Week Three

Week three sees me back in this spot. Found a big rub nearby and another hunter a few hundred yards away in a nice looking spot. Hope he gets some there.


Week three has seen most of us settling into the hunt. Well, it is week three for me, for others it is week one and for some places it is muzzle loader already. Several friends have scored this week, I will try to get them listed but they have been busy so if I miss you, Sorry, I’m old and forgetful.

@BigBuckPW Rob Freyer continues to lay them down, this week it was a double on does during an afternoon hunt. @t_marsh83 dropped a nice 8 pt, his first deer in four years. @sfritz took an 8 pt. @mkotzum thumped one Sunday morning early just as I started to write this a nice spike at 2 yards. @SkinnyDman got a nice doe the same afternoon Rob Freyer got his double. @deer_commander got a bit sidetracked and shot a 200 lb hog or it might have been his Dad but either way I wish I had done it. I’m ready to go pig hunting. @HuntingStories did a spot and stalk on a doe while I was writing, guess he wanted in this week. @GlennClute took a nice 8 pt on public land near me Saturday afternoon but I just found out so he is a late addition. Congrats to everyone and if I didn’t list you sorry but you will make the wrap up I promise.

There were a couple of near misses by folks. @MonicaJo4 gave one a shave while trying for her first bow kill. She will take a ribbing for that for awhile :0). I don’t think there were any turkeys or coyotes taken this week but one gray squirrel was with a 20 yard shot. Sometimes you just can’t take any more abuse from treerats. I swear I remember a moose or few taken and I know some folks are elk hunting, too. Remember folks the @ symbol with their name will let you find and follow them on Twitter.

Saturday October 15th sees the start of the @Huntography Deer Tour. It is kicking off in Wisconsin so if you use Twitter just check the hashtag #deertour for updates. Good luck to all the hunters on the tour this year. It is also the start of our fall turkey season so I have 14 days to see if I can get one with a shotgun or in my case a muzzle loading shotgun.

I have been sneaking out for a morning and evening hunt on the new farm and I’m seeing tons of turkeys plus deer. I went out Wednesday afternoon to hunt the tree where I got the cull buck Friday, I wanted to see if a doe or the 6 pt would come out. I got set up only to have a bunch of new cows released into the field behind me. I don’t mind them but these wouldn’t shut up so I could hear. Then about an hour into my set some guys start driving the treeline about 100 yards away checking for trespassers.

These are the same guys that messed up my hunt the night before when they decided to set a shooting house in a field just about the time I had been seeing a couple of bucks. They received a good cussing both times and both times I stayed in the stand after they left. The difference on Wednesday was the deer did come out. As I sat there tweeting with some friends saying I was getting down, I had had enough, everything got quiet again. I told myself might as well stay a little longer just to see what happened. I had already seen about 30 turkeys and thought maybe the deer was ease back in.

After maybe 30 minutes I saw what I thought was a cowhorn spike come out, right behind him was the little 4 point I see there all the time. They made the left turn toward me like they always do when sun hit the rack on the first one I knew it was the 6 I had jumped the first day. Now it was on, I have never taken a 6 and he had a nice rack. I got ready, waiting for them to feed down the soy bean row. The 6 came down, stopped at 35 yards broadside, looked like a backyard target. I drew, set my pin and touched the release. Just about 5 yards from him the arrow hit some Johnson grass and went who knows where. SOB!!

He ran about 30 yards, stopped to look back at what ever it was. His buddy was standing there looking at him like he was nuts for running. As soon as he stopped I knew what was coming. I have taken more than a few because curiosity got to them, this one had all the signs. I nocked another arrow then watched as he circled, stuck his nose in the air trying to find a scent always focused on where he was standing and never looking my way. He went behind a big cedar where I couldn’t see him but I knew he wasn’t leaving yet. He would either turn in front of the tree which would put him at 13 yards in front of me or slip into the woods at 16 yards. I watched as he slid into the woods and stopped perfectly broadside. When he did I drew, tucked the pin in tight to the shoulder and shot. I heard the hit, he took off tail down only to run about 40 yards just into a field then crashed.

I was thrilled. I had wanted this buck since I first saw him. He had a regular path he walked every afternoon and that combined with curiosity got him. I had watched him fall but habits run deep. I got down to look for my arrow and blood. I couldn’t find my arrow but did find a trail so I tracked it around to the field edge looking for the arrow until I saw him laying in the weeds a few yards away. When I walked up to him I saw my arrow had passed through but still had about 3 inches inside. This one continues my year of WTH shots. He was PERFECTLY broadside when I shot but the arrow exited at the next to last rib on the other side. When I skinned him the entry is in the shoulder but then hit the middle of the ribs on the near side. I can’t imagine how that arrow did what it did. Nothing about the path makes sense but it did the job and that’s what counts I guess.

The funny part was when I went to get my truck the guys I had cussed were parked in a field just across the fence. I yelled to them and we talked then I said I was going to load up my deer, telling them to come check him out. They drove around, introduced themselves and one of the first things said was “Boy, I bet you were cussing us.” I laughed and said yes I did. Then to make up for it they loaded my deer for me. Really good guys and now I know who is hunting next to me. Locals that know everyone around there.

I know a lot of the people that hunt areas where anything less than 150 inch deer isn’t worth a mention but here this deer is was better than many 8-10 pts I see. High racked matched on both sides, big, healthy, beautiful. He might not go 100 inches and I could care less. He was also number 45 for me. I realized as I looked at my journal I have taken every one of my best bucks with a bow, kinda proud of that. As I checked him in I ran into another guy, Mike Cunnigham, who was checking in a nice 7 pt he had just taken. Pretty deer and congrats to Mike.

Good luck everyone and be safe. Keep posting so I can add my friends to the weekly list.