The one that got away

[Hondo0925]

Winded at 70 yards.
I got impatient and just went for it. I need to learn to slow down and wait for the right moment

 

[eLightfoot]

these two

 

[Geewhiz]

 

[grfox92]

I played the most incredible game of cat and mouse with this buck in Connecticut in 2013.

He came by me on the morning of November 7th. He surprised me on the wrong side of the tree at 20 yards and I had to spin to shoot and wound up contorted with terrible form. A shot I shouldn't have taken (lessons learned). That morning I gave him the scar you see on his back.

I hunted this buck every chance I got after that and saw him 2 more times without a shot. I was getting him on camera everywhere in a 300 acre area and was totally dialed in on him.

In early December I got him on camera at 745 am coming through the same oak flat on the edge of a major doe bedding area for 4 straught mornings in a row.

I got in position an hour before light, about 30 feet up in a triple oak. The buck would be coming from my right to my left right by me according to my prediction.

At 730 am, a group of does started approaching, feeding, from left to right. They were working downhill toward me, putting them at eye level. There were 11 of them so I could not move at all or the gig would be up.

At 745 I heard a deer walking from my right to my left toward the does. I still could not move as the does were still eating acorns at eye level.

It was him. 7 yards directly under my tree. Bow hanging on the hook and I couldn't move. I tried slowly reaching for my bow and one of the witches saw the movement and ran a few steps, spooking everyone. My buck tensed up like he was about to bolt. I just grabbed the bow, drew back, settled the pin and released.

The arrow went in for a perfect heart shot. But I was 30ft up and he was directly under me and that arrow went right through the armpit without hitting anythything vital at all.

I got him on camera at a scrape on January 5th perfectly healthy.

By the end of the season I swear he knew who I was and that I was after him as much as I knew who he was and that I was after him.

It was the best season I ever had in 20 years of bowhunting and certainly the most memorable.

That buck was found as a dead head 6 years later as a 185" 10 point.

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