2014 Archery Buck Down!

What a great way to start/end the Minnesota season! I saw the forecast on the horizon, temps dipping into the freezing range and after the passing rain shower on Friday I knew I had to be in the stand on Saturday evening. This is a very cool little spot in the suburbs of the North Metro, requiring a boat to access it correctly.

I dumped the War Eagle on the river with a strong wind, and after bucking a few good waves on the 2 mile journey I arrived to the spot. It’s a picture perfect situation to hunt, especially this year because the water levels have been so high, the deer have to use a ridge line funnel right in-between the two swamps which are now full of water. It forces the deer to access a pile of Oak trees via this ridge, walking straight past my stand.

I would be able to come in from the road, and probably make the whole experience a lot easier, however it would require me to walk a little too close to the bedding area. This made a river access a whole lot more appealing, and I knew I wouldn’t blow the area out.

The wind was perfect for the spot and after checking my camera, the deer had been using the area the previous evening and morning. It was hopefully going to be the night either one of the shooters on camera was going to give me an opportunity. I wasn’t in the stand more than 45 minutes when a little 8 pointer sauntered right down the ridge before milling around the area and eventually headed towards acorn central.

Things settled down for awhile before a flock of 4 toms decided to take refuge in the area, and provided a little entertainment before the sun settled down.

I glanced towards the funnel around 6:30 and I saw a rack swaying back and forth at 60 yards. It was a shooter without a doubt, and he was headed right down the path! I was shaking like a leaf on a tree and hoping he wouldn’t be able to hear the ladder stand slightly rattling under foot.

He dipped his head as I drew on the mature buck. Through all of my nerves, I didn’t even think about his slightly quartering-to position. I let the arrow rip and it drilled him a touch far back but I had no doubts he was a goner! The shakes only became worse as the stand audibly rattled underneath me!

My heart sank when I climbed down and looked at the arrow. Red blood and guts. I guessed because of the quartering-to position that the arrow exited into the guts. It only got worse, as there were only specks of blood every 15 yards. I had waited for around an hour and a half at this point, and continued to follow blood for another 100 yards.

To say I was demoralized would be an understatement, I couldn’t believe what was happening. I decided to walk to the top of the rise and shine around the area, if I didn’t see him, I’d back out until morning.

20 yards over the rise, my flashlight met a white belly! There he was! It looked like he had bedded down and expired. The shot hit a little back but caught lung, liver and exited low guts.

It was another year in Minnesota where the first sit was also the last, and I couldn’t be more happy!

Sweet!!! Congrats Ben, glad you didn’t have to beat yourself up all night (been there done that). Nice buck and I’m sure the in and out season is bitter sweet considering your hectic schedule. Hope you get a chance to down one in Wisconsin.

What a great buck!! Awesome pictures too! Do you have a history with this deer, trail camera pics, etc? Congratulations!!

Congrats on a dandy buck Ben!
Love the picture in the War Eagle boat.
That’s definitely something we don’t get to see everyday.

Great stuff Ben! Congrats on a great deer but also taking the time to hunt him right and not cut corners.

Thanks guys! It is nice to obviously get a deer on the ground but same as last year it makes it harder to jump out after work and hunt for a few hours. I still have WI, ND and SD tags so it’s time for the weekend warrior grind.

He just showed up this summer, but hasn’t been camera shy in the slightest. I’ve had in front of the camera from early July to the morning before he was harvested! I’ve got to hop onto my personal computer and I’ll share some pics!

Here is him in early August and again the day before I harvested him!

So what u r saying is you can walk on water??? Good story though!!!

Sweet story. That’s what you call Doing your homework. To be able to walk in there and lay him down first sit. WOW. I see you had a professional photographer hired to come along for the recovery. JEEZ.. what is that 80 mega pixel camera? Makes my snap shots seem like I am developing them in the dark room still. HA

Congrats

Great buck! The EXTRA EFFORT to access via boat I’m sure made all of the difference. That is the kind of thing that separates those that consistently take good bucks from the guys that don’t. You gotta be there, but they can’t know your there, so you gotta hunt smart to get opportunities, even if it means walking an extra mile to gain the advantage when it’s easier to park close and cut across a field, or boating an extra two miles in this case. Great pics.

That’s a dandy! The picture in the boat is pretty crazy and really cool!

Great story man. And a damn nice deer.

I appreciate all the compliments! It’s happened the first day out here 2 years in a row, and all by a little preparation and well….kind of luck. There has been one of my buddies who is a great hunter himself and he has sat out on the property at least 4 or 5 days now to no avail. I saw that cold front and I had to be there!

Pat and I set up the hero photo, and he is responsible solely for all the photo goodness!

Congrats Ben. Very well done!
“Oh what a relief it is!”

Nice buck Ben, and great pictures from Pat. Great story, as usual the effort and homework pay off.

I was wondering how the boat fit into the story when you first posted the story.

Grouse

Way to go Love the pictures good luck on your other hunts.

Great job Ben way to get that guy on the ground. I love the picture of the deer in the boat.

Congrats!

Dave

Thanks! I must say, a set of antlers in a duck boat yielded a number of strange looks going down the road.

Such amazing pictures and stories on this site truly make it the best around.

Well done.

D

Great story and deer, let’s get him Measured up.
My measuring club is putting together the next MN Record Book,
which they bought from Hugh Price and the MN Deer Classic.
Jack

Congrats Ben on a great buck and a great story! Good luck in WI, ND and SD.

Nice job! Good luck the rest of the season.

Jack, I’d love to put a tape to him sometime!

Great job. How great is must feel to get your MN buck so quickly.
I still can’t get how great the photos turned out. It’s a good thing, for the rest of us, we didn’t have a photo contest this year. Good luck the rest of the year.