Over three weeks ago I had wrote a story about whether I made the right choice on passing up on a big buck or not. It was about a huge 10 point buck that came right to me and bedded down broadside at 18 yards, but I was unsure of the shot because of the brush in front of him. With all the green foliage I couldn’t find a decent spot to put an arrow and soon as he laid down he was back up and heading back in the direction he came. I was TOTALLY HEART BROKEN! 
Well I went out to that same stand early yesterday morning, just because it such a good stand. I have always seen deer from this stand. ( This is the same stand me and a friend (Mike Peterson)shot 2 nice eight pointers from… mine in the morning… his that same evening.) 
Yesterday morning was literally a PICTURE PERFECT DAY! 
One of those mornings you thought to yourself… “Things are gonna happen today!” 
The day before I read an article (while hunting in a friend’s blind along a corn field 
) on deer hunting the rut. He wrote that one of the best times to be in a stand during the rut is the MIDDLE of the day! I have known that for awhile, but it helped to get me ready for a long day in my stand. What usually happens is the big boys are searching for does that are close to being in heat all night long and laying back down early in the morning. Then after a few hours of rest they are back up and searching once again! Anyone that follows deer hunting knows that the big boys will show up at anytime during the rut, and many are seen roaming during the middle of the day.
I had planned on sitting in my stand yesterday till early afternoon or all day if things were looking good. It’s hard to do, but it can pay off also! I had brought snacks, sandwiches and water for the long haul. I had been in my stand all morning and only seen ONE gray squirrel. 
Things were not looking good. I had caught my self taking little mini naps for a minute at a time around before lunch time. (I’m in a full body safety harness at all times in the stand.. they are a must for these all day hunts!!) At 11:45 I caught myself from a little cat nap and opened my eyes to see a hog heading straight for me. He was coming in quick! I grabbed my bow and stood up in all one motion. The buck seemed to be so interested on his doe search he never even noticed me. When he came to the opening of the logging road I’m setup on, he turned to head to the bottom toward the draw below. He turned and I seen my opening and did a HORENDOUS doe bleat to get him to stop. To my surprise it worked. He never knew I was at full draw and putting a bead on a spot behind the front shoulder. I knew the shot was a little quartering to, but it looked to be a good shot. I put my 20 yard pin on my mark and released the my arrow. After the shot the buck took off the a locomotive! He went right thru a tree top like it was a garage door opening and when he got to an opening down towards the ravine he was bounding like I never touched the buck! I couldn’t see any hole in the deer either. Just as soon as he disappeared I never heard a sound! I was mistified on what had just happened. Did I totally miss this big boy??? I sat in my stand for about five minutes before heading over to wear the deer was standing during the shot. When I got there I found my arrow had made a complete pass thru. I had no bubbles on the shaft, which would signify lung shot! OH MAN! Now what?? I looked for signs of blood to get a better idea on where I had made my hit. I only went to the tree top he went right thru. Not much sign. I decided to run to Red Wing to work and get help from a couple of guys I work with that are done with work at one o’clock. They are my fellow bowhunting pals. In fact, one of those guys took a vacation day the day before and sat in this same stand to 11:30 a.m. and seen on gray squirrel the whole time there. ….. Well it had been around two and 2 1/2 hours since the shot was taken. We did find a large pool of blood just down from where I had last seen the buck. He then walked down to a major trail that we never knew was there. There we started looking one way on the trail searching for blood. Jamie had just gotten out of sight from where I was standing at the last blood, when he heard a deer running in the bottom of the ravine. Then a buck came out of the opposite side of the ravine and ran the side hill up out of a draw over the top. Jamie said that if that was your deer he not stopping for anything. Steve and I went to the opposite bank looking for blood from where the buck came out of the ravine. You could see where he ran up the steep bank, but no blood anywhere. My heart was sinking faster every minute. We decided to go back to last blood and start over. Steve decided to walk down into the bottom of the ravine and I showed him where we had last blood. Steve went straight down from there and immediate found blood, not much but blood, but some. Jamie and I joined him in the new search. We found a blood drop here and a drop there. This buck was actually crawling thru tree tops in the bottom. Jamie was leading the slow search when we only went about 30 yards from where the the buck hit the bottom of the ravine. Jamie found where the buck had decided to go up out the draw. Jamie looked up the bank and there was a buck’s butt staring him in the face. I couldn’t see anything because I was still behind another tree top. All I heard was Steve holler… “Zimmy grab your TAG!” 
The buck had died while trying to crawl under a tree top on the bank. When we field dressed the buck we found out the buck had high entrance and high exit holes. The buck had bleed internally. The hit was back further than I thought. We found that both lungs were clipped and a clean pass thru in the liver.
It took us a little over 2 hours to find the buck and here he only went about 150 yards from the shot. Rule #1 never give up your search even if things look slim! Rule #2 Try and get some guys that know what they’re doing! A few good eyes are really help too. 
Now after taking pictures down in this jungle we had to find a way out with this hog. Go up and out was nota great option. We knew of a logging road about 200 yards, but there was way to much boulders and tree tops to get it out that way. Steve decided to go back to his house (about a mile from where we were) and get his toy John Deere tractor and bring it back to the logging road which was close to a mile away from our trucks. Had to go around a huge unpicked corn field to get it down to the logging road rondevue we had planned. Jamie and I dragged the buck up to the main trail up from the bottom. About 50 yards up but took us about half and hour… now we only have about 200 yards to go to the logging road! Steve was actually back before we made the logging road. We then three man tag teamed this big boy up an over tree tops with many small tree whipping along the way also. One in the eye (Jamie)one on the forehead (Steve) and a shot in the face to me! 
:
I had shot the boy at 11:45 A.M. and we FINALLY got him to the truck at 6:15 P.M. I am making an appointment for my Chiropracter this morning after this! 
We went and had the ten pointer wieghed on Jamie’s #300 scale in his garage when I drove out of the garage and the buck hung from the gambel the boy wieghed #190, but his rack was still laying on the ground! We had to tie up the rack on the deer’s side to get his rack off the floor. He ended up with a wieght of #207!! I green scored the boy last night and got a score of 150 7/8! 
I told myself that I was gonna dedicate this bowhunting season to my little sister. I know she was taking in the WHOLE show from up above yesterday. She has the best seat in the house! 
Sis… this one was for you and I miss you!
I’m sorry for the LLLOOONNNGGG story, 
but it was an adventure I WILL NEVER FORGET
Thank you for your time and GOOD LUCK EVERYONE on your quest! ! 
Zimmy
p.s. I have included a few more pictures to the 2004 Deer Hunting Pictures post.
