skinarama
12-16-2016, 12:37 PM
Up until this past weekend, this hunting season was not good at all. I hunted all over, from Revelstoke to Rock Creek, and never even saw anything legal to harvest. I know, poor me. I know this year was tough for more than myself, but I now believe perseverance pays off! I have been scouting a friend's property since August to help remove a couple of monster problem bears, and had cameras to help me pattern them. Well, these bears were strictly nocturnal. Since August, I only saw them on my cameras in the dark. I gave up on the bears in early November, and left a cam there to see if there were any deer in the area. I checked the cam a week ago, and only had wt does on it. Perfect I thought. I'll try for one with my crossbow, with permission of my friend of course.
Last Saturday, I geared up and made it to the property just before first light. I had my heated seat cushion, hand warmers, winter gear, rattling antlers, grunt tube, and my crossbow. I found a spot that had a decent vantage point, and sat in the snow quietly to wait for a deer. Once day broke around 7:45, i heard a horrendous noise. My friend's driveway was only 100 yards from where I was sitting, and his neighbor decided that this was a good time to plow the driveway. I instantly thought my day was over, and began to pack up my stuff. All of a sudden, 2 does blast past me and start feeding 50 yards away. They couldn't care less about Mr. Snowplow! I kept ranging the does, but they were staying 50 yards away through bushes, and that is too far for my little crossbow. While I was watching them, another 5 does came in! They were all feeding and milling around me, but none would come within range. My heart was pounding for about 20 minutes waiting for a shot at one of these does. I had my trigger hand glove off, safety off, and was shaking. All of a sudden, I heard a ticka-ticka noise about 20 yards beside me. I couldn't see what was making the noise, and I assumed it was a bird. After 5 minutes of the light tapping noise, it happened. I heard the deepest grunt ever! WAAAHOOO! There is a buck beside me! Now my heart really starts pounding, in anticipation of the buck showing himself. I quietly got my grunt tube out, and gave a really mellow soft grunt. The buck starts grunting like he was really unhappy there was another buck on his turf. He grunted probably 50 times, and started moving downhill away from me. I caught a glimpse of 2 antler points through the brush, and was pumped! All the does were still all around me, and I had an extreme internal struggle trying to decide to go after the buck, or to try for a doe. Oh, by the way, before this day, I had never harvested anything with my bow. Well, the buck stops about 50 yards away, and beds down! I can't move now, as the does are feeding at 30 yards, and I was terrified they would bust me. I waited, shaking, with my heart seriously on the edge of cardiac arrest. The buck sat there for 5 minutes, and then grunted. I grabbed the grunt tube and gave him a grunt back. He stood up mad as heck again, and trotted across my shooting lane to another row of willow type shrub - trees, and bedded again at around 40 yards. My veins hurt from all the blood my heart was pumping at this point. I waited again for what seemed like hours, but probably only minutes, for him to make the next move. I became a little impatient, and grabbed one of my rattling antlers and hit the other one a couple of times with one hand. The buck stands up again, and grunts his face off. He was just standing in this row of trees not moving, and then a doe screams past him - right into my lane at 20 yards! He saw her, and gave chase! He ran right into my clearing and saw me and stopped dead in his tracks! All I remember was lifting the crossbow, finding him in the scope, and pulling the trigger. Couldn't tell you what yardage pin I used, but I did see the bolt smack him! Unfortunately, the shot looked high, and back a bit. He proceeded to book it 50 yards to the right of me, then 50 yards to left, all going down hill away from me. I grabbed my grunt tube and started grunting, trying to lure him back. No dice. He bolted down the hill and over a fence, into thick timber on a neighboring property. I stood up, and replayed what had just happened. Oh, all the does disappeared when he ran off as well. I made a mental note of where I thought I saw him last, and sat back down to give him time. I have watched many hunting shows where all the pros back out after an iffy shot, and they give the animal all day to expire. The snow was beginning to puke, so I only waited 40 minutes, until I couldn't wait any longer. I re-cocked the crossbow, and began my retrieval quest. I got to where he was when I shot, and couldn't find hair or blood or my arrow. The tracks were everywhere, because of the 7 does, and I started to get an uneasy feeling. I continued to scour the ground for signs of a hit deer, and finally found a tiny amount of blood on the snow about 10 yards from where I had hit him. This sucked, as I knew this was not a fatal amount of blood. I kept on trying to find more sign, but there was none. I did notice a crow and a magpie fighting about 70 yards away in the bushes in the direction the buck went, but I ignored them. I walked up and down the fence line looking for anything, but I couldn't even find tracks now with all the new snow that was falling. I jumped the fence, and was almost certain that I had only grazed the deer, as there wasn't any blood trail. I finally gave up looking for tracks, and decided to see what these birds were fighting over. I made my way through the thick timber down the hill, about 50 yards, and couldn't believe my eyes. There was the biggest deer I had ever seen, dead in the snow! I walked up, and saw the rack. I almost fainted. It was huge! I honestly only remember seeing him as a 2x2 in my scope, but was I ever wrong! He was a 6x5 with stickers all over his brow tines! The shot was perfect, as it went in diagonally from in front of his right rear leg, and exited his left ribs just behind the left front leg! I said a thank you prayer to the man upstairs, and started the drag out. It took me over an hour to drag him 50 yards, and getting him through the fence was ridiculous. Once on the right side of the fence, I gutted him, and tried to drag him some more. The hill we were on was probably a 50-60 degree incline, without a path, covered in snow. To shorten the retrieval story, I lucked out and was super fortunate to have friends of my wife that lived close by, show up with a quad and a trailer! We got him to the truck, and now he's at the butcher, and at the taxidermist!
This deer goes to show that if you don't give up, sometimes you are rewarded with a pleasant surprise!
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy_zpsthcoulpq.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy%202_zpstmoqgas2.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy%204_zpsszzdaypy.jpg
Last Saturday, I geared up and made it to the property just before first light. I had my heated seat cushion, hand warmers, winter gear, rattling antlers, grunt tube, and my crossbow. I found a spot that had a decent vantage point, and sat in the snow quietly to wait for a deer. Once day broke around 7:45, i heard a horrendous noise. My friend's driveway was only 100 yards from where I was sitting, and his neighbor decided that this was a good time to plow the driveway. I instantly thought my day was over, and began to pack up my stuff. All of a sudden, 2 does blast past me and start feeding 50 yards away. They couldn't care less about Mr. Snowplow! I kept ranging the does, but they were staying 50 yards away through bushes, and that is too far for my little crossbow. While I was watching them, another 5 does came in! They were all feeding and milling around me, but none would come within range. My heart was pounding for about 20 minutes waiting for a shot at one of these does. I had my trigger hand glove off, safety off, and was shaking. All of a sudden, I heard a ticka-ticka noise about 20 yards beside me. I couldn't see what was making the noise, and I assumed it was a bird. After 5 minutes of the light tapping noise, it happened. I heard the deepest grunt ever! WAAAHOOO! There is a buck beside me! Now my heart really starts pounding, in anticipation of the buck showing himself. I quietly got my grunt tube out, and gave a really mellow soft grunt. The buck starts grunting like he was really unhappy there was another buck on his turf. He grunted probably 50 times, and started moving downhill away from me. I caught a glimpse of 2 antler points through the brush, and was pumped! All the does were still all around me, and I had an extreme internal struggle trying to decide to go after the buck, or to try for a doe. Oh, by the way, before this day, I had never harvested anything with my bow. Well, the buck stops about 50 yards away, and beds down! I can't move now, as the does are feeding at 30 yards, and I was terrified they would bust me. I waited, shaking, with my heart seriously on the edge of cardiac arrest. The buck sat there for 5 minutes, and then grunted. I grabbed the grunt tube and gave him a grunt back. He stood up mad as heck again, and trotted across my shooting lane to another row of willow type shrub - trees, and bedded again at around 40 yards. My veins hurt from all the blood my heart was pumping at this point. I waited again for what seemed like hours, but probably only minutes, for him to make the next move. I became a little impatient, and grabbed one of my rattling antlers and hit the other one a couple of times with one hand. The buck stands up again, and grunts his face off. He was just standing in this row of trees not moving, and then a doe screams past him - right into my lane at 20 yards! He saw her, and gave chase! He ran right into my clearing and saw me and stopped dead in his tracks! All I remember was lifting the crossbow, finding him in the scope, and pulling the trigger. Couldn't tell you what yardage pin I used, but I did see the bolt smack him! Unfortunately, the shot looked high, and back a bit. He proceeded to book it 50 yards to the right of me, then 50 yards to left, all going down hill away from me. I grabbed my grunt tube and started grunting, trying to lure him back. No dice. He bolted down the hill and over a fence, into thick timber on a neighboring property. I stood up, and replayed what had just happened. Oh, all the does disappeared when he ran off as well. I made a mental note of where I thought I saw him last, and sat back down to give him time. I have watched many hunting shows where all the pros back out after an iffy shot, and they give the animal all day to expire. The snow was beginning to puke, so I only waited 40 minutes, until I couldn't wait any longer. I re-cocked the crossbow, and began my retrieval quest. I got to where he was when I shot, and couldn't find hair or blood or my arrow. The tracks were everywhere, because of the 7 does, and I started to get an uneasy feeling. I continued to scour the ground for signs of a hit deer, and finally found a tiny amount of blood on the snow about 10 yards from where I had hit him. This sucked, as I knew this was not a fatal amount of blood. I kept on trying to find more sign, but there was none. I did notice a crow and a magpie fighting about 70 yards away in the bushes in the direction the buck went, but I ignored them. I walked up and down the fence line looking for anything, but I couldn't even find tracks now with all the new snow that was falling. I jumped the fence, and was almost certain that I had only grazed the deer, as there wasn't any blood trail. I finally gave up looking for tracks, and decided to see what these birds were fighting over. I made my way through the thick timber down the hill, about 50 yards, and couldn't believe my eyes. There was the biggest deer I had ever seen, dead in the snow! I walked up, and saw the rack. I almost fainted. It was huge! I honestly only remember seeing him as a 2x2 in my scope, but was I ever wrong! He was a 6x5 with stickers all over his brow tines! The shot was perfect, as it went in diagonally from in front of his right rear leg, and exited his left ribs just behind the left front leg! I said a thank you prayer to the man upstairs, and started the drag out. It took me over an hour to drag him 50 yards, and getting him through the fence was ridiculous. Once on the right side of the fence, I gutted him, and tried to drag him some more. The hill we were on was probably a 50-60 degree incline, without a path, covered in snow. To shorten the retrieval story, I lucked out and was super fortunate to have friends of my wife that lived close by, show up with a quad and a trailer! We got him to the truck, and now he's at the butcher, and at the taxidermist!
This deer goes to show that if you don't give up, sometimes you are rewarded with a pleasant surprise!
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy_zpsthcoulpq.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy%202_zpstmoqgas2.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/skinarama/Big%20Guy%204_zpsszzdaypy.jpg