My 2010 archery buck - Deer Hunting - Deer Hunting

I’m fairly new here at IDO and after lurking around the site for awhile, I figured I’d better join so here I am. It’s definetly nice to see some reports from my general area as I live and hunt in Pepin County, WI. Anyway, I wanted to share the story of my 2010 bow buck that I took on Sunday, October 3rd. It’ll probably be long and rambling, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I guess you could say the story starts during the middle of the day on October 2nd when I checked my trail camera that I’ve got tucked back in a secluded corner of a corn field that’s bordered by oaks that have been raining down acrorns. While sorting through pics, I came across several pics of 3-4 different good sized bucks walking along the edge of the corn field on last Sunday (Sept 26th). The best part was all the pics were between 6:00 – 6:30 PM- lots of shooting light. In an oak tree about 35 yards down the edge of the field from the the trail cam, I’ve got a stand and the wheels started turning. I looked back to Sept 26th in my hunting log / journal, noted the weather conditions and noticed the pics were taken with a light south wind. 1 problem though- the stand was hung with more of a north / northwest wind in mind as I expected the deer to come from behind me on their way to the corn field. A south wind would blow right back to where they were bedding. I checked the forcast for Sunday afternoon / night and it said 55 degrees dropping into the upper 30’s with a very light southeast breeze. I decided I was going to take a chance and hunt the stand anyway, even with the wrong wind. Plus my trail cam’s batteries were dead and I wanted to replace them anyway.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon after a deer-less morning hunt. After flinging some practice arrows in the yard, I loaded up my gear and drove to my parking area. After a 20 minute walk from my truck down the rows of corn, I got to my tree a little before 4:00 PM and finished getting dressed at the base of the tree. I climbed on up and after spraying what seemed like 3/4 of a botttle of scent killer on myself, got settled in. It was a nice sunny night and thankfully there wasn’t much wind (just enough to tickle the leaves if any at all).

Within 5 mins I had fawns under me, and next a doe showed up but she was in the corn and I couldn’t get a shot. Over the next couple hours it was a parade of fawns and the occasional doe that never offered any shots. Over the next couple hours it was a parade of fawns and the occasional doe that never offered any shots. About 6:00 PM I looked down the edge of the field and noticed a small buck mowing down the acrons. He was just a basket racked 5pt, but he stuck around for a good 30 mins or so and eventually walked right by me and around the corner of the corn field. I no more than lost sight of him when here came a doe with a fawn and basket racked 8pt hot on their trails with his nose to the ground. They all walked into the corn field, only to come out about 10 yards away from me. I was getting ready to shoot the doe when the buck let out a grunt and took after her, chasing her into the woods behind me.

I glanced at my watch and it was 6:40ish. With no deer around I took the opportunity to stand up and stretch a little. I was standing there looking out over the corn field when I heard rustling corn stalks. I figured it was just one of the does or fawns from earlier in the night and didn’t think much of it. The noise kept getting louder and closer. Eventually I saw feet through some branches and out stepped a tiny little doe that might have weighed 50 lbs if she was lucky. She walked out of the corn and started eating the acorns at about 17 yards. While I was watching her, I heard more rustling corn… Straining to look through the branches, which happened to be the only spot where I didn’t trim a shooting lane, I eventually saw some feet, and then a nose and then the end of some main beams. From what I could see, I thought it was a young 8pt with a lot of potential that I’ve got several pics of. He stepped out of the corn and after a couple minutes, I finally realized he was a really nice 10pt that I didn’t recognize and one that was going to have an arrow sent his way if given the chance. I was downwind of him and as long as he didn’t turn around there was no way he could get by me without offering a shot… He walked over to a small sumac tree 13 yards from me, stood up oh his back legs and went through his whole scrape routine. The whole time I didn’t have a shot.

He finished up at the scrape and started walking in my direction down the field edge. Just before he got into a shooting lane, I drew and when he entered, I let out a bleat to stop him at 10 yards broadside. Instead of stopping right away, he took 1 more step towards me and was now quartering towards me- no shot. Meanwhile the doe is already right under my tree. The buck turned and started walking into the woods on the exact same trail I used to get to my tree. The whole time I’m at full draw and am trying to get turned around, while not spooking him etc… I’m looking through the platform of my stand as he comes out from some brush right under my tree and proceeds to stretch his nose out and give my screw in treestep a smell. At this point I could have jumped right out of the tree and onto him. He apparently didn’t like what he smelled and took a few quick steps back towards the corn, before stopping behind a cluster of branches which allowed me to let my bow down. He made another scrape and turned to go back on his original path along the edge of the corn. What happened next is still a complete blur but I’ll do my best….. He was about to walk into one of my bigger holes to shoot through and in one motion, I got drawn and somehow got turned to the right so I could make a shot. He walked into the opening at 6 yards broadside. While he was walking, I settled the pin just behind his shoulder and touched off the release sending an arrow his way. At the shot, he did the “mule kick” and took off running around the corner of the field at 900 mph before crossing a small wooded finger that juts into the corn field and eventually turning into the woods. I lost sight of him and then heard a big crash.

I sat down and tried to replay in my mind what had just happend. I looked at my watch and it was 6:47 PM. Was this real? Did I really do what I think I did? Did I make a good shot etc…? I sat there for a good 15- 20 mins breathing heavily and shaking uncontrollably like I was having a seizure or something. With light fading fast I got down and started looking for blood. Finding nothing at the impact site, I walked 10 yards and found a couple specs of blood here and there. Eventually it picked up and it was spraying pretty good- bright red blood full of bubbles. I got to the point where I’d last seen him and marked it… I continued on through a bramble of vines and thorns and there was blood everywhere. I was standing in a bunch of shoulder high thorns when I noticed something light colored laying 20 feet downhill from me. I shined my light in that direction and there he was! The arrow had entered high and exited right through the lower half of the opposite shoulder taking out a lung and the heart on the way and he’d only made it 85 yards.

Next came the fun part- the drag uphill 40 yards to the edge of the corn field. Due to the terrain there was no way I could field dress him where I found him. It took me a good 2 hours but somehow I managed to drag him straight uphill… Don’t ask me how I did it- I still don’t know. I’d called my parents to spread the news when I first found him and they happened to be out of town when I’d called. I’d no more than got the deer to the edge of woods when my dad showed up with the 4 wheeler. After field dressing him, we struggled for 30 mins trying to load him onto the 4 wheeler- dad’s not in shape and isn’t exactly a lot of help, LOL.

My goal for bow season was to have a mature buck on the ground by October 1st- I was close, October 3rd, but I’ll take it. It was also my first buck with a bow since 2004. I went to work the next day on about an hour of sleep and was pretty worthless all day, but it was worth it. After I got home from work it was time to make some arrangements and get him entered in a couple local deer contests I was in. He ended up weighing 221 lbs at The Corral in Durand, which months later was good enough for 2nd place in the bow contest. After that, it was off to Kirk Peterson’s so he could cape him out for me. When I’d shot, I thought the deer would go in the upper 140’s but Kirk thought he was bigger than that and would gross 155-160″. After the 60 day drying period was up in early December, I had him officially measured and he was a lot bigger than I thought. He’s got a small point off his left base, making 11 scoreable points, and he ended up grossing 167 1/8″ and netting 162 4/8″- my best buck to date.