Dad told me that he had shot a big buck. He had marked the spot that the deer was standing when he shot and followed the path towards the ridge stand until he found some blood. It was getting dark enough that we decided to regroup at the cabin to grab the spot light and deer cart. As soon as we reached the start of the ATV trail I found a good blood trail and followed it right to where dad had marked blood about 20 yards down the trail. It seemed strange that such a good blood trail stopped so abruptly, so we decided to continue down the trail to the ridge food plot. We spent the next 15 minutes walking down each deer trail leading out of the plot looking for more blood or the deer unsuccessfully. Dad mentioned that he had thought he heard the deer crashing closer to the edge of the woods, so we decided to make our way back to the last blood we found.
To paint a picture for you, due to some timber edge feathering that I had done a few years ago, the ATV trail is surrounded on both sides by impenetrable thick brush and undergrowth consisting of a lot of black locust, blackberries, and multi-floral rose. We were discussing the possibility of leaving the deer over night and returning in the morning to do a body search with more light. I decided in 1 last ditch effort, to take the spot light and shine into the thick brush on each side of the trail into and out of the woods. It took about 10 seconds for me to find the buck about 20 feet from the blood that dad had originally marked. Now it made sense why the blood trail had ended so abruptly but we still have no idea how that deer managed to get to where he ended up.
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| How did he get back there? |
After the initial excitement, I offered to climb back in there to pull the buck out. I had to crawl on my hands and knees while trying to avoid prickly branches and vines on the way in and managed to only get stuck good a few times. I snapped a few pictures when I got back in there and then pulled him out to the ATV trail for a better look.
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| Finally managed to get back in to where he fell |
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| Dad with his biggest buck EVER |
Obviously dad could tell the story better than I can, but I will do my best. At just after 4:50 pm, a doe came into the food plot from just South of where dad was sitting. Dad considered shooting the doe before noticing this buck following behind her. Shortly after the buck stepped into the SW corner of the food plot, he presented dad with a 30 yard perfectly broad side shot. Dad made a perfect double lung shot and the buck was down in about 70 yards. I could not be any more excited even if I had shot that buck myself. I love hunting with my dad and it warms my heart when he has success.
For the 3rd year in a row, we have managed to put at least 1 big buck on the ground and the season isn't over yet. I believe that this big 8 pointer is an older dear. I'm not super good at estimating age, but his body size, blocky head, and roman nose makes me believe that he is at least 4 1/2 years old. Field dressed weight was just over 160 lbs, putting him at about 210-220 lbs live weight. He is one of the biggest deer that we have shot down there, 2nd only to the buck that I shot during late muzzleloader 2 years ago (we believe that deer was around 250 lbs).
Compared to the first evening, the remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful. The next morning, I decided to still hunt my way through a major bedding ridge on the DNR land. I did see 2 fawns and managed to spook another deer that I never saw, but that was it. That evening, I sat in the big field blind and had a 1 1/2 year old spike buck come into 25 yards and opted to pass on him. The next morning I headed to the DNR/County line stand which is about a 1 mile walk from the cabin. In hind sight, I should have waited until it was daylight to head to the stand because I managed to spook a lot of deer on my way to that stand. It was obvious they had been out in my food plots in the dark and were headed back to bed. If I had waited, I may have been able to see them first and maybe even gotten a shot. My time in the stand produced no more sightings. After 2 1/2 hours sitting in the rain that evening, I headed for home.
Although I didn't punch a tag this trip, I did take away several things that have me looking forward to going back to hunt this week. For starters, the temperatures have dropped significantly and there is a couple of inches of snow on the ground. I have the best food around and the deer should be using my food plots regularly. Also, my small field food plot has been nearly demolished, there is still food there, but I don't think it will be lasting much longer. In addition, the trail camera that I had on that plot took over 2,000 pictures of deer during the first 2 weeks of December.
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| Half eaten turnips and open dirt is most of what remains in the small field |
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| Plenty of food left in the big field |
I have a lot to look forward to during my last 2 trips of the year. In addition to the buck that dad shot, we are still getting pictures nearly every day of 2 mature bucks that I have had around all season, along with 5 other mature bucks that have shown up since the rut. Although I only have 1 set of pictures so far in December, I am still holding out hopes that a monster 8 pointer that I had on camera during the rut is still around too. I have never had this many big deer on the property during late season, so that is helping to keep me excited as I head back to the cabin tomorrow.
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