Big buck down

[iluv2hunt]

Sorry for the long story. So I finally have a chance to post my story and pictures of a great buck I was hoping to take this year. I have a little history with this deer. I had him at 20 yards last year but was on the fence about shooting him. He never presented a shot so he made the decision easier for me. I believe him to be 4.5 years old if not he’s s great 3.5 year old. The last picture I had of this deer was January 5th 2019. I was hoping he would make it through the rest of the season and was really excited when I got my first picture of him this season. I know where he liked to hang out early season based on where i had gotten pictures of him last year. So my plan was to hunt him the first week after I got my doe. I was lucky enough to take a doe first thing on opening morning. So fast forward to Wednesday morning. I’m at work and receive a picture from my Spartan cell camera of the buck at 6:30am right in front of my stand. He hung around for 30 minutes. So I decided I was hunting him that afternoon and taking off the next day to hunt if I wasn’t lucky Wednesday afternoon. I got settled in my stand by 4:30.i brought my video camera along hoping to get the hunt on film. I had a lone doe come from behind me down the trail past my stand she hung around and fed for about 20 or 30 minutes. I was a little surprised the direction she came from normally the deer approach from in front of me so every few minutes I would look back the wAy she came. After about 30 minutes I caught movement over my right shoulder to my surprise it was the buck. I couldn’t believe it at first. He must of been bedded in this patch of woods. It’s very thick where he came from. So I turn the camera on and was trying to film him through all the branches. He read the script and started heading my way. So when he started heading my way he was probably at 50 yards. It took 10 or 15 minutes for him to get past me to a spot I could shoot him. At one point he stopped directly down wind of me but it was very calm and I was up twenty feet. Every time he stopped I figured that was the point he would wind me and take off but everything just fell into place. He came around from my right into the open. All this time I kept having to move the camera and adjust the focus because of branches in the way. He finally got to a spot I could take a shot. I took the shot and thought i hit him prefect. He took off but stopped about 75 yards out in front of me. I could barely see him. I could tell he was hurting pretty bad. At one point he laid down but got back up. I decided to wait 90 minutes before tracking him. There was very good blood most of the way. It starting becoming a darker brownish color. I figured liver and gut shot. I tracked him about 150 yards and found where he bedded and got back up. At that point I decided to back out and take up the track the following morning. There a river not far from where I stopped Tracking so I figured he was probably headed that way. So after a long sleepless night replaying the shot over and over in my head and second guessing my self. I headed back to the property. I went to the Last blood and Started searching from there which was very grassy and wet with morning dew. Needless to say I couldn’t locate anymore blood so I decided to start walking along the river. After about hundred yards I see a fox take off running. I said to myself he’s probably feeding on my deer. I walked over there and my buck was laying in the river dead. I was so pumped.If it wasn’t for that fox I’m not sure if I would have seen him. Someone was watching over me. The fox just started to feed on him so I didn’t lose very much meat. The first picture is of him last fall  and the 2nd picture is this fall  I will try to post the video very soon I just need to edit it  

 

 

 

[Whitetail31]

Congratulations awesome buck 

 

[BowhunterNJ]

Wow that's a beauty!  Congrats!  

[not on the rug]

Congrats!  Great buck!

[Buck154]

Great wide buck. Congrats.  How wide inside is he?  Send his teeth out to age him if you really want to know his age. Deerage.com 

[Russ 11]

Congrats !  Really nice buck .

[deerstalker420]

Great buck congrats

[JHbowhunter]

wow that's a brute - width, beams and tines...   Got it all.     CONGRATULATIONS. 

Where was your entry exit - did you get lung/liver? Sounds like classic liver and maybe a lung if he bedded and got up when you pushed him.     Thank the lucky fox!

[iluv2hunt]

He’s 19.75 inside spread. He grossed scored 135 1/2

[SPEARFISH]

Great buck congrats.

[Farmshine]

Congrats! Great buck


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[iluv2hunt]

Jack from what I could when gutting him. The shot was back s couple inches from the leg. It caught the back part of the one Lung cut the diaphragm and went through the liver and barely nicked the gut 

[JHbowhunter]

8 minutes ago, iluv2hunt said:

Jack from what I could when gutting him. The shot was back s couple inches from the leg. It caught the back part of the one Lung cut the diaphragm and went through the liver and barely nicked the gut 

Sounds a lot like the buck I just got -visually I thought he was 90 degree broadside, impact looked perfect, heard him crash but well beyond 100 yards.   I definitely hit one lung most likely got second but hit liver on way out. Was slight qtr to me as result since exit was further back when I expected it to be through heart based on POI. Had I got the "orientation" right I should have aimed 2" to the left tighter to the crease.    Since I heard it crash, I did not wait which was the right call given the critters by me.  It's a  game of inches and when  giant buck enters your kill zone, keeping it together and focusing are all that matters.   I have made more "perfect" shots on deer than I can recall, but it seems the really big ones are always a few inches off from where they should be. 

Congrats again and I would be shocked if that buck is any less than 4.5 and I think 4.5 is spot on.  What zone?

[buckhound]

great buck congrats 

[megavites]

Great story to that one and congrats! Nice thick rack!