2011 Archery buck - Deer Hunting - Deer Hunting

November 9th was day number four of my annual nine day rut vacation. Having a young family, I can’t put as much time in the tree as I used to. So when it comes to prime time, I put my butt in a tree. This year was no different than the last 12 or so years. I pack a lunch get in my stand before daylight and stay put until the sun goes down. It’s not easy, and sometimes it’s downright miserable! But knowing the fact that if I’m not in the woods, I’m not going to fill my tag keeps me there.
With the forecast calling for a rain/snow mixture I was really excited. There is something about hunting in the snow that makes it much more enjoyable. When I opened the garage door to back out, it was snowing the biggest flakes I have ever seen. A drive that usually takes me 14 minutes took me nearly twice as long. I should have dressed in the garage but I didn’t want to jeopardize my clothes to the smell of my truck.
By the time I park, I am already behind schedule and I know it’s going to take me longer to get dressed. Luckily, the cloudy skies gave me a break and I was in my tree well before shooting light. Immediately I had a doe down the ridge from me make her way towards me. I had strapped myself to the tree but I never even had a chance to pull my bow up yet. So I waited until the doe was turned and I quickly pulled my bow up. Just as I was grabbing the bow, a deer snorted. Unknowingly, her fawn was to my left and had me pegged and was letting everyone know. They both stood and blew for a while and finally moved off.
The snow was blowing pretty hard out of the north so I turned and faced to the south huddling up to the base of my tree trying to stay as dry as possible. It was going to be almost impossible to sit all day. The stand and the seat were covered with slush and I knew if I sat down it wasn’t going to be long before I was walking back to the truck. I chose to stand as long as possible and when I had to sit, I would just head for a ground blind between myself and the truck to hopefully wait out the rest of the day.
At 7:03 I caught movement down the ridge to my south. It was a pair of fawns; most likely the same two who bedded below me the day before for most of the afternoon. They weren’t really acting funny; they were just moseying right at me. I grabbed my bow just in case a buck had got them up. Sure enough, 50 yards off to the side of the pair was a buck making his way up the ridge. I knew exactly what buck it was once he turned his head. I have two trail cam pictures of this buck and he is pretty distinct. One G2 is forked and has a kicker; the other G2 is really bladed. Plus, he made his way past me the day before without me having a clear shot. I was really sure he was 4 ½ and I wasn’t going to let him slip off like he had the day before.
He made his way through my shooting lane at 50 yards and was angling away from me. I quickly grabbed my grunt tube and gave him one good, solid grunt. He immediately stopped in his tracks and turned in my direction. Meanwhile, the pair of fawns had made it directly below me and just about jumped out of their skin when I hit that grunt tube. Both of them ran 10 or 15 feet and stopped. When the buck saw this he pinned his ears back gave a couple really loud and deep grunts. He came sidestepping in like he was about to whoop someones butt! At 25 yards I was already at full draw and gave him a mouth grunt to stop him. Unfortunately, there was one tree blocking all his vitals and I had to hold off. He made three more steps and stopped in a black berry patch. I had one opening about 7 inches across exposing enough room to sneak my arrow through. I aimed through his body at the opposite shoulder and squeezed the trigger. I watched the arrow disappear exactly where I was aiming and hear the unforgettable “THA-WAK”! He mule-kicked and ran about 15 yards and stopped. He looked around for a second and his legs got wobbly and his butt began to drop. I thought he was going down right there but he turned and headed down the ridge.
I regained my composure and climbed down and retrieved my arrow. It was good dark blood and was a cinch to track in the snow. I gave him a good 20 minutes and decided that I would walk the 15 yards to where he was standing before taking off down the hill. When I crept up to the spot I peeked down the ridge and could see him laying at about 20 yards. I backed out and walked back to the truck. I was sure he was dead but if he wasn’t, the last thing I wanted was to have him go down the hill any farther. This ridge is steep and the snow was making it hard to walk on let alone drag a deer.
I changed clothes to something a little lighter and walked back in. Peering over the ridge and seeing him still in the same spot I walked down and finally got my hands on him. I couldn’t be happier. He’s busted up, scarred up, and has every characteristic an old warrior should have. He had managed to break off his kicker and one of his brow tines since my trail cam pictures. He has 8 points and weighed 190 pounds on the scale.
After the uphill drag and some calls and text messages to friends and family the celebrations began! To top it off, I get a call from my buddy Ryan saying he shot a nice buck that morning.

The pressure’s off, now it’s time to drop the hammer on some does! Good luck!