A New York Story
Up and Down Buck
by Ed Kelly
11/06 New York
I was faced with a new challenge this year, the wide open field I usually sit in for the opening day of shotgun season was full of standing corn, a situation I had never encountered in 12 years. The only view I had, instead of a wide open field, was a narrow path between the woods and the standing corn, about as wide as a four wheeler. I sat out all day on the opening day and let a beautiful split brow buck walk away. As the sun set that day i was dissapointed in myself for letting a buck like that go. The next morning I went out again with high hopes of seeing the buck I had let walk the day before.
About 15 minutes after legal hunting hours began, I raised my gun up and aimed as far as I could see down the path to see if I had to turn the brightness up on my red-dot scope, as I made my adjustment I looked through the scope again to doublecheck the adjustment and something walked right into view of the scope. I quickly let the gun down and watched as the animal walked in. I waited for ever, or so it seemed, for the animal to get close enough to count points.
When i could see him i figured he was a hi-racked 8 point perfect for the wall! I could see that he was an older deer. I began to shake uncontrolled as he walked into 20 yards, he was facing me head on and i didnt want to take such a poor shot. He walked in to about 15 yards and the turned and stopped. He was quartering away so I took aim and put the red dot on him, I shot and he bucked, then he ran infront of me and I shot again that put him down. He stopped moving in a couple minutes but I gave him 15-20 minutes to expire.
As I walked over to him I snapped a twig on the ground, his head popped up, he looked right at me and his rear end popped up and he pushed hiself away with his front shoulders on the ground, in a couple seconds he was running on 3 legs. My heart sank as I then realized I hade made a poor shot, shooting him through the shoulder. I let him run so I didnt push him out of the immediate area, and with 2 slugs in him I didnt think he would go far. I let 3 hrs pass befor I went to track him verbally beating my self up the whole time for wounding such a spectacular animal. After the 3 hours I began to track him, if there is a "good" blood trail this was it! I tracked and tracked and tracked for about 1000 yards. The trail went into some very thick brush and I stopped.
My friend called on the 2 way radio and I filled him in on the details. He said he would be right over to help. I brought him to the blood trail and we agreed that he would keep tracking the animal as I walked up-wind to a laneway cut in the brush by a pond and afetr a couple minutes he yelled "he's coming out!" I stood still and heard brush crashing, he popped out of the thick brush only about 10 yards away I knew it was him because he was standing with one front leg just hanging there so I put the red-dot on him and fired, he went down that time.
My friend walked up the laneway and he was first to reach the deer. I stayed where I was be cause I always say a prayer of thanks after I get a deer. My friend then yelled "HE'S GOT 15 POINTS!" Then I ran over to him exited out of my mind, as I looked at the buck I saw a split brow on one side with a ton of mass and the other brow had 4 points with a ton of mass. I began to count points 1...2...3...and so on.....he ended up having 15 scoreable points with a bunch of stickers. The biggest buck of my life was there in the picture with me thanks to a great hunting buddy.
Ed Kelly
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP
by Linda K. Dahlen
I stood in the near dark, sweating and perplexed. My knees felt wobbly from the residual adrenalin and I was tired from searching. An hour before I had made one of the best bow shots in my life, yet there was no blood trail, no arrow found, no dead deer and no daylight left to look further. It was a textbook scenario. I had done everything right. I felt cheated in a way. “God,” I said, “What is my lesson here?” I clicked on my brightest flashlight to look for a blood trail one last time. Deer approaching from the south spooked and scattered, something I had hoped to avoid. I finally gave up and went back to camp.
At 4pm I had looked out my office window after working at my desk all day. Suddenly that gut feeling came over me. I had to hit the woods. The cold rainy spell had broken and the red oaks on my north 40 were dropping acorns. The deer would be active & feeding - and it was pre-rut. A text message from a buddy saying the deer should be feeding after the cold spell cinched it. I was out at warp speed.
Within half an hour I was on a tree stand ¾ mile in. I had 16 stands to pick from, but this one just “smelled” right. I decided to stand so I would blend better with the tree. I had “mixed up” my camo using several different patterns for pants, leafy jacket, face mask, and face camo paint so I would not “blob” in the tree since most of the leaves were down.
[prostaff html 7bcb203] Two hours later, I saw him: An 8 point buck. This was the largest deer I had seen on my property. Even though the leaves were dry and noisy, his approach was silent. He went to a tree I had ranged at 30 yards. In five more paces, he would be in a “thread the needle” shooting window - but he was taking his time snorkeling down acorns. I slowly turned around to face my tree, slipped my release on my bowstring and waited. The wind was in my favor. He looked my way a couple times doing the “funky neck” to get a better look, but I pressed closer to the tree and tried to look like bark.
Then he made that one last step, and I went to full draw. He stopped, I took my time. I placed the pin right behind his front leg, took a breath, let it out half way and held it. Thoop! The arrow pounced off my bowstring and hit the mark. The buck ran, then stopped, tail up, and walked out of my life. I could swear I had a good shot, but I sat tight for a half hour to be sure. Now, I could not find him. But I never, never, never give up.
I hunted the next morning in another stand, and went back and searched the area for hours to no avail. I had company in town and had to go home. I was incredulous. No arrow, no nothing.
The third morning, I hit the woods again, did a quick check on some stands for the hunters coming for deer firearms' season, and went back again to where I arrowed the buck. I had memorized the spot he stood when I shot, and his escape route. For the umpteenth time, I walked that route, doing circles and grids. There were a number of deer trails in all directions. Nothing. I just stood there, vexed. “If I was a mortally wounded deer, where would I run ?” I spied a dim trail along the tag alder swamp, and followed it - only by divinely-inspired instinct. Then I saw crows circling. I hid behind a tree and they appeared to be getting ready to land in the distance. I popped up sending them aloft. I went to where they were landing. There was a large downfall and piles of leaves everywhere at the swamp edge, but then I saw it – antler tips sticking out of the leaves in an uprooted tree root divot – and BLOOD! I fell on my knees and thanked God – I did the happy dance on my knees which was pretty comical… then popped up and ran to brush all the leaves off the animal. It was virtually invisible in the leaves and the rack was obscured by the downfall. Crows and varmints had eaten 1/5th of the deer away, and with the warm, windy weather the day before, the deer smelled bad. I ran to get my ATV and Otter sled, muscled the deer from the swamp edge and out of the woods to the sled and took it to register it. I could only cape the buck for taxidermy and even then, the hair was starting to ‘slip.’ I was not able salvage the meat.
I never did find my arrow, but my shot was true. It went through the middle of the left lung, out the back of the right lung, and lodged in the leg bone – no exit wound, so no blood trail.
Never, never, never give up, is a motto I live by in many aspects of life, and with hunting. Ethics with hunting is doing the right thing when no one will see you and when you could easily be lazy and do the wrong thing. When you make a shot, you should give as much due diligence as possible to find the animal. Too often hunters give up when it’s not easy to track a deer. If you did everything right, trust your gut, say a prayer, and never quit. It’s out there.
Photo Information:
8 point buck, 182 pounds (per game scale, as found), 30 yard shot, ran 85 yards
