Panhandler80
WKR
By Wednesday of last week I knew the stars were aligning in terms of this buck's activity and the weather. Sure enough, by Saturday morning, the wind for a Saturday afternoon sit to try and take this guy was all but guaranteed. This is a 40 acre piece in NW Florida that I've hunted for almost 15 years now and where I taught myself to hunt. Things have changed a little bit there as much of the surrounding timber has been cut for cattle pasture, and then Hurricane Michael also changed things up a little bit. I'd say that close to 90% of all pine crop was lost if the tree was any bigger than a man's knee. Trees smaller than that saw about a 50% loss ratio through where I am.... approximately 12 miles form eye of storm with noting between me and the storm's landfall but a small strip of land and open water. Anyway, things have changed a little bit, but an early season deer is an early season deer: You get one or two cracks at them before needing to worry about disrupting their pattern. As such, I chose my day very carefully and Saturday was the day.
At about 3:30 central time I was able to glass a couple of doe hop out of ditch where they routinely bed at about 700 yards from my stand. They were making their way to me, but VERY slowly. At 4:00 I was beginning to wonder where the small bucks were the frequent this corner of the property usually an hour or so before big boy. Not having any deer me with only 1.5 hrs of legal light left had me nervous. Then a minute or after 4:00, I hear something coming through titi thicket. It's making a lot of ruckus, so I'm concerned that it might be a bear. I also had two hogs show up for the first time ever this year, so I thought it might be a pig. Well... I catch a glimpse of brown and my heart begins to race. I knew right then it had to have been a buck thrashing trees. Is it going to be him? I was able to calm myself and in a mere 3 or 4 minutes the woods went from dead as a wedge, to having my #1 hit list buck standing at 20 yards. He was coming towards me a little bit, but it's a fairly narrow lane (pictured below), so I let her fly.
The shot looked good. The shot sounded good. I gave it half an hour and as the sun got a little bit lower, I was certain that I saw his white belly at about 60 yards from point of impact. Excited, I made my first mistake of the afternoon... I decided to get on the phone and call my buddy and my wife with the great news. Big buck arrowed and I can see him. Well, as the sun got a little lower and with the aid of binoculars, it became apparent that the white belly was nothing more than a felled pine tree that has been bleached by the sun. Oh well, I thought. I'll check out the arrow after I climb down. Well, I get down there and there's very little blood, and I can't find the arrow. What I do find, is some guts. CRAP! No bueno. It's been about half an hour, but I go back to the truck for some crackers and a cold adult beverage. After about an hour, I drove the truck as far as I could and began the track. 15 yards into it, I found the arrow. It's bloody, but also has some guts on it, which confirms what I already suspected. At this point, I'm now aware that the deer was quartering to me a little bit harder than I might have initially thought. However, I was still confident that my entry point was solid and that there's no way he din't lose at least one lung. Considering that we're now at 90 minutes form the shot, I pressed on. Side Note: My lighted nock in my crossbow arrow did not stay on after passing through deer. This is the first time this has actually happened, but I've always been concerned that it would do to the design. It's an Excalibur bow and they recommend flat nocks, which means it's the design where two little contacts hit the graphite shaft when the nock is fully hubbed up to the shaft after being fired. This is what completes a circuit. All that needs to happen to turn it off during pass thru is is surface area of nock backs it away form shaft just one little bit, and no light.
For the next two hours I was on hands and knees and I used almost an entire roll of toilet paper marking blood. Some parts of the trail were open, and other parts looked like what you see below. After two hours and almost 200 yards I finally found him. Coyotes had eaten his guts and I quickly developed a theory. The entry shot was in fact good, and as you mght suspect, the arrow exited pretty far back. I think there's a chance he only had one lung taken out and at 50 or 60 yards, he laid down to die, but with guts exposed, he brought in coyotes and they pushed him that next 100+ yards while he had a little bit of life left. I cussed the damned things, but fortunately, they didn't get into any of his cape. The other theory is, maybe the buck was super healthy and they brought him down, in which case, I guess I shouldn't cuss them.
Long story, but it was a fantastic hunt and my biggest Florida buck to date. I have put a tape to him, but I'm confident that he'll surpass the 100" mark, which for around here is fairly special. I'm guessing his weight at 140, which the processor confirmed. I had him on film last year and am confident that he's 4.5. At 140 he wasn't all that hard to drag out, but I was exhausted and getting him over / around / and occasionally under all the hinged down pines was a bit of a challenge.
There was a 10 that he ran with last year, who I was fortunate enough to take with rifle. That buck is on the wall, and his former running mate will be joining him there soon!
At about 3:30 central time I was able to glass a couple of doe hop out of ditch where they routinely bed at about 700 yards from my stand. They were making their way to me, but VERY slowly. At 4:00 I was beginning to wonder where the small bucks were the frequent this corner of the property usually an hour or so before big boy. Not having any deer me with only 1.5 hrs of legal light left had me nervous. Then a minute or after 4:00, I hear something coming through titi thicket. It's making a lot of ruckus, so I'm concerned that it might be a bear. I also had two hogs show up for the first time ever this year, so I thought it might be a pig. Well... I catch a glimpse of brown and my heart begins to race. I knew right then it had to have been a buck thrashing trees. Is it going to be him? I was able to calm myself and in a mere 3 or 4 minutes the woods went from dead as a wedge, to having my #1 hit list buck standing at 20 yards. He was coming towards me a little bit, but it's a fairly narrow lane (pictured below), so I let her fly.
The shot looked good. The shot sounded good. I gave it half an hour and as the sun got a little bit lower, I was certain that I saw his white belly at about 60 yards from point of impact. Excited, I made my first mistake of the afternoon... I decided to get on the phone and call my buddy and my wife with the great news. Big buck arrowed and I can see him. Well, as the sun got a little lower and with the aid of binoculars, it became apparent that the white belly was nothing more than a felled pine tree that has been bleached by the sun. Oh well, I thought. I'll check out the arrow after I climb down. Well, I get down there and there's very little blood, and I can't find the arrow. What I do find, is some guts. CRAP! No bueno. It's been about half an hour, but I go back to the truck for some crackers and a cold adult beverage. After about an hour, I drove the truck as far as I could and began the track. 15 yards into it, I found the arrow. It's bloody, but also has some guts on it, which confirms what I already suspected. At this point, I'm now aware that the deer was quartering to me a little bit harder than I might have initially thought. However, I was still confident that my entry point was solid and that there's no way he din't lose at least one lung. Considering that we're now at 90 minutes form the shot, I pressed on. Side Note: My lighted nock in my crossbow arrow did not stay on after passing through deer. This is the first time this has actually happened, but I've always been concerned that it would do to the design. It's an Excalibur bow and they recommend flat nocks, which means it's the design where two little contacts hit the graphite shaft when the nock is fully hubbed up to the shaft after being fired. This is what completes a circuit. All that needs to happen to turn it off during pass thru is is surface area of nock backs it away form shaft just one little bit, and no light.
For the next two hours I was on hands and knees and I used almost an entire roll of toilet paper marking blood. Some parts of the trail were open, and other parts looked like what you see below. After two hours and almost 200 yards I finally found him. Coyotes had eaten his guts and I quickly developed a theory. The entry shot was in fact good, and as you mght suspect, the arrow exited pretty far back. I think there's a chance he only had one lung taken out and at 50 or 60 yards, he laid down to die, but with guts exposed, he brought in coyotes and they pushed him that next 100+ yards while he had a little bit of life left. I cussed the damned things, but fortunately, they didn't get into any of his cape. The other theory is, maybe the buck was super healthy and they brought him down, in which case, I guess I shouldn't cuss them.
Long story, but it was a fantastic hunt and my biggest Florida buck to date. I have put a tape to him, but I'm confident that he'll surpass the 100" mark, which for around here is fairly special. I'm guessing his weight at 140, which the processor confirmed. I had him on film last year and am confident that he's 4.5. At 140 he wasn't all that hard to drag out, but I was exhausted and getting him over / around / and occasionally under all the hinged down pines was a bit of a challenge.
There was a 10 that he ran with last year, who I was fortunate enough to take with rifle. That buck is on the wall, and his former running mate will be joining him there soon!
. Congrats on a great deer!
