Thursday morning, Oct 3rd in South Dakota, it was the last day of an awesome trip. We woke up to cloudy skies with thunder and lightning in the distance. By the time we got to the hunting location the thunder and lightning was directly over the top of us. Being it was cloud to cloud lightning we decided to go in and sit for the morning before we were due to head home to Minnesota later that morning. I used the flash of light from the lightning to guide me to my stand rather than using a flashlight. I was paralleling the field edge about 50 yards in the woods and was worried if I used a flashlight I may spook any deer that were in the field. I got into the stand about 45 minutes before legal shooting time and it began to rain almost immediately.
Rain continued to pour, soaking me to the bone, until about five minutes before legal shooting time and the rain stopped. About five minutes after legal shooting time, I looked at my site on my bow to make sure I could see my pins clearly. I was just able to see them to where I would be comfortable to make a shot. About five minutes later, with the thunder and lightning still going like crazy, I stood up and turned to face my tree that I was in to be able to look to the field edge to see if there were any deer in the field heading my direction. That is when I saw legs walking from right to left under an over hanging oak tree, so I grabbed my bow.
When the deer cleared the tree I knew for sure it was a shooter. Just then he started to cut in to the woods towards me. I came to full draw, picked my opening and waited for him to step in to it. When he did I stopped him at 17 yards. He was quartering away slightly, so I aimed for the off side shoulder, settled in and took the shot. My rage 2 blade chisel tip found its mark perfectly, entering about 6 inches behind the shoulder, going through both lungs and the top of his heart. Hitting the off side shoulder and shattering it, there was blood pouring out right away. The buck let out a loud bellow and took off. When he tried to jump a fence into a pasture that was about 10 yards from where I shot him, he couldn’t quite clear it with a broken shoulder. His back legs clipped the top wire, flipping him over to the ground on the other side. When he hit the ground he was done!
He expired right there next to the fence, only 10 yards from where I had shot him. I was so excited I knew right away that he was the the biggest buck that I had ever taken! I called dad, told him. I think he was just as excited as I was. We decided to give him about 10 mins, being that I could see him laying just 28 yards from me. So dad pulled his stand and I went over to see the buck. I couldn’t believe it, his body was massive! l made sure he was dead and went back to pull my stand. By the time I was done and got to the buck, dad was just getting there. We were both amazed by the size of the buck’s body and how heavy the mass was on the rack. We took pics and began the work of getting him out. There is nobody else I would have rather have shared this with!
The buck ended up being a 7×4 and dressed out at 230. I haven’t put a tape to him yet and frankly don’t care what he scores. I am still enjoying the memory and experience . I am not in a hurry to put a number to him.
Gear used
•Bowtech Experience 70# 29″
•Carbon Express Maxima Blue Streak 350
•Rage 2 Blade Chisel Tip
•Scent blocker and Sitka gear
•Muddy vantage stand
