2014 Archery Kickoff - NY Buck Success
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:37 pm
Well its is my favorite time of year once again! I wasn't expecting to have anything to report on so soon, but since I do, thought id share it.
This year on the farm in NY, instead of the epic apple bounty of last year, the woods are a giant buffet of red oak acorns. Sunny and felt like 80. What is this Alabama? Not good for deer movement. I sat holding no expectations of seeing much my first morning out and nothing is what I saw. At 1:30 I hiked back to my favorite spot. It was warm as I baked in the afternoon sun and the mosquitoes seemed to be getting as much of a last meal as possible before the cold sets in. This area is special this season. It had corn planted nearby for the first time in many years and some of the only white oaks on the property mixed in with all the reds. At 3:30 I see some does behind me creeping around the bedding area. Stretching their legs while having an afternoon snack. I am beginning to get optimistic that I may see something come my way.
At 5:30 pm I see movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a deer
and to my disbelief (after almost falling out of my stand) I see this white rack with a bunch of points moving through the brush at the edge of the swamp right in my direction. 
I guess he was hungry and looking for a early snack. As he moves my way my mind is saying ‘this is going to happen… don’t look at the rack…. don’t look at the rack… don’t look at the rack!!!!!”. He sets me up for a perfect 25 yard shot. I stopped him and whack. Shot looked good but a tad back. He bucks and bolts 25 yards up the hill. He stopped. I can now see that something went wrong. When he stopped, he must have been a bit facing me and instead of him, standing dead broadside, he must have shifted ever so slightly to barely quartering towards me. The arrow was stuck inside him, stopped by the ribcage, yet puncturing the gut on the other side. He bunny hopped down the hill with arrow stuck in him out of my sight and I knew he was a dead buck running, but how far and where would he go. As I sat there for an hour and analyzed the situation, I climbed down and looked at the site for blood. A bit of lung blood, a bit of blood with food material in it. I thought if its more lung than gut, he may be dead on the other side of the hill by now. I looked where he stopped at the top of the hill, no blood, 
I peeked over the hill, no deer. Many choice words later, I made the decision that I will run the risk of spoilage and coyotes and look for him in the am. I wasn't losing this deer. 
A very long sleepless night later, the following am I spent 4 hours hunting him down. I got covered in pickerseeds and ticks
looking in the pond and stream and through swamp grass taller than me where I ‘thought’ he went (like back where he came out of). Circling and circling around for another drop of blood. Just when the blood trail would seem to end and I would feel like I was in this position before and it didn’t end well 
, I would find another clue. He crossed a small newly mowed field, I could see the scuffed up trail where he hobbled. Fortunately, by the time he ended up on the other end of the field in the brush and slowed down (200 yards later) the blood trail got a bit better. I must have walked by him 20 times in there before almost tripping on him. What a relief! In all he went 300 yards before bedding down. 
I thought he was just a 6 or an 8 when I released the arrow. I never imaged he would be sporting 13 points with a split browtine and busted G2.
This shows the odd point.
I never skinned and deboned a deer so fast in my life to get it in the fridge. I could have made a 15 minute youtube tutorial on it! Unfortunately, the inner loins were lost, but the rest was salvageable. It was a close one though. You just never know what your going to see and when... 
So get this… If any of you recall, 2 years ago I posted a picture of a very unique 1.5yo buck I got on my trail cam (and a friend on his).
Oh and yes, that’s the big 8 I had several encounters with that year and was so hot after that season….
Check out the formation on the right antler... See any similarities?
Splitty there was a 1.5yo in 2012. This guy in mass and size of the deer down there appeared to be a 3.5yo. Seeing deer every since I was a little girl from this area something like these are very unusual. You rarely see any split browtines and oddities like this down there. I really think its the same deer. Its tough to say, genetics, injury, the same buck, different bucks, but it really makes one wonder...... 
This year on the farm in NY, instead of the epic apple bounty of last year, the woods are a giant buffet of red oak acorns. Sunny and felt like 80. What is this Alabama? Not good for deer movement. I sat holding no expectations of seeing much my first morning out and nothing is what I saw. At 1:30 I hiked back to my favorite spot. It was warm as I baked in the afternoon sun and the mosquitoes seemed to be getting as much of a last meal as possible before the cold sets in. This area is special this season. It had corn planted nearby for the first time in many years and some of the only white oaks on the property mixed in with all the reds. At 3:30 I see some does behind me creeping around the bedding area. Stretching their legs while having an afternoon snack. I am beginning to get optimistic that I may see something come my way.
At 5:30 pm I see movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a deer
and to my disbelief (after almost falling out of my stand) I see this white rack with a bunch of points moving through the brush at the edge of the swamp right in my direction. I guess he was hungry and looking for a early snack. As he moves my way my mind is saying ‘this is going to happen… don’t look at the rack…. don’t look at the rack… don’t look at the rack!!!!!”. He sets me up for a perfect 25 yard shot. I stopped him and whack. Shot looked good but a tad back. He bucks and bolts 25 yards up the hill. He stopped. I can now see that something went wrong. When he stopped, he must have been a bit facing me and instead of him, standing dead broadside, he must have shifted ever so slightly to barely quartering towards me. The arrow was stuck inside him, stopped by the ribcage, yet puncturing the gut on the other side. He bunny hopped down the hill with arrow stuck in him out of my sight and I knew he was a dead buck running, but how far and where would he go. As I sat there for an hour and analyzed the situation, I climbed down and looked at the site for blood. A bit of lung blood, a bit of blood with food material in it. I thought if its more lung than gut, he may be dead on the other side of the hill by now. I looked where he stopped at the top of the hill, no blood, I peeked over the hill, no deer. Many choice words later, I made the decision that I will run the risk of spoilage and coyotes and look for him in the am. I wasn't losing this deer. A very long sleepless night later, the following am I spent 4 hours hunting him down. I got covered in pickerseeds and ticks
looking in the pond and stream and through swamp grass taller than me where I ‘thought’ he went (like back where he came out of). Circling and circling around for another drop of blood. Just when the blood trail would seem to end and I would feel like I was in this position before and it didn’t end well , I would find another clue. He crossed a small newly mowed field, I could see the scuffed up trail where he hobbled. Fortunately, by the time he ended up on the other end of the field in the brush and slowed down (200 yards later) the blood trail got a bit better. I must have walked by him 20 times in there before almost tripping on him. What a relief! In all he went 300 yards before bedding down. I thought he was just a 6 or an 8 when I released the arrow. I never imaged he would be sporting 13 points with a split browtine and busted G2.
So get this… If any of you recall, 2 years ago I posted a picture of a very unique 1.5yo buck I got on my trail cam (and a friend on his).
Check out the formation on the right antler... See any similarities?
