I am finally able to grab a seat to show a few pics and talk about a great hunt.This will probably be a little long winded but I think you will enjoy the story and the photos.
After all the rain and wind from Ida my buddy and myself could not stand another day without hitting the woods to do a little bow hunting. I have had a buck that was chasing a doe last week on my mind and wanted to get back after him.
The wind was perfect and I located the trail the buck came out on with the doe the prior week. This location was just about as perfect as you could ask for a single trail going through the some of the thickest briers and bay bushes right along the edge of one of my favorite swamps. We have been letting quite a few fair 8 pointers go in this area for the past few years and it was about to payoff.
I located a great tree with a huge dogwood growing next to it about 30 yds from the trail the deer were using. I went ahead and climbed up to 20ft as usual and did a little top trimming on the huge dogwood and felt really good about the location. Once settled into the stand with a light misty rain falling I decided to whip out the grunt call since it was so thick and give a series of grunts. I put the grunt call up and looked 360 degrees and the buck I saw the past week stood up about 100yds away down and to the right of my stand and all I could see was the tips of his rack pointing in my direction. All in one motion I stood up taking my bow out of the bow holder with my left hand and my grunt call in the right.
(I hate shooting a bow sitting down.)
As I watched the antlers above the brush he started to move parallel to the trail I was watching. He decided to make his own trail deeper in the briers and bay bushes. He was still moving the right direction but to far out for a shot. I made a few more calls on the grunt but he kept a steady course. He finally hit an opening where I could see him and for a NC deer the rack almost took my breath away. This was the first buck in a long time that really startled me and after I regained my composer I realized he might keep on walking away from the trail I wanted him to come down. So I decided to do something I rarely do and that was to do a snort-weeze followed by two short grunts. Low and behold he did not like that at all and started making a b-line straight toward my stand location. All I could see was the briers bending and breaking.This dude was making his on hole through the briers!!
Then boom his head came out into the trail I wanted him to walk down and he had to either go left or right. By this time I had all ready clipped the release on the string. He hit the trail and headed to my right which was perfect because there were two holes between three trees I could shoot through. As he passed behind the first tree I drew back the bow. He stopped behind the tree which seemed like forever and all I could see was horns on both sides of the tree trunk. Finally he made his move down the trail. As I followed him in my peep sight I gave a small vocal grunt to stop him in the hole between the trees. He stopped and I squeezed the trigger on the release. It seemed like it was slow motion as I watched the white vanes head right behind his shoulder. At the last second the arrow darted a little left after hitting a small brier vine then the arrow vanished into the deer a little further back and higher than I wanted.My heart sunk knowing that it was not the perfect shot!!
I watched as the buck made a hole through the tangled mass of vines. He was gaining speed and loosing altitude fast!! And all of a sudden he stopped about 60yds from where I shot him and laid down. I felt good for about 5 minutes then he got up and walked another 10yds and laid back down!! It was only 2:10 at this point. At 2:15 he stood back up and walked into some very thick seven foot tall bay bushes. I watched for any movement of that thick mess for the next 3 hours hoping to catch a glimpse of him but never did see him or any movement.
As any bow hunter knows when you see a deer get up and down two or three times your heart just sinks and you start thinking. Was the shot that bad? Where did I really hit him? And you start to second guess yourself. I made the decision to get down leave everything in the tree and slip out as quietly as possible. I knew this was one of the finest deer I have shot in NC so I reluctantly slipped out and went back to the truck. I met my bow hunting buddy of the past 6 years at the truck and I decided to wait till morning to look for the arrow and the buck. You know the saying
" When in doubt back out."
I think I only got one hour of sleep second guessing the shot and what the deer did after I shot him but I never less I was back up in the tree hunting at 6:15am. It seemed like hours went by before the I could see good enough to take a look around with the good binoculars from my tree stand. I didn't see the arrow in the tangled vines nor did I see any sign of the buck with my good binos. Another thirty minutes went by and I couldn't stand it anymore, I quietly came down the tree and went to look for the arrow. The arrow was in the exact spot I thought it would be with a thick coat of dried blood on it. Whew I felt much better seeing that arrow so I proceeded to the first spot I saw the deer lay down. And there it was a big puddle of blood. Then I went to the second spot I saw the buck lay down and again another bright red puddle of blood. At this point I just looked in the direction he headed and there 10yds away in the thickest tangle of briers and bay bushes I saw antlers!! Relieved I went over to the buck and couldn't believe how nice this buck was and no ground shrinkage. What a relief it was to see this great North Carolina Buck!! If I don't shoot another buck this year I would be perfectly content. After ten years and letting so many bucks walk this one made up for all that time.
Hope you enjoy the hunt as much as I did...........Mark
*** Catch My Breath Buck***
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