Got 'er done in PA

Buckslayer

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Buckslayer

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Re: Got \'er done in PA

Ok, now that I've slept... here is the story, and some stats.

After my economics class yesterday, I had been planning on going hunting with my buddy Jason. I drove home and got my stuff, and met him at his house at about 3:15 pm. The weather was awesome, and it just felt like one of those days you had to be in the stand - crisp 49 degrees, variable wind from the E, topping out at no more than 3-5 mph. The sky was overcast, and I decided to hunt in the stand near the gaswell behind the oaks. Jason was planning on going into the oaks and setting up. I was set up by 3:35 pm, and every twenty minutes Jason was rattling about 150 yards to my north. I could hear him grunting as well. Every creature in the woods seemed to be out doing something, and the smell of woodsmoke from a house a few hundred yards away filled the air. At about 5:45 pm a little five point came out of some thick brush to my north. He walked only 6 yards from my stand without even noticing me. I was happy to have seen my second buck of the season, when I caught movement in that same patch of brush. It proved to be my third buck of the season, and this one was a definite shooter for PA (Indiana County). The buck stepped in to 35 yards, and I could only see he was pretty wide, and had white tines, then he looked right at me for a second and I saw how nice his rack was. After that, I decided it was best I didn't focus on his antlers.

At about 30 yards, I drew back when he stepped to the edge of a clearing. He then stopped where I didn't have a shot, and started making a rub... great. Well after about a minute at full draw, he trotted into a good shooting lane at 17 yards. I settled the pin and released. I must give some props to the NAP Crossfire, as it blew through him like snot through cheap toilet paper, burying 8 inches in the dirt. He was quartering slightly towards me, and I clipped the middle of his right lung, and the front edge of the liver. After the shot he trotted only 20 yards or so, and stood their for about 2 minutes, with his tail spinning like a helicopter rotor. He was all wobbly, and I was praying he was just going to drop there, but he managed to sidestep about 20 yards and then bed down for a few minutes. I decided to get down, and sneak out for a few hours just in case. As I was packing up, I heard a crash, then some thrashing in the brush, and then nothing. I assumed he was down for good, but I made a wide circle and met Jason, and told him I had shot a buck. Jason was thrilled because he had seen the buck first, and knew he was a nice one.

I went home and ate dinner, and then we got some finished film from a trailcam. After a little over 2 hours, we returned and began the search. My arrow had good blood, and there were pools of blood where I had seen him stop.

After a brief search, I found where he had bedded about 30 yards from the shot, and then followed the blood another 10 yards, and WHITE BELLY!

We took some pics and began dragging the brute to a field where I could get my truck to. I field dressed him, and then Jason and I took him to his house (on the way to mine), and once there we hung him and skinned him out. We caped him just in case I decided in the next few days to mount him.

This morning I took him to Cunningham Meats in Indiana, and donated him to Hunters Sharing the Harvest. I was so happy God had given me such an amazing deer, that I felt it only appropriate to give the 186 lb. (dressed and skinned out) buck to those more in need than myself. The processor told me that deer would feed about 100-300 people at a soup kitchen depending on how it was prepared. That just made me feel really good. I still have my doe tag too, for meat for myself and my family. The buck measured 16 6/8" outside, and green scored 99 3/8" - my biggest buck for sure. I would estimate him to have weighed about 250 lb. on the hoof.

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Re: Got \'er done in PA

Hey guys,

Matt wanted me to get on here tonight and tell you guys "my side of the story".

Well, like Matt said, I went to a stand in "the oaks" which is a fairly large section of open woods with the trees being mostly white oaks that are spread out pretty far. The ground is mostly grass underneath with no under brush. When in my stand, there is a thin strip of brush to my left with a large golden rod field on the other side of that. There is a large corn field on the other side of the golden rods, and there is a trail cut from the corn, through the golden rods, down and into the woods just 20 yards in front of my stand. This cut trail leads past a small pond that deer usually stop to drink at.

Well, the day looked perfect and I figured the deer would show signs of rut, so I took my rattling antlers. Right around 5:00 p.m. I did a rattling sequence and just a few minutes I look into the golden rod and see the big buck Matt shot standing on the trail. I gave a grunt to him, but he turned and followed the pond around the opposite side of me. I figured that he was gonna slip between Matt and I and go into the thick bedding in the bottom of the stream bottom. Well, just a couple minutes later I hear brush moving in front of me and I saw him comming straight for me. He worked through some brush and entered onto the cut trail in front of me. One problem, he had a tree limb blocking most of him. I waited for him to take a few more steps, and while waiting, a small 3 point came in from my right and circle out around this buck. Well, Matts buck didn't like that so he cut back into the brush where he came from and started making a scrape! The whole time I am watching him just hoping he comes into the clearing. Well, he started circling around my location through the brush, the whole time he was making rubs. He finally entered into the open, but he was around 75 yards from me. I did a snorth wheeze at him which just caused him to rub on about a 4" sappling and make another scrape. He acted like he was gonna come to me, but he did a 180 and headed on the trail leading towards Matt. As soon as he did this, I said a little prayer to God telling him that I hope Matt could get the deer! I sat there for several minutes and then I heard a thwack, but it was very faint. I didn't know if it was Matt shooting or just a hickory nut falling out of a tree! A little while later I see Matt sneaking through the brush towards me with a big smile on his face! I jokingly told him "you shot my deer" and he just gave me a thumbs up. I climbed out of my stand and we backed out! The rest is history!

Congrats again Matt, now its my turn and Mr. 13pt is just begging for an arrow grin.gif

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Buckslayer Monster Buck

Buckslayer

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Re: Got \'er done in PA

Sometime in your life you'll be forced to blow your nose into cheap toilet paper... it happens to the best of us... Typically restaurants and government establishments have the cheapest toilet paper. And of course, we're all not fortunate enough to have some Kleenex or Puffs with us when a sniffle turns into something much worse.

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