Yep, Turns Out I Missed - Kinda

After I decided to take that nice 10 pointer I posted on here a while back, he has never shown up again. The neighbors must have gotten him. But, that's hindsight.

I got a few pictures of this deer and what turns out to be his daddy on my game camera. The one I studied in my pictures appeared to be a 160 class buck with these 3 wierd points on the end. I didn't realize there were actually 2 different bucks with this wierd characteristic. This buck came in Saturday and I took a shot at him. The story to follow..... But, it turns out this is not the one in my pictures that I wanted so badly. He doesn't have a kicker on the back of his base, like the big one in my pictures. Plus, his wierd point on the end of the main beam is straight out. The one in the pictures turns down. So, his 160 class daddy is still out there running around.

While watching this buck, I had to hold myself back from shooting a super nice 8 pointer with awesome mass and spread. But, I noticed his G2's bladed out and each had the start of forks on both of them. His main beams bladed out and the start of a G4 on both sides. Also, he had the start of two drop tines. They were both about an inch long. He's 4 1/2 years old and will be a super buck next year. So, despite his being at 12 yards for over 30 minutes, I held off of him so he could live one more year.

Now for the story. I had to watch this buck for almost an hour before I could get a shot at him. We had over 20 deer in the feed pen and it seemed there was always a deer or two blocking me from getting off a clean shot. I tried not to look at his horns so I wouldn't get even more shook up than I was already. I knew I had time, so I waited on a good shot. He finally stood broadside at 26 yards. I only had about 15 minutes of light left and really didn't want to try and track him in some super thick shinnery after dark. I was so afraid I would wound him and never find him. I was calmed down now and even looked at my level to make sure my bow wasn't cocked to one side or the other when I got my 25 yard pin on him. I let the arrow fly. He bolted out like a rocket. When he cleared the feed pen, he fell to his knees and then jumped back up. I just knew I had punched him good. My wife was with me with a gun in case pigs came out. I had told her to have the gun ready in case I wounded him. Pope and Young or not (if finished off with a gun he wouldn't qualify), I didn't want to wound such a magnificent creature. When he got back up and stood out at about 60 yards, I grabbed the gun and put him down. I was puzzled why I couldn't find my broadhead hole in him and couldn't even find my arrow later. When I skinned him out, I only found the rifle shot in him. So, I flat out missed that sucker at 26 yards!!!! I guess I wasn't as calmed down as I thought I was. He gross scored 142.

Were you looking through the peep? Just something I have seen people forget when they are pumped up.

Beautiful buck Tommy. I'm still in hopes the other one will reduce to a 10 pointer next year and become a cull.

Redemption is sweet

I do remember looking through the peep. I have absolutely no excuse for missing him. I'm still mad at myself for missing him. But, that's archery hunting. I even have a 70 yard pin on my bow and can hit a pie plate at 70 yards. I would have even sworn I saw the fletchings sticking out of him while looking through the scope. I started archery hunting back in the 70's with traditional equipment. I learned that I love sitting in a bow blind and watching up close action more than the actual taking of a deer. This is my first deer to shoot at with my bow in probably 4 years, all the time having 20+ deer in range of me on each sitting. However, I do shoot a lot of pigs and turkey with my bow. But, I won't shoot a buck unless he's mature and I'm absolutely sure he will go on the wall. Getting something in a P&Y book is not a priority to me. I have an elk that will "book" and I never registered him. This was instilled in me by my father. He harvested over a dozen big game animals that will go in the B&C books, but never registered a single one of them. It's all about the hunt and the memories, rather than the score.

Hey Cuz, everyone has to respect you honesty. That was instilled by your Dad too I'm sure. I've heard soooo many stories about misses and what caused them. The bad shots I made at Abiline this year I can't explain either. I came hame and shot and there's no excuse other than my heart was beating exceptionally fast. To me, that's the joy of hunting. I hope I never loose that feeling. If you read my signature statement, like you, it's all about the memories and spending quality time with my family------you and Barbie are special.

Congrats on thinking ahead and having a plan B. That was a wise choice. The pics make him look bigger than 142 in my opinion. He is awesome looking.

Nice

what agreat deer and story too!!!! now go look for the one you hit with yor bow!!!!

Oh crap!!!! Maybe you "shot a buck and killed a doe" with your bow.

EastTexasHag (James) needs to post pictures of his buck he got while hunting with us over the Thanksgiving holidays. He shot a beautiful 6 1/2 year old cull buck we wanted off the ranch. The only reason he was put on the hit list is because he failed to grown hardly anything more than a bump for brow tines. He's an awesome buck that anyone would be proud of!! He NAILED that buck!!! He fell dead in his tracks at 20 yards!! We each put another arrow in him, as we thought for sure that he was going to get up and run off. There is no way you would expect a big bodied buck to fall dead in his tracks with just one arrow!!! You have to know the terrain surrounding this blind to understand the need for a second arrow or a back up plan. It's surrounded by super thick red oak shinnery and deep canyons. The ranch next to us is the same and their fence line is about 125 yards from this feeder. There's no way to track a deer through this brush, as you would have to crawl on your hands and knees to get through it. James also shot is first turkey with a bow. We did try and track a doe he hit high in the shoulder. But, it took more than 2 hours just to find the very first blood droppings. The spotty blood trail only lasted about 50 yards and then quit completely.

But, a big congrats to my cousin James for his very first bow kills. He just purchased the bow this year and got a turkey and an 8 pointer his very first trip out with his bow!!!!!

The pics have been here Tommy.You've been too busy I guess. The posts are on page 2 now. They both had pics, but now only the turkey. Maybe you can explain why the deer pic has disappeared-----or someone else as far as that goes.The "first killed turkey" pic disappeared within the first 10 minutes and I replaced it.