2017 Ohio recap - 2 BBD's, a true hunting adventure...

[JHbowhunter]

This won't be for everyone. A link to "Bowsite". It's a long read. I think it's an awesome depiction of a week of hunting, the highs and lows and everything in between. I hope I don't lose my "mod" status for posting a week long hunt on another site. I really didn't want to advertise on a NJ site that I was out of town, for reasons such as "poaching and breaking & entry & theft". You never know who is lurking on these sites. Matt and I do these Bowsite "semi-live" hunts whenever we meet in Ohio...

 

Two nice old mature Ohio bucks hit the ground. I hooked up with my "adopted son" I met back in 2009, as Matt is a Jersey transplant, 20 something years my junior, and we met through my taxi, as he was mounting a nice 140" 10 point buck for the "kid" that I had shared camera pics of. He put us in contact, and we have been hunting together ever since. Matt transferred to the Dover Ohio area sometime back around 2013... He came across (stepped in it) 200 acres of prime whitetail land, but it's the most rugged steep and deep terrain you can imagine and backs up to over 1,000 acres of private property with no hunting allowed. This terrain has everything a buck needs to grow very mature. I took a nice 10 there November 2014. Passed good bucks in 2015, and was there when Matt shot a beautiful 154" 12 pt on Halloween. I hung a great stand there in '15, and Matt hunted out of it 2016 and took a massive 161" 10 point, also on Halloween. I was hunting further south with a friend from "Bowsite" in Vinton county same day, and passed a 125" 8pt (as Matt was shooting the giant out of my stand)before the heat wave set in. (clearly I should have stuck with Matt last year haha)

 

This year I returned to Tuscarawas county, for a Monday 10/30 hunt through Saturday, 11/4 hunt. I highly recommend you read this thread, as it ends with the most incredible blood trailing/buck recovery you will ever see. I learned a lot by this - as many of you know, I am completely anal about shot selection, BH sharpness and I fully expect that if I don't see a deer drop in site, that I did something wrong. I want you to look at the entrance and exit on my 200# dressed 10pt buck. I have my theories, and already discussed with a few experts on here. I will put a few gratuitous pics in this post, for those that don't care to read a good weeklong hunting adventure with a lot of action, lulls, pictures, successes and failures. Story book ending, that just could not be imagined.

 

http://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=467105&messages=208&forum=4#4479723

 

Matt's 190# dressed 10pt, and my 200# 10 point pictured here...

Edited November 20, 2017 by JHbowhunter

[not on the rug]

Congrats jack.  Gonna read it right now

 

Edit:  Just read the thread.  Congrats to both of you guys on some beautiful bucks. 

 

What did you find when you opened him up?  Did you catch the entrance-side lung?  The entrance seems a tad high to me, but not bad really and the exit should have given you good blood to follow.  I'm at a loss as to why the trail was poor and how he managed to go as far as he did.  

 

I made a very similar shot on a big doe the other night and she literally trotted 20 yards, stood there looking around for a minute and then keeled over stone dead.  The "trail" was poor, but I did catch the top of the entrance side lung and had a good exit.  All of the bleeding was internal, but then again, she only went 20 yards

 

The only other deer I ever killed that was similar to what you experienced was a big old doe, 3 years ago.  Shot entrance and exit were basically identical to yours.  I believe I used a NAP Spitfire.  She went just over 400 yards and would have gone further had she not hit a fence line that she was unable to jump over.  I found her dead up against the fence.   Blood trail was sparse and disappeared several times.  I never found the arrow either.  When my buddy and I got to her, we couldn't believe how far she went and the utter lack of blood trail.  That is the only time I've ever had anything like that happen.  

 

I'm glad to hear that you found him though.  Congrats again buddy

Edited November 6, 2017 by not on the rug

[JHbowhunter]

Congrats jack.  Gonna read it right now

 

I really welcome the communities opinions on why my buck ran well over 500 yards and climbed a steep 80 degree vertical 50 yard long hill on his last moments of life...  The entry/exit holes are shown. 

[hammer4reel]

Congrats on a great shared hunt.

Hope one of the things you learned was leave the live action to the tv guys.

 

Big reason we hunt is to get away from the daily rat race.

Blown opportunities playing with the phone instead of watching the show in intirety show the phones best place on a hunt is put away.

 

 

.glad you had a great time out there

[Devil Horns]

Awesome. Congrats! I️ will be sure to read it tonight when I have more time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BHC]

congrats to you both

[TroutandBucks]

Congrats on the great hunt and amazing Buck!! 
It was a great read to help monday morning move along

[JHbowhunter]

Congrats on a great shared hunt.

Hope one of the things you learned was leave the live action to the tv guys.

 

Big reason we hunt is to get away from the daily rat race.

Blown opportunities playing with the phone instead of watching the show in intirety show the phones best place on a hunt is put away.

 

 

.glad you had a great time out there

 

That was my biggest lesson learned, I could have tagged out Tuesday morning instead of doing it the hardest of hard ways...  Especially in that stand, in those woods, with everything silent from the rain... And quite honestly - I know better.  I busted Matt's balls all week about "check out my video, check out my video, check out my video".  He sent me that 8:30am, and by 8:31am I texted him back "you just cost me a giant you a-hole!".. LOL... My fault not his. 

Edited November 6, 2017 by JHbowhunter

[hammer4reel]

As I said when you sent me the pics .

I believe you only got the offside lung , with a slight possibility of nipping the top of the near side lung.

They can go a long way on one lung.

Your sharp broad head did the trick , doing its job, creating massive blood loss

[JHbowhunter]

talk about adrenaline, that my buck was on, I think he passed it on to me. I got up 5am Saturday morning, got to bed after securing the meat in a cooler with ice and caping him out, at 3:15 am  (really 4:15 am with time change).  So I was nearly up 24 hours.... I slept 3 hours and drove back to NJ 7 hours, then got to bed 10:15 last night.   I woke 4:00 am with the worst night sweats of my life, had to get a towel to sleep on. Hopefully that was just my adrenaline finally releasing itself and not indicative of a health issue, I never get those unless I have a flu....  I feel great today though. 

[BothBarrels]

Congrats! Big fun!

[JHbowhunter]

As I said when you sent me the pics .

I believe you only got the offside lung , with a slight possibility of nipping the top of the near side lung.

They can go a long way on one lung.

Your sharp broad head did the trick , doing its job, creating massive blood loss

 

yeah but most of the blood was inside, he drained a gallon when I stuck the diaphragm... He left just enough to get us close, but after that last brutal hill climb he left ZERO...  I fully admit I was defeated, and at a very low point... 

 

The more I think about it and replay shot in my mind and looking at recovery evidence to extent I could (it was late, dark, and trying to skin and cape and debone a deer by the quad light isn't optimal). 

 

The entry hole was a few inches below spine (looking on inside of cavity). My BH was razor sharp. I do think I clipped some form of shoulder bone or scapula either on entrance or exit as he was walking and I really can't tell the orientation of either side shoulder when a deer is walking (lesson learned). The more I think about it, here is my theory. The crack I sound was my arrow blowing through onside scapula (there are thin parts to it). This would dull the BH which despite what many say, dull BH's don't make the best blood trails. Despite what I originally saw which was the arrow seemingly "stopped", it did get full pass through but was "Stuck". The exit hole looks like a 2 blade rage sliced it, not a 3 blade VPA. I think perhaps, that the arrow got hung up on a tree or brush and tore that straight-line gash you see... Combine that with the fact that "high lung" shots don't bleed well as they fill up in the diaphragm rather than spill out, with a amped up full rut mature Ohio buck that is used to running those steep ridges and ravines like a mountain goat that is what you get. I have spoken to many other bowhunting experts I know (like you Dan), and some say that the larger the deer, the more chance for a void between spine and top of lung. The lung is a free floating organ, and on a full rutting buck that is breathing deep and completely jacked up as he was - I may have caught him on a deep exhale, and completely missed top of entry side lung, but clearly center-punched or damn near it, the exit side lung. I really have no other explanation. With many twists and turns, the only thing that kept us going and what kept Matt going when I was ready to "call it" was that Matt trusted me when I said "shot looked picture perfect - I expected him to be piled up before the steep ravine".

Edited November 7, 2017 by JHbowhunter

[Lunatic]

I really welcome the communities opinions on why my buck ran well over 500 yards and climbed a steep 80 degree vertical 50 yard long hill on his last moments of life...  The entry/exit holes are shown.

 

 

Because you didn't use THE RAGE

Congrats on a great adventure and nice two bucks, Way to go!!!!

[JHbowhunter]

Because you didn't use THE RAGE

Congrats on a great adventure and nice two bucks, Way to go!!!!

 

I thought about that - trust me, but that loud crack meant that a rage would have disintegrated and not penetrated at all... 

[3Blade]

Congrats to you both on two good bucks!

 

You aint kid'n about "stepping in it", 200 acres in a Midwest state that backs to 1000 acres of sanctuary-lucky SOB's!!!