Archery season buck

Departing the lower mainland at 5am Aug 31st my plan was to get to my buddy's campsite early in the evening before bow opener and do some quick scouting to see if we could locate some critters for morning.
Driving through Manning Park i notice the warning light on my truck "watch for ice" and i was surprised to see the temperatures drop to +1.........i thought to myself that this would be good for elk hunt as it may get the bulls talking / thinking rut. It was also then that i remembered i forgot all my elk calls in a neat little bag in my closet at home!!! Always forget something!!!
Pulling out of Keremeos i noticed a humming sound which varied with my speed (oh-oh) and i pulled over to investigate. i narrowed it down to either an axle bearing in the rear (worst case) or the u-joint (best case) and as i thought i could hear the needle bearings popping. A quick detour to Penticton to a shop i knew got me back on the road with new u-joints.
The delay however would cost me my scouting before the opener.

Sept 1 opener saw us up well before dawn and getting into the area at first light. Perfect timing and we just wanted to locate some deer and elk to figure out where to focus our efforts so it was going to be a cruise in the morning to look, but as we got into the road i noticed a truck parked ahead of us on the cut block. No problem as they were out for a walk and no where to be seen, big area so we'll just move on through.
We continue on and notice a fellow coming up to the road further down so we stop and a quick chat revealed they were onto a buck with a junior however a SxS drove onto them scaring the buck away. He wasn't happy with the SxS driving through the cut block but it was still early, keep hunting.
About 10minutes later we spot 3 mule deer, front 2 are does.....and......Buck!!! big 2 point we called Hi-tower so i bailed and tried to range them 120yds.......too far for a shot and they were moving away towards the timber. I grabbed my Excalibur and made a plan not to follow the deer but to try and flank them up a small depression in the area where i could close the distance and pop up over the rise within range.
Plan was working but i could see the deer were moving at about the same pace as me. I was hoping they would slow and watch but they kept just out of range, then i could hear a whistle and someone calling my name quietly(??) WTF quickly came to mind and as i looked back at my partner he was motioning off to the right a bit - i thought Hi-tower had separated from the does so i focussed back on them again. Call out again.......(really??) I look at my partner through my range finder (left binos in truck) and i see him motioning to right again but showing me a rack over his head with his arms, so i look hard right and walking across slowly almost behind me is a nice 3 point buck. Change of plan.....range him, 110yds but angling slightly towards me and i can cut him off.
Move when he moves, stop when he stops is working up to about 90yds and he's in the open so all still good. He knows something isn't right so he starts to trot at about 80yds and its now or never.
I whistled and got him to stop, ranged him at 70yds and a clear shooting lane i put Excalibur on a stump, the 60yd pin on his the top of his back and let it go. The illuminock lit up all the way but i sight of it and the deer took off. i watched him as he ran up to the others and went past them which caused the does and other buck to join his departure and i saw him duck under a blowdown then i lost track of him in a depression/draw. With all the other deer moving through i didn't know which deer was which.
70yds was a long shot but i shoot to 60 in practice regularily so i was confident taking the shot as the conditions were perfect. As I approached the shot area i could see the illuminock glowing under a bush and i was pleased to see good blood on the fletchings, I stuck the arrow in the ground to mark the spot and immediately backed out to give him some time.
After 20 minutes or so, I went back in and found a regular (not heavy) blood trail right away and started making with flagging tape however i lost the trail near the blowdown i saw him duck under. At this point i started to look for the other deer to try and find the direction they "may" have gone and I went to a walk circling the heavier timber thinking that if injured the buck would look for safety in the timber - No luck!!!
Hunting early bow season is a real challenge as when tracking the clues are small and you could be right on top of something without even knowing it. I was walking back to my partner to the blowdown tree to find the blood trail again and figure out the direction, i shot now i have to find it.
I went through a dip just before the blowdown and laying 5 yds from me was my buck, basically tripped over him. Just then my partner who is on the other side of the rise says he found blood and I say "same here" and say lets start from mine. He comes over and sees the deer and lets out a chuckle "yours is fresher"!!! now 8:00am on opening day!!!
Perfect lung shot as there were bubbles on his side, a little high which is why the blood trail was slight but he went not even 100yds from the impact.

https://i.imgur.com/AJbl4xl.jpg

I love the illuminock's, like i said i lost track of it in flight but that was because it went through the deer and into the ground on the other side. I found it right away and knew immediately of my hit which made me back out and wait. Without i may have looked for a blood trail first or started to look for the arrow which i would have never found without the lighted nock.
Skinned, in a cooler by 9:00am and picked up from the butcher last night. Deer burgers last night were incredible as the meat has no wild taste or smell at all.
Good start to season, working on a Euro in velvet on this one.

Beauty buck! Nice job!

Awesome story!

congrats on a nice buck. I love racks with nice browtines like that. Very cool. Good work and thanks for sharing!

Beauty buck and thanks for taking us on your adventure

Way to go nice buck..

Awesome way to go!