gamble paid off for muzzleloader opener

[wtnhunt]

Our oldest daughter Christina was home for a few days and I told her I would try to kill a deer this morning early before she had to leave to go back to the other end of the state. I had a feeling it should be good, but of course you never know if the deer are gonna cooperate and while there is a front moving through it was still in the upper 50's when i walked out. During our archery season, last Thursday October 29th sat a stand that I have not really hunted much the past few years and had a pretty decent buck pass through out of range. I guessed him to be 18 inches inside and thought he had no brows. Later had a doe come through behind me. That was enough for me to kind of form a plan. Noticed when checking cams that there were several scrapes in view of this stand, so I figured I would try and help tick this buck off a little or maybe the bigger 9 that was my primary target.

So fast forward to this past Thursday this week, I took a scrape dripper and put some active scrape in and hung it near our property line on the west side, knowing if the deer came on the edge from the opposite direction he might catch the scent and a little grunting might entice him. Trail cam pics had the deer at a scapeline about 1/4 mile away 3 times between midnight and the morning of the 29th, I saw him just 10 minutes before the last pic of him. So it seemed he was cruising making circles the same direction. I had hung a dripper filled with active scrape on that line back before the youth hunt and activity had spiked prior to the neighbors cows getting back there which unfortunately left things cold that weekend of the youth hunt.

Had heavy rains yesterday and then the north winds moved in. I had been watching forecasts pretty close and they called for a nne wind, less than ideal for that stand, BUT if the deer did the same thing he would not get into my wind until after I had a shot, and even if he skirted the edge coming from the opposite direction he may catch the scent from the dripper and not ever catch mine until too late.

So leave the house for the walk about 5:15'ish and am up in the stand within 5 minutes. Very overcast and it was slow to get light, legal shooting light should have been about 5:53, it was pretty dim, heard the first shot of the morning about 6. Within a minute or so scan around and see a doe right past the bush the scrape dripper is hung on. She is acting a little flaky, looking back and a few times looking up my direction and then across the river. Wind should not have been blowing to her, thought crossed my mind they watched me walk in in the dark. Then she looked back hard and then snapped her head around the other direction looking back again. I know right then there has to be a buck and start to get ready as she starts easing on around to the south. She gets on around about to my 1 o' clock position, not quite in my wind still walking casually, never blew and to be honest once I got my attention on finding the buck I lost focus on the doe and don't know where she went. I look back to the right and catch an antler and cannot see much more than antlers coming through the woods. Then I see the body and he gets in an opening, he did not ever stop though, did not give me a great look as he was steady moving through in the dim light. I got him in another opening and and got on him, but he did not stop, so I reached down and pulled my grunt tube up and blew one time, he stopped then and looked around but I had no shot where he stopped. I could tell he was well outside his ears had decent mass and knew my window of opportunity would likely run out if he got downwind of me or if the doe caught my wind and took off. So I picked a spot on the other side of the tree from where he was stopped as he started walking again. When he stepped in the spot I squeezed the trigger on the accura and he dropped flat on the ground. Thought he was dead, thought wrong. I hit just a little forward above the shoulder, he tried to get up several times and couldn't and kept slamming his antlers in the ground. I had a bad angle to make another shot with him laying on his side, but tried to put one in his armpit thinking I should catch the heart and the bottom of the lung, not sure what exactly happened if I hit something between I did not see through the scope or just what happened but I don't think that shot made its mark. He managed to make a 180 and now all I can see is his back. Feeling sick now, I consider getting down and sneaking around down wind of him and getting a better angle. He managed to get on his feet and go a little ways before bedding down again and then a little buck came through, I had to get down and got a better angle and finished him off.

Pretty good body size deer. Not great tine length and not a shoulder mount wallhanger for me but had good mass and has an 18 1/4 inside spread, tough to pass in the backyard. Christina and I looked at the teeth, she thinks he was a 3.5 year old will get a better look after i pull the head out of the compost barrel in the spring.

[Ravin R10 man]

congrats Will

[Maine Hntr]

Congrats will, persistence pays off, tell your wife it's her turn for team 5!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wtnhunt]

She went out yesterday afternoon and passed a small buck, encouraged her to hold out. She will be going again this morning, hope she gets a chance on the 9 we had pics of or maybe something bigger that we have not gotten pics of yet.

[Shaun_300]

Congrats William! And good luck to Christina.

[fly]

Awesome story and buck William! Mass is by far my favorite antler characteristic and he's got it for a 3.5 year old. Congratulations!

[Rhino]

Congratulations William! Nice buck for your neck of the woods.

[smha6784]

I enjoyed the story Will, thanks for the good read. Congrats on the buck.

[MUDRUNNER]

Congrats William! He's a fine looking buck.

[wtnhunt]

Thanks. Remembering back, think the last deer I killed from that stand was in 2003.

Awesome story and buck William! Mass is by far my favorite antler characteristic and he's got it for a 3.5 year old. Congratulations!

I had seen enough tc pics of this buck to know he did not have good tine length, but knew his beams were decent and he had a good spread, I guessed his spread at 18 inside and was pretty close with him actually measuring a 1/4 more than my guess. He had pretty decent mass at his bases and he was pretty heavy bodied. Said I would definitely take him with the crossbow if he gave me an opportunity, but maybe not with the muzzleloader, oh well. In the dim early morning he looked good enough.

Kind of funny story on the retrieval. Christina brought the 4 wheeler, I told her he looked pretty heavy, and said maybe we should get the tractor. The 19 year old's reply was come on old man we got this. So I pick up the hind end and she struggles to try to get hers on the back rack before grabbing the antlers. She couldn't pick her side up enough so I push and help her get him the rest the way on the rack while holding my side. I let her drive the 4 wheeler and I walk, about half way back coming up a hill the deer slides off the rack. I told her I am gonna get the tractor, she did not call me an old man again, but agreed we should get the tractor. lol.

[Strut10]

CONGRATS !!!!

Nice width on that boy !!!

[RangerClay]

Great buck! Congrats!!

[Adjam5]

Nice Buck William. Congrats!

[arrow32]

Congrats on a great buck William!