TIKKA TIGER
01-06-2013, 12:29 PM
My 2012 9x8 Whitetail
Here’s my story…
I started hunting this buck in December “Bow Season” of 2011. He was totally nocturnal, as all the trail cam pictures of this buck were in the evening and early morning, but none during daylight hours.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/PICT0303-2.jpg
I hunted for this buck on several occasions and the season ended with no sightings of him. However I did manage to find one of his shed antlers, the left (5 Point) side.
I searched for the other antler but never had any luck in locating it. I thought about this buck a lot in the off-season and often wondered if he might show up next year.
On October 28, 2012 I went to the same location as last year and hung my stand, set up my trail cam and put out a bale of hay.
I hunted from my treestand on 8 separate occasions from October 30th until December 14th and no bucks were coming in during daylight hours. I was continually changing out the SD cards in my trail cams and replenishing the hay. Only small bucks and lots of does showing up on my trail cams.
Then on December 15th I was in there again and saw some does and a small 4x3 basket buck, but the buck didn’t present a good clear shot. While I was there I changed the SD card in my trail cam and downloaded the pictures when I got home. I was very excited when I saw that a nice mature buck was coming to the hay during daylight hours, between 2:00 pm and last light.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8Whitey-1_zpscdcb4798.jpg
I called my hunting partner (JDR) and mentioned it could be the same buck as last year (the 6x5). We looked at last years pictures and both agreed that he was back again this year. I could hardly wait to get back out there. I was on holidays, but had other commitments on Sunday and Monday (Dec.16th and 17th). I was going to hunt this buck on Dec. 18th, 19th and 20th and sit on stand all day if I had to.
On December 18th I got into my stand just after 7:00 am “First Light”. I spooked a deer on the way in and prayed it wasn’t the buck I was after. At about 10:30 am I had yet to see a deer, so decided to go to my truck and have a bite to eat and warm up.
I got back into my stand about 11:10 am and no deer showed up until 12:53 pm. Two does came in and shortly after 3 more does arrived.
I was getting cold, so I made some noise to scare the deer away. At about 1:30 pm I went back to my truck and once again, had some food and got warmed up.
I climbed back into my stand at about 2:10 pm. Does came to feed on and off and around 3:55 pm things slowed down. I never saw a buck all day, so at approximately 4:15 pm I pulled out my “Bleat In Heat” call and did 2 calls about 5 seconds apart. It wasn’t 3 minutes and I caught a movement off to my right. There he was, the buck I was seeing on my trail cam. He came from the direction of the bedding area located just above me.
He was on “Full Alert” and stopped at about 45 yards away and was looking in my direction. I had to remain motionless and couldn’t grab my bow from my bow holder. Then the buck started walking towards me on the game trail and when he went behind a couple of trees I grabbed my bow and steadied it on my right knee as I was still seated. The buck stopped suddenly and looked in my direction again and checked the wind with his nose high in the air.
After about 20 seconds he started walking again and was directly in front of me at 20 yards. I had a bulky glove on my release hand and had to remove it so I could shoot. He went behind another tree so I slowly slid my glove off and set it on my lap. Once again the buck stopped and was staring in my direction so I never moved. My heart was pounding in my chest as I swallowed hard and tried to gain my composure. Then the buck decided to circle past the hay and came back to feed.
When he put his head down to feed, I hooked my release onto the string loop and he quickly jerked his head up and looked my way and once again he checked the wind. He was chewing hay but still staring in my direction and seemed to be getting nervous. The buck took a couple of steps then dropped his head down to feed again. I quickly came to full draw and the buck raised his head and looked in my direction.
I lowered my sight pin until I was aiming at his vitals and slowly squeezed my trigger release. Instantly I heard the loud “Whack” as the arrow hit its mark and passed through the bucks ribs and vitals. The buck wheeled to its left and took off on a “Death Run”. My heart was still pounding but I was confident the arrow passed through the bucks vitals.
I slowly lowered everything down to the ground from my stand. I walked over to where the buck was last standing and found my arrow laying in the hay. It was a complete pass through and the arrow was covered in blood from the broadhead to the nock. It was getting very dark now and I followed the blood trail for about 100 yards.
I decided to go to my truck and get my flashlights. I called (JDR) and he decided to come and help me. I went to look for the buck and what a blood trail. Soon I found one of the bucks antlers lying in the snow just off to my left, it was the right side (8 Point).
The buck was banging off the trees and stumbling at this point. I walked about another 20 yards and to my surprise there was an antlerless deer piled up in front of me.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8AntlerlessBuck1_zpsfdae2a3e.jpg
I looked around for the other antler for about 10 minutes and then decided I better get to work on the deer.
I went back to the stand and retraced the bucks travel route, but couldn’t find the other antler. I took my backpack and the antler to my truck just as (JDR) arrived on his quad. We went over to where the buck was and hiked over to the stand again looking long and hard for that missing antler. As we walked the blood trail I hung ribbon as we went to mark the location.
We decided to get the buck to my truck and dragged the deer maybe 30 yards at most. (JDR) went and drove his quad in and we loaded up the deer and took it to my truck. Thanks again (JDR) for all your help.I went home and left the deer in the back of my truck as it was -3 C. I just fastened a tarp over the truck box to protect the deer overnight.
The next day, December 19th I went to see Harley White at Kelowna Taxidermy and I skinned out the deer and left the caping for them to do. After making several phone calls and driving here and there, I finally found a butcher to take my meat. All the meat markets are more interested in turkeys at this time of year.
On December 20th I went back up to look for the other antler and remove my trail cam and treestand. I looked first at the sight where the deer was piled up on that eventful night. I used a rake to search for the antler in the fresh snow but had no luck there. I decided to look where I found the other antler and there it was sticking up through the snow on a large boulder, right above where the other antler was found.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9PtAntler2_zpseb74aabb.jpg
When I saw that antler I started yelling with joy as I was so overcome with excitement. It was a 9 point antler, so I ended up harvesting a very nice 9x8 whitetail buck. I took several pictures and then went over to my treestand and removed the stand and trail camera.
I figured I better get those items out of there while I still can as the snow would soon be too deep too get in there. I phoned (JDR) and told him the good news and he was happy I found the antler. Then I phoned Harley and let him know that we have a complete buck for the head mount. I was pleased that this story had a happy ending and I’ll post pictures of the final product when Harley gets the mount completed…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8PtWhitey10_zps23699813.jpg
Here’s my story…
I started hunting this buck in December “Bow Season” of 2011. He was totally nocturnal, as all the trail cam pictures of this buck were in the evening and early morning, but none during daylight hours.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/PICT0303-2.jpg
I hunted for this buck on several occasions and the season ended with no sightings of him. However I did manage to find one of his shed antlers, the left (5 Point) side.
I searched for the other antler but never had any luck in locating it. I thought about this buck a lot in the off-season and often wondered if he might show up next year.
On October 28, 2012 I went to the same location as last year and hung my stand, set up my trail cam and put out a bale of hay.
I hunted from my treestand on 8 separate occasions from October 30th until December 14th and no bucks were coming in during daylight hours. I was continually changing out the SD cards in my trail cams and replenishing the hay. Only small bucks and lots of does showing up on my trail cams.
Then on December 15th I was in there again and saw some does and a small 4x3 basket buck, but the buck didn’t present a good clear shot. While I was there I changed the SD card in my trail cam and downloaded the pictures when I got home. I was very excited when I saw that a nice mature buck was coming to the hay during daylight hours, between 2:00 pm and last light.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8Whitey-1_zpscdcb4798.jpg
I called my hunting partner (JDR) and mentioned it could be the same buck as last year (the 6x5). We looked at last years pictures and both agreed that he was back again this year. I could hardly wait to get back out there. I was on holidays, but had other commitments on Sunday and Monday (Dec.16th and 17th). I was going to hunt this buck on Dec. 18th, 19th and 20th and sit on stand all day if I had to.
On December 18th I got into my stand just after 7:00 am “First Light”. I spooked a deer on the way in and prayed it wasn’t the buck I was after. At about 10:30 am I had yet to see a deer, so decided to go to my truck and have a bite to eat and warm up.
I got back into my stand about 11:10 am and no deer showed up until 12:53 pm. Two does came in and shortly after 3 more does arrived.
I was getting cold, so I made some noise to scare the deer away. At about 1:30 pm I went back to my truck and once again, had some food and got warmed up.
I climbed back into my stand at about 2:10 pm. Does came to feed on and off and around 3:55 pm things slowed down. I never saw a buck all day, so at approximately 4:15 pm I pulled out my “Bleat In Heat” call and did 2 calls about 5 seconds apart. It wasn’t 3 minutes and I caught a movement off to my right. There he was, the buck I was seeing on my trail cam. He came from the direction of the bedding area located just above me.
He was on “Full Alert” and stopped at about 45 yards away and was looking in my direction. I had to remain motionless and couldn’t grab my bow from my bow holder. Then the buck started walking towards me on the game trail and when he went behind a couple of trees I grabbed my bow and steadied it on my right knee as I was still seated. The buck stopped suddenly and looked in my direction again and checked the wind with his nose high in the air.
After about 20 seconds he started walking again and was directly in front of me at 20 yards. I had a bulky glove on my release hand and had to remove it so I could shoot. He went behind another tree so I slowly slid my glove off and set it on my lap. Once again the buck stopped and was staring in my direction so I never moved. My heart was pounding in my chest as I swallowed hard and tried to gain my composure. Then the buck decided to circle past the hay and came back to feed.
When he put his head down to feed, I hooked my release onto the string loop and he quickly jerked his head up and looked my way and once again he checked the wind. He was chewing hay but still staring in my direction and seemed to be getting nervous. The buck took a couple of steps then dropped his head down to feed again. I quickly came to full draw and the buck raised his head and looked in my direction.
I lowered my sight pin until I was aiming at his vitals and slowly squeezed my trigger release. Instantly I heard the loud “Whack” as the arrow hit its mark and passed through the bucks ribs and vitals. The buck wheeled to its left and took off on a “Death Run”. My heart was still pounding but I was confident the arrow passed through the bucks vitals.
I slowly lowered everything down to the ground from my stand. I walked over to where the buck was last standing and found my arrow laying in the hay. It was a complete pass through and the arrow was covered in blood from the broadhead to the nock. It was getting very dark now and I followed the blood trail for about 100 yards.
I decided to go to my truck and get my flashlights. I called (JDR) and he decided to come and help me. I went to look for the buck and what a blood trail. Soon I found one of the bucks antlers lying in the snow just off to my left, it was the right side (8 Point).
The buck was banging off the trees and stumbling at this point. I walked about another 20 yards and to my surprise there was an antlerless deer piled up in front of me.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8AntlerlessBuck1_zpsfdae2a3e.jpg
I looked around for the other antler for about 10 minutes and then decided I better get to work on the deer.
I went back to the stand and retraced the bucks travel route, but couldn’t find the other antler. I took my backpack and the antler to my truck just as (JDR) arrived on his quad. We went over to where the buck was and hiked over to the stand again looking long and hard for that missing antler. As we walked the blood trail I hung ribbon as we went to mark the location.
We decided to get the buck to my truck and dragged the deer maybe 30 yards at most. (JDR) went and drove his quad in and we loaded up the deer and took it to my truck. Thanks again (JDR) for all your help.I went home and left the deer in the back of my truck as it was -3 C. I just fastened a tarp over the truck box to protect the deer overnight.
The next day, December 19th I went to see Harley White at Kelowna Taxidermy and I skinned out the deer and left the caping for them to do. After making several phone calls and driving here and there, I finally found a butcher to take my meat. All the meat markets are more interested in turkeys at this time of year.
On December 20th I went back up to look for the other antler and remove my trail cam and treestand. I looked first at the sight where the deer was piled up on that eventful night. I used a rake to search for the antler in the fresh snow but had no luck there. I decided to look where I found the other antler and there it was sticking up through the snow on a large boulder, right above where the other antler was found.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9PtAntler2_zpseb74aabb.jpg
When I saw that antler I started yelling with joy as I was so overcome with excitement. It was a 9 point antler, so I ended up harvesting a very nice 9x8 whitetail buck. I took several pictures and then went over to my treestand and removed the stand and trail camera.
I figured I better get those items out of there while I still can as the snow would soon be too deep too get in there. I phoned (JDR) and told him the good news and he was happy I found the antler. Then I phoned Harley and let him know that we have a complete buck for the head mount. I was pleased that this story had a happy ending and I’ll post pictures of the final product when Harley gets the mount completed…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/eyebowhunt/9x8PtWhitey10_zps23699813.jpg