Finelyshedded and daughters Rollercoaster season of 2015-16

Rollercoaster Season....

Best describes the season we both had! It all started with my quad accident during the TOO bowshoot/campout over the weekend of July 24th thru the 26th. Not only did it set me back to where I couldn't draw back my bow but it also prevented me from doing much of anything over the next couple months. I sustained a broken clavicle and a few broken ribs from the accident and even doing simple things like taking showers,coughing,sneezing and you name it, was painful and difficult.

Getting out to erect stands was not happening and this was right in the middle of when I start prepping for the upcoming season. Thanks to friends(Brian...Boarhead and Rick...Xbowguy) on this great site I was able to borrow a xbow and get 4 of my usual treestand sets up before the start of season and gets some much needed shooting practice for Karissa and I. Before opening day Karissa and I had renewed hope of salvaging our season thanks to the generosity of these two great guys! Thanks again fellas, if not for you both we were not going to have much of a season!

I told Karissa before season even started that I'm willing to sacrifice my season to help her kill her first whitetail buck. It was her choice to hold out for a buck as it was also her choice to hold out for a mature buck. She was up to the challenge and was willing to hold out as long as it took if needed as she knew her hunting season was done once she's tagged out.

With Karissa and I shooting great out to 45 yards with Ricks xbow and Brian getting us set up with great places to sit we were both fired up and hit the ground running as the first 3 weeks of season came and went in a blur. I had gotten a couple bonafide shooters on camera up to this point but they were a no show so far. Even though we had our share of skunks we were still having fun and enjoying our hunting time together watching nature do it's thing.

With my off days being Friday and Saturday and her college schedule pretty much giving her the same off days it worked out perfectly for us to hunt together much more this year than the past 2 years. Up through the whole month of October and the first week of November we pretty much seen and had up close encounters with every subordinate 1.5-2.5 year old bucks that ran across this farm and that I'd caught on trail camera. I video'd every encounter and enjoyed watching Karissa's reaction with each and every one of them.

By the end of the first week of November I got word that one of our targeted deer had been shot in the shoulder and never recovered on a property 3/4 mile to the south of us and another hunter hunting the same property as us killed a nice 7 point that I had no history with up to this point....that was until I pulled a card I had over a scrape on the other side of the farm. When I viewed this card I caught the hunter going to his stand walking past this scrape at 12:29 PM and the buck he wound up killing hitting this scrape then walking the same path and direction at 4:07 PM the night he killed him. Still, it was the first and only time I got this buck on camera this year and it told me the bucks are expanding their ranges some. I sent the hunter video copies of him and his deer so he can share them with friends and family.

I had a week of vacation scheduled for myself to head down to SE Ohio and hunt with my brother and a few buddies from 11/7-11/12 before heading back to hunt with Karissa again on the 13th and 14th. My five days were apparently spent during the lockdown in our area but regardless is was great getting to spend some quality time with Ron and our buddies at deer camp over that stretch. Once back home, Karissa and I continued sitting in our favorite stand waiting for the right deer to come along.

The one thing that stood out to me at this point during our season was how much more active the deer were under darkness than during the daytime! My 3 cameras that were over scrapes and major travel corridors were blowing up mid of the night and our morning sits were spent watching squirrels build nests. We also noticed the deer movement during the day seemed to start late morning and become sporadic throughout the afternoon. So far we just had the immature bucks laying around the standing cornfields and travel corridors waiting for a doe to walk by so they could hassle her but the mature bucks were still a no show.......but that's about to change!

Here is where our rollercoaster takes us up to the ultimate high.....

Friday...November 20, 2015 at 9:40-9:42am....

Will be a day Karissa and I will never forget!

This very cool crisp morning found Karissa and I perched in our favorite stand at 6:45am all ready locked and loaded. Even the squirrel activity wasn't great but the temps were in the high 20's winds were calm or mostly still out if the SW and the sun still over an hour away from cresting the tree line off the the east.

About 9:30 I looked down over my left shoulder and noticed Karissa working her hands fighting off the cold as she's been holding her xbow since we sat down so I told her to quickly and quietly hang it up till she warms herself up. So she did that and sat back down and fought off the cold and was quickly back to normal in 5 minutes or so. Both of our heads were on swivels up to this point and we were planning on sitting all day if it took that long.

It was just a few minutes later I felt the tap of Karissa's hand and I turned to see her pointing out in front of her and saw a dandy nice buck quickly walking through the inside corner that TG8 walked through last year. He had a couple corn stalks hanging off both sides of his rack and was walking as if he was on a mission with an nasty attitude. I whispered to Karissa, "Shooter, quietly get your xbow and get into shooting position as I grabbed my grunt tube and video camera which were both at the ready tucked into the front of my jacket.

I immediately threw out several grunts just to stop him then pressed my record button on the camera. He stopped and started to look around for the source of the grunts with fodder hanging everywhere. He took a few more steps down the hill about 35 yards out and I grunted again. Then he stepped a few yards closer and looked up in our direction but seemed to look right through us and back to looking down the slight hill he was on. He finally started to walk slightly angling towards us toward several big shooting windows below us out to 29-30 yards away. As he entered the first window I grunted and stopped him on a dime right in the middle of it the whispered, "SHOOT "! Karissa couldn't see very well unbeknownst to me cuz the sun that was over her shoulder at the time was glaring into her scope. He was at 28 yards at that spot and started to walk slowly to the 30 spot just a few yards away then I grunted again stopping him dead in his tracks again. I whispered, " SHOOT" and this time she shot and I couldn't have been more pleased with her shot placement and performance than I was right then!!!

Up to this point we both were in 7th Heaven and still ascending but we were quickly knocked back to an all time low as her deer was never recovered after many man hours were spent looking for him over the next two days. Neither of us wanted to resume hunting the immediate area till we got word of someone else seeing him alive or until he was found. Unfortunately neither had happened leading up till the deer gun opener. I did however put the word out to other neighboring LO's and hunters to be on the lookout for her deer.

Now here comes another rollercoaster high.....


Since we hadn't found any more signs of Karissa's deer we assumed he may have survived the single lung hit and we were hoping we or another ethical hunter may get another chance at him. So the opening day of Ohio's deer gun season found me hunting down here in SE Ohio with my bro and buddies from way back for a week of deer gun season. I've never killed a deer with a rifle before so Ron let me use his 45-70 lever action rifle. It's shooting 325 grain Horns pretty damn good out to 200 yards as well.

I was locked and loaded and set in Rons tripod deer stand smack dab along a pipeline cutting across a big hollar on our lease. I saw my first deer at 4:30 this past evening. They were two button bucks feeding on the opposite hill in the clear cut. As I continued to watch and video them for roughly 15-20 minutes I glanced up the hill to my right on my side and saw a larger bodied deer feeding in the clover in the clear cut about 100 yards above me.

A quick glance through my binos told me he was good enough so I grabbed the shooting stick I just cut out of brush near my blind about 45 minutes earlier and propped Ron's new rifle up on it and lined up the crosshairs of his Leo scope right on this bucks front shoulder and pulled back the hammer and squeezed the trigger slowly....till it go bang!

He took off down the hill like he'd been hit hard and into the brush behind me. I stuck my head out of the blind just in time to hear him trashing and appearing to crash but I wasn't sure.

I gathered up my gear and made my way up the 50 to 60 degree incline to where I thought he was standing when I shot. As I crested the hill over 125 yards away my phone just blew up!!!! I mean I had messages from home and from my buddies cuz while I sat down in this hollar all day long I had no cell service!!! ZILCH!!!

This is where my high went through the stratosphere!!!!


The text that really stood out to me was from two guys back home that I told about Karissas deer. One was the neighboring landowner and the other was a good guy that hunts this landowners land! They both said they'd keep an eye out for buzzards and her deer. Well apparently the hunter found it yesterday and told the LO and they both tried calling me all day long!!!

I immediately made contact with both of them and got the location of him and called another friend to go find him and to call me before he does anything. I will call it in for Karissa using her tag number to get her 18 digit number then have him write it on a piece of paper and secure it on the head before he moves it.

When I called Karissa to tell her she was practically ready to start crying! As I was too!!! This has been so hard on both of us!

After getting back to camp my bro and 3 other buddies headed out to find my deer. It was found rather quickly but he bled externally. The bullet went thru his right front shoulder breaking it as it took out both lungs. He went about 75-100 yards all downhill and was done in seconds.

What a day! We recover our deer on the same day!!!! I'm one happy dad!

Karissa's deer had gone about 1000 yards total from where she shot him to where he was found. This was definitely not the way Karissa and I wanted this special memory to end but at least we have closure.

I went to inspect the carcass this past Friday and was not able to locate her bolt or any hard evidence as to why he didn't die a quick and clean death and can only surmise it was a solid one lung hit with no exit hole to help him bleed out better. Karissa really feels bad about this but I told her we just got to keep our chin up and do our best to not let it happen again. I also told her that deer are tough animals and even though she made a good shot that sometimes that isn't enough and some luck has to go your way as well.

Sorry for the ultra long story of our year but it was really two stories in one. Thank you for taking the time and reading how our season played out! Good luck if you're still hunting and it's my wish that your able to end it on a high like we did ours! May God keep you safe and y'all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Ric and Karissa

Pictures coming shortly.....

Karissa and her deer






Boiling her bucks skull plate and jaw bone


My very first rifle kill ever!!! Henry 45-70 lever action




TC Pic's of Henry

Karissa's deer on video just prior to her shooting him as he walks by scrape camera with cornstalks hanging in his rack.


Just tap or click on image....

I haven't had a chance to proof read this thing and I hope it's not out of whack too bad for y'all!

Thank you guys!!! It was a very special season for both of us and the memories will last forever!