JKAPP01 Posted December 12, 2010 Report Share Posted December 12, 2010 WARNING: This Post Might Get A Little LONG! What a crazy year! It started off on November the 6th. 4 of us were hunting, and as I was walking back to the truck I got a text message from my father that said "hit a buck." The rest of us were waiting for him when he got back, and in 28 years I have NEVER seen my dad in this condition, he was shaking, nervous, and just an odd weird look to him. He said I just hit the biggest buck I have ever taken a shot at with a bow, but I hit him a little high. After further examination of the arrow it was agreed that it was probably a dead deer. Thanks to his rages. We waited two more hours to start tracking, waiting a total of 4 hours. We ended up bumping the buck, as he was bedded, and there were pools of blood. I have to give credit to the other guys, unfortunately I am color blind, and unless it's in snow, or TONS of blood I won't be able to see it. Now, it was decision time. So, we had to go out of town and opted to come back in the morning and look. Next morning, we tracked and lost all blood.......sad to experience that. The most noteable part of the hunt, was we asked my dad how big and all he said was I hit the grunt tub, and I heard him crashing through the trees coming towards me. He got to the fence, and all i saw were mass and stickers, so I quit looking and focused on the shot. So, needless to say there was a feeling of let down in the air. November 20th, was opening day of east river rifle in south dakota. (where i hunt) Windy and cold morning, 2 of us with archery, and 2 with rifle. At 7:30am the other guy with archery tag smoked one, and I helped him track it, nice 5x5.......we played a joke on my dad as he went to get the UTV to pick the buck up, and told him it was a 170" buck. Needless to say he didn't laugh! We all headed back to town to eat at about 10:30, fueled up, and grabbed a quick rest. It was decided that we were going to head back out at about 2. Well good thing we did, we all had our evening spots picked out, and the deer were already out feeding and moving, so we snuck in quietly and go to our stands. At 3:30, my uncle shot a bigger 5x5 than the one in the morning with his rifle...... My dad and I were probably 700 yards apart. at 3:45 I heard 4 shots, BAM........BAM.......BAM................................BAM! Knowing my father, it was a big buck because he can shoot and if he shoots that many times he isn't letting it have a chance of getting away. So, of course I am anxious to get down and celebrate and look and have fun but decided to stay in my stand. I had to choose a different stand than I wanted to because there were some rifle hunters on the bordering property and I didn't want to be too close to them. I had never hunted this stand before. I ranged my shooting lanes, and was ready. I REALLY had to go to the bathroom, and I always carry an empty bottle with me, so JUST as I finished, LOL, and put the bottle back in my bag, and hung it up i see a buck crashing down the trees towards me, and I noticed 1 long tine, and at this point in the season I was going to shoot whatever since rifle season had started. I grabbed my bow and drew back as he disappeared behind a tree and stepped out at 23 yards, i didn't have to grunt, he stopped to check a scrape and I let the arrow fly! I knew I smoked him (thanks to my tracer nock).......I looked down at my watch, and it was 4:20......now is this weird or what? 4:20, and I just shot the 4th buck of the day on the 20th of november! I was EXCITED! I got picked up in our UTV and asked what the outlook was, my uncle said I shot a really good 5x5 and my dad said I just shot that half rack buck that you passed up this morning, I was like WHAT THE HECK are you doing shooting that on opening day of rifle. We went back to where we park to drop off equipment, check out the others deer, and get ready to track mine. I pull up and the expression on my face was priceless, there lays my uncles buck and a BIGGER buck next to it. I looked at my dad and gave him a high 5! He said you will never guess, I took one look at the rack, and said HOLY CRAP, it's stickers! The buck he hit with his bow! There was a big wound on his back where he shot him with the bow! "Stickers" was still alive and healthy though. Stickers ends up being a 7x6 and we are getting him scored as we speak, but he's a GREAT buck, Sticker, the redemption buck, i could not have been happier for my dad and uncle. We head back to the trees to track my buck, and of course I can't see blood so, I keep up the back of the party to stay where the last blood is. We tracked him to the fence, and it was apparent he went on to the other property! CRAP! So, that night I called the landowner and asked for permission and he said you can go in after we are done hunting in the morning at about 10-10:30. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that night, I wasn't worried, you know when you second guess yourself, I wasn't doing that. We headed out at 10am the next morning. Started at the beginning, we made it to the fence and my uncle says "hold up boys i see a belly" waitttt........"it's a buck!" high fives and hugs all around. I jumped that fence like a deer and took off like a cheetah towards him! He was a 5x4 and the smallest buck shot of the day, BUT my first buck with a bow and I am HAPPY! He was ONE fat rutted up pig of a buck, holy cow. He stunk BAD! I will put pics up of the other guys deer as long as they give me permission. Here is my buck, I call him the "lucky buck" because I am dang lucky I finished going to the bathroom in time! Can you imagine if I would have been in the middle of it? HAHAH! Thanks for reading! Best day of deer hunting YET! Smiles and happiness allllllllll around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccwhitey Posted December 12, 2010 Report Share Posted December 12, 2010 Nice buck congrats:2guns: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straight Shooter Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Great story and congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKAPP01 Posted December 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Thanks Guys' I still think about that hunt everyday. It's ingrained in me! How was your luck this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntnfish Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3seasons Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Congrats on a nice buck, cool story too. Hope to see the pics of the other deer also. Congrats to your dad, thats neat that he was able to harvest his buck that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebohio Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 congrats thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKAPP01 Posted December 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Here are the rest of them.....Left To RIght.....Dad (Rifle) Me (Archery) P (Archery) D (Rifle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earnhardts12000 Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 great story and congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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