterday, and predominantly out of the NW for the next few days to follow. I really wanted to get in this stand, because it overlooks a funnel of sorts – inside corner of a creek bottom with a large hayfield to the south and a very large horse pasture to the northeast. Very thick and tangled. I hunted here last fall, and rattled in a large 10 pointer that never presented me with a shot opportunity. The sign was starting to show up, I knew there were a number of deer using this travel corridor.

I got in my tree around 4:45pm, and while I was getting my gear together, I heard deer running through the woods, getting closer. I turned a saw a large doe heading my way, with a small buck hot on her trail. They ran right under me, out into the horse pasture, back to me, and back to where they came from. He was grunting like he owned the place, but she wanted nothing to do with him. About 10 minutes later, I decide to rattle / grunt to see if I could stir something up. A short rattle session, followed by 4-6 grunts, and I started glassing the woods. Nothing responded immediately, so I sat down. 10 minutes had passed, and I saw a tail flicker in the thick stuff to my left. I pick up my binos, and just as I focus in, he lifted his head up to work a licking branch. Big 8! I knew if this buck would get close enough I was going to shoot. Reached for my grunt tube, got his attention with one blurp, the second blurp sealed the deal, he started my way. I followed him for a about 30 more seconds through the binos, and I saw his left side was a palmated 3 point. That didn’t change my mind at all. I grabbed my bow, and waited. He took his sweet time covering the 100 yards to get in, working scrapes every few yards. Finally, after an eternity, he was broadside at 23 yards. He stopped on his own in one of my shooting lanes, to work yet another scrape. As his head was in the branches above, I drew back, settled my 20 yard pin about half way up, and released. I knew as soon as I hit him he was mine! I watched him run for about 60 yards until he disappeared in some thick stuff - I listened. Heard him gasping and crash, down for the count! Looked at my phone, it was 5:30pm.

I gave him the mandatory 5 minutes before I got down and took up the trail. :D As I followed the blood, I was seeing more and more buck sign – rubs and scrapes were everywhere. A short time later, I was standing over him, thanking the good Lord for His many blessings. With an hour of light left, I walked back to my truck, and got the neighbor to help me get him out. We were able to drive his Polaris Ranger to within 40 yards of him. I was back to my truck with my buck before dark…

AS I walked up to him:

2012-11-01_17-47-35_932.jpg

Ride in the Polaris:

2012-11-01_18-36-50_922.jpg

Ride in the truck:

2012-11-01_19-31-59_125.jpg

Edited by Ohiobucks
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What did that deer dress at? I would have guessed he's closer to 5 by the quick pics. Shows what I know.

You might be right Pat, he may be a 4 or 5 year old. His body was huge, felt like 400 dragging him out. Probably around the 230-240lbs mark. Big neck, and tarsals were all stinky.

The G2 on his right side is 9-3/4", and the G3 is 11". Inside spread is 17-1/2", and his left side is a lot more "narrow" - leaning in rather than sweeping out compared to his right.

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