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The Great 8

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
After the field dressing and pictures with my family and friends here in the SW I threw some stuff together and headed to my brothers place in Morgan county so he and my other hunting buddies could share in the celebration and see this very special deer up close. Got to Ron's house right at midnight and was greeted by him and Stacey and Adam Triplet. When you can put them 3 guys in a state of awe as they look at a deer you know it's a very special deer. I was asked if I had a name for him at which at that moment I hadn't but Adam suggested naming him "The Great 8" and it was unanimous!

I decided to start my story with my very last hunting journal entry so here it is:

Update: THE DAY MY LUCK WOULD CHANGE!

Wasn't even planning on going due to the weather forecasted the night before but was pleasantly surprised the weatherman was wrong again! Rolled out a half hour later than normal but still in the Halloween buck stand before shooting light just like the day before. I saw a doe around 8 and a spike with 3 points around 9:30. Had great shots at the buck but the doe was 60-70 yards out. Didn't see or hear a thing up till I slipped out at 12:30 to swap three cards and head home to view them.

I walked directly away from the finger and standing corn fields and walked the creek along the entire 600 yards to my last camera trying not to disturb or bump deer near or around these cornfields. Got home and ate a bite while viewing my 3 cards. Had 24 videos to go through and finally found a shooter on just one video. It was a wide and heavy white racked slob of a deer walking away from my camera just below the double stand I have set up for Karissa and me to hunt together. It has not been hunted yet and is 250 yards from where I've been hunting the past few sits. I thought what better place to be than where I've been sitting so I decided to stick with my gut and go back to the Halloween buck stand AGAIN!

I was back up in at around 2:30 and was skunked to about 4 o'clock then I saw the only deer I was to see the remainder of my hunt that day!
I will write my story starting at that precise moment when I can find some time today.


Bucks seen 12
Does seen 12
Bb seen 0
Turkeys seen 12+
Yotes seen 0
Owls seen 2

Hours on stand 63
Hunting trips 22

Shots at deer offered 19
Shots taken 2

BBD 50 yards from my tree......

Story coming later....
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
As I stood facing the finger that split up a standing cornfield i just glanced off to the west near one of the two inside corners I was set up over that was about 30 yards away. That's the first time I ever laid my eyes on this deer ever! He was walking right to left passing the entry trail very slowly and stopped about 8 feet beyond it and started thrashing a honeysuckle bush. Unbeknownst to me there was a big scrape there and the path he walked along some 150 yards prior had 6 more scrapes I found later as well. Apparently he was out hitting scrapes and with me running 3-4 different cams over the most used crossings and trails entering the part of the farm I have permission on I wonder if this might be the first time this season he visited this part of the farm. I found this bucks right shed from last year approximately 500 yards in the direction he came from this past winter in early March. I looked really hard for the other side but never found it but I remember saying as I inspected it "you are destined to be nothing but an 8 point"! I was actually kinda hunting this deer because after measuring that shed and assuming the other side was close to the same size he was mid 130's last season. I figured he'd put on another 10 inches and be an impressive 140's 8 to hopefully get a chance to harvest. Little did I know that the monster buck I just saw walk past that gap was this particular buck!

As he was tearing this bush apart and hitting this scrape all I could think of was, I need to get him turned and head my way when he's finished. I grabbed my grunt tube and grunted once toward him and once directly away from him behind my tree and waited for some kind of response. Five seconds later I heard that telltale gutteral grunt and immediately grabbed my bow and got into position ready to draw. It was seconds later I see this huge tall heavy rack carrying two feet of honeysuckle bush between his antlers walking slow and deliberate back through this gap headed directly toward me at 28-30 yards. He was slightly bristled and posturing as he slowly made his way directly across this small ravine separating us. When he reached 20 yards away I began my draw and when I got the string all the way back to my anchor point the nock deattached itself from my string causing my arrow to start falling off my rest while I'm at full draw!!! I quickly used my bow arm index finger to catch the arrow a few inches behind the BH and let down my bow trying to be as stealth and quiet as possible. Not sure if it being that it was a Nocturnal lighted nock had anything to do with this first mishap or not but I was able to stay focused and renock that arrow.....except this time I snapped it on so good the green light came on!!! I remember saying, "You gotta be kidding me"....twice during this ordeal! Thankfully he was so focused on looking down below me for the buck that he thought he heard grunt. After I drew my bow this second time I checked everything as I prepared for the shot and bent myself at the waist bringing my 20 yard pin down into the chest area right behind his right shoulder as he stood broadside at 13-15 yards. As I just about squeezed the trigger he moved forward and subsequently causing my first shot to pass through around the liver area possibly even severing an artery. He didn't know what happened and just jumped forward a few yards looking around. I could see good blood trickling down his side as I was reaching for another arrow from my deattached quiver. This arrow had a 100 grain Muzzy on it and the first arrow was tipped with a 100 grain Slick Trick. With him still broadside at 13-15 yards I drew back again and repeated the same aiming process. The arrow penetrated him behind the shoulder but a tad high and he shot off that bank and down into the creek bottom and came to a dead stop about 50 yards from my tree. I could tell he was hurt bad and instinctively grabbed my video camera and recorded most of the last few minutes of his life. That part is still very sobering and hard to view but I'm glad I caught what I got on film. After I saw him come to his final rest I lowered my bow and climbed down quietly then made my way down to him. I took a few pics and it wasn't till I received a call back from Ron and him saying, " You have that bucks shed!" did I realize that I did! I still can't believe he put on that many inches in one season. We figure he was 3.5 last year subsequently making him 4.5 this year. His right side shed measured 59.5 inches and the same side this year blew up 16" up to 75"!!! That is pretty remarkable, IMO.

I have been truely blessed to have had the opportunity to harvest such a special deer! Thank you reading my story and may you have a very rewarding season TOO!

Ric....FS

Hopefully I'll find someone here to post a few pics for me to go along with this story.
 
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Jackalope

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ImageUploadedByTapatalk1416106369.328741.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1416106384.514744.jpg
 

brock ratcliff

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What a pig! Great story, Ric. I enjoyed reading it, but it's even more enjoyable to hear you tell it! Great job, your "never give up" paid off in spades!
 

Fullbore

Senior Member
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South Eastern Ohio
Awesome buck bro ! Glad to be a part of it and so glad that you came home to share in each other's success and to get your pics the day after! Good luck ever topping a buck like that! Although, I said that last year TOO! Lol
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Thanks guys! I still haven't came off this cloud yet and I don't see the end in sight yet either! Lol

Thank you Joe for posting the pics for me! I can't wait to ditch this phone for a newer one and get back to normal! Haha

Just looked back over my stats again and just wanted to mention that on my 22 solo sits I got skunked on all but 5 or 6 of my sits with about 14 of them being on consecutive hunts. This was very frustrating knowing I was hunting from great sets that proved to be successful in the past 4 years. Yeah I know I still have standing corn and a unbelievable acorn crop still being to blame for lack of deer sightings but cameras and deer sign don't lie!! They have to move at some point right?!?
Just for added insight I've taken my daughter out on 3 hunts since and we've yet to jump,hear or see a deer on our way in or way out and during our 6-7 hours of sitting near a pinch point and bedding area during this 2014 so called "rut"! Regardless what the experts do say its my opinion and observation that the numbers are very low for whatever reason! I've never taken a doe off this farm and prolly never will due to this reason alone.
Also, my BIL has been hunting a killer spot that in years past has proven to be very successful for him and its about 1.5-2 miles from where I hunt. Its a pinch bordering a doe bedding area and 9 times out of 10 has the perfect wind direction working for him TOO. He's hunted dark to dark nearly every day since 11/1 and has also gotten skunked a bunch as well.
I brought this up because after experiencing and seeing the frustration firsthand during long boring sits just watching squirrels bury nuts they'll never find again I realize just how lucky I've been the last several years!
Lastly, I've heard several say that the racks appear to be bigger this year cuz numbers are down! IMO, Ohio has big racked deer every year and this year is just another year! That's be like saying the racks are more busted up this year because there is more competition for breeding rights but racks have been getting busted up every year regardless of our deer numbers IMO.

Sorry if it appears that I went off on a rant but it just part of the overall picture of how my season went from super low to super high this year. I'll say it again, I'm very blessed and fortunate!
 
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What a STUD! I couldn't be happier for you Ric. Awesome write up TOO. You will most likely take many more bucks in your lifetime, but you will probably never take a bigger 8 point.

We all must remember that getting skunked is part of the game. The lows of the sport just make the highs that much sweeter.

Congrats again, on one fine buck.