First night out...9 point down

[Reel Action]

Well...after 5 days of tweaking at this new October 1 opening day...not being able to get out of work to enjoy the opening day...let alone opening week...I was finally able to slip away in time to get into the field for a couple hours on Friday night. After getting set up and getting all of the first night little fixes taken care of, I took a seat and enjoyed being out and waiting them out. About 6:00 I had a button buck and a doe come out directly under me. I decided to let the doe go...and just decided to watch as they fed underneath me. The doe looked up the edge of the corn rather intently...but then went about her business. I decided to take my phone out and take some pics...figuring my son would get a kick out of it. As I was trying to get pics...I looked up and saw why the doe was a little hesitant to go up the corn row. I had a nice buck coming right at me at 20 yards. After quickly and quietly trying to get my phone put away, glove back on, stood up and turned, I drew on him at about 15 yards. I was able to put a Rage into him and he took off...running for about 40 yards, then stopping and slowly walking away. I didn't like the angle the arrow went in at, and decided to let him sit overnight and go after him Saturday morning. After waiting out the doe and button buck to finally leave, I got down and picked up the arrow and quietly got out of the woods. After going back on Saturday, I was able to find him in the corn, about 50 yards from where I had seen him go in. Unfortunately for me...the coyotes found him first and had a smorgasboard at my expense. I was relieved that I was able to find him and had put a good hit on him...but the meat was essentially destroyed overnight. The European mount will be a trophy...and also a bit of motivation to do some coyote hunting!

[on the lam]

Congrats on a great buck

[Reel Action]

To add the story...I just got off the phone with my taxidermist and he's convinced that this buck is a brother of the one that I took him last year...very similar racks with the same small nuances...just this year's a bit bigger and much more dense given the fact that it is one year older. Pretty sure the family is putting a price on my head!

[RUNNIN REBEL]

Tom,

Congratulations and great picks. Your 2 for 2 years in a row. How to top that in this gun season or 2013 ????

Jerry

Rebel Charters

[Duckman1]

Nice buck

[ Post made via Android ]

[Reel Action]

Thanks guys. And Jerry...my taxidermist is a VERY happy man. Up until three years ago...I had never shot anything more than a six point basket rack. Nothing even close to mount worthy. Three years ago I shot an 8 during shotgun that I had mounted...followed by last years that was bigger than the year before...and with a bow...so I had to have that one done too! Now this year...it's three years in a row with my biggest buck ever...I'm liking the trend!! The good news is there are some bucks I have on camera that are significantly bigger than this one...but so far...they have eluded me! Hoping they slip up soon!

[Shorthanded]

Nice Buck!

These coyotes are getting bad everywhere i hunt as well. Thinking a new 22-250 is in my future for x-mas.

[Legacy]

[Billy V]

Nice buck! Congrats!

[rusty1034]

Just imagine how many more deer you would have seen if those selfish teenagers weren't out there spoiling everything with their youth hunt !

I've lost deer a couple of times to the evil coyotes. If I end up having to leave a deer overnight, I fully expect to recover nothing but bones in the morning. Those dogs are nothing more that North American hyenas.

Rusty

[33canuck]

Great buck, f'ing yotes

[leroyc1]

That is a beautiful trophy and I am very sorry to hear about the loss of the meat to the coyotes, you obviously worked hard to harvest this animal and i commend your efforts. However, I think that this should be an excellent opportunity for all of us to learn from another man's misfortune. I understand the choice to leave a buck overnight is an extremely touchy situation and that every man is entitled to his own opinion and expertise when deciding to leave a buck overnight. After all the whitetail is an extremely resilient and very unpredictable creature. However, considering the situation I would have been extremely hesitant to leave this deer overnight. I think that given the situation you must weigh certain factors and make the decision you deem ethical. The factor weighing heavily on my mind was the temperature. It was over 70 degrees Friday with an overnight low in the 50's . At this temperature assuming you leave the deer from the time shot at say 7pm to the morning say 7am that is 12 hours that a warm blooded animal with a core temperature in the 90's is sitting around room temperature. Venison is an extremely perishable meat and I would be extremely concerned feeding the meat off of that deer to my family. This is the inherent risk with an early season. I don't want anyone to think that I am accusing them of any wrong doing because I think that the choice to wait to recover an animal can only be made by the hunter in the given situation, for he is the one who saw the shot placement and knows the property he is hunting. However, with the broad heads available in today's market and the high speed of compound bows usually creating through and though shots, not to mention the prevalence of coyotes in the woods, it is this man's honest opinion that with the weather conditions as such an honest attempt to find a deer, that can be confirmed as hit, should be made that same day after a waiting period of about 1-2 hours. Again this isn't a science but today's broad heads cause unbelievable wound channels and blood loss can cause death within seconds without the arrow touching the heart or lungs. I know this will start a riot with the hunters who always wait til morning on a questionable shot but this is not just a trophy hunting sport. The sole purpose of this post was to get people to put careful thought into the decisions they make into the woods. This was by no means a shot at the man who shot this deer. I obviously don't know all of the factors that were taken into account in making the decision so passing judgement would make me an ignorant man. Again sorry for the loss of the meat and congratulations on the successful season best of luck on future hunts to all.

Best,

Chad

[Reel Action]

Couldn't agree more...and it was a difficult call to leave and wait until the AM...especially given the prevalence of predators in the area and the aforementioned temperature. However, given the shot placement and having watched the deer walk away for about 3 minutes without wavering at all...my primary concern was to be able to harvest this animal in any way possible to ensure that such a majestic creature did not die without the ability to be harvested and celevrated. Having helped others in their pursuits of deer that were not hit well...I knew that if I pushed the animal too soon, I would push him out of his bed and the new blood that had been generated would carry him a significant distance with no visible blood trail (especially given the inch of rain on Friday night/Saturday morning that also weighed on my mind) and I would have zero chance of finding the animal at all. While I applaud your sentiments...at times we as hunters need to make difficult judgement calls based on prior experience and as much evidence as we have at our disposal. I would unquestionably love to have the meat from this animal in the freezer (and on the way to Costanza's meat market for some fresh sausage products) but I take pride in the fact that I was able to recover the animal in a 100 acre corn field and celebrate a trophy that I might have otherwise always regretted never being able to see up close after he was shot. Best of luck to all in your pursuits and by all means...shoot every DAMN coyote that crosses your path! Tight lines and straight shots!

[BLOCKHEAD]

I wouldn't beat yourself up. No shortage of tree cows. Coyotes got to eat. Its cool to have one for the wall. Sounds like you have a target rich area. Older buck rarely eat well. Western deer hunters routinely take deer in much warmer weather. Might have even did you a small favor IMO. Costana works pretty hard to make deer meat not taste like deer. For a couple of bucks you can make your own sausage. Doesn't take much skill or equipment . Plus you get your own meat back.

[ray koziatek]

My brother shot a decent 9 pt this year........

Pretty much same story ,poopy arrow, big hunch,watched him walk 100 yds and lay down..

Here is what I knew,Many big yotes on cams ,70 deg nite...not good...

But he was using the 3 blade expanding,with clean pass through..

It was 2 hours after the shot when he called me for advise, Knowing what I know (weather ,gut pass through,and yotes,and his description of the deers action after being hit ,with rain on the horizion).

I told him to let the Beagle loose (ME) The deer was where he saw it lay down I jumped it as it was in some impenatrable brush, the heavy brush got the clots loosened up and had their toll on me with shorts and a "T" shirt on...

For me it was a easy track between the twisted leaves,and ocasional blood drops,I pushed it fast knowing it would go no more than1 or 2 hundred yards before laying down again putting the ball in my court.. Bingo , at 15 ft from me he layed lookin my way. I took a second to read it body language,put my high intensity light in his eyes ,pulled out My Buck 110 knife,slowley approached and stabbed it in the lungs.... Well my brother was closer than i thought and he almost got ran over after the knife attack..If I had heavy clothing on I would of gone for a ride,,It ran hard for another 75 yds then pretty much was over..

Every Situation has its ,doos and donts , Yes i know what the TV guys say.,,,Ive been hunting long before most of them were born,finished many deer off with the knife,and even enjoyed a couple short rides....In the words of most of my friends who have whitnessed this "I Ant Right" , so maybe the average Hunter better back out and go for the rack recovery........But if ya live near Corning wound a deer and want some help recovering yer deer give me a call......

EDIT:Never ,Never sit on a deer and slice its neck,you will get yer nuts racked ,enjoy a good blood bath,and still have to run it down. ,,,so ive heard..

[Mortigan]

You're an interesting guy, Ray.

I've only finished one off with a knife and it was disturbing. Now I carry a single arrow with an old Muzzy on it to use if a short-range kill shot is necessary.