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Dads 2016/2017 season

Diablo54

Senior Member
7,082
126
Outside
Dads season started out looking great. around november he started running cameras around his house and some of the other property we hunt. the most productive camera checks where around the house. The big farm we hunt was only showing one shooter buck which made it hard for him to hunt anywhere except for his house. Durring early november we where watching 4 shooter bucks. poindexter the big 11 a nice 8 and a tall 10.





I am not sure of what the date was but i believe it was the second week of november because i was on vacation, dad took the day off to hunt and decided to take his climber into a pinch point behind his house. i got a text right at daybreak from him. “strap broke on climber, laying here ankle hurts, im ok”. I sent back a text asking him if he wanted me to come get him, he said no, He was in his lone wolf which is probably ten years old. He put the climber on the tree and after putting his left foot in the stirrup he pulled his right foot up and the stress was too much for the strap and the strap broke. he fell backwards onto the ground with his left ankle locked into the stirrup angling forward. He said he just laid there and couldn’t believe what had just happened. He was afraid to look at his ankle just knowing that it would be bad. After a few minutes he started crawling back towards the house. he ended up limping up the hill and texted me telling me he was going to get in his millenium on the other side of the hill. I demanded that he shouldn’t incase his ankle swelled up and he couldn’t get down safely. His stubborn ass ended up sitting in that stand and was thankfully able to get down. I ended up driving over to his house after my hunt and talked to him. His ankle was swollen twice the size of his opposite ankle. I drove the buggy back and got his climber and his binocs that fell off because the momentum of his fall was enough to break the harness that he wore. after checking the strap we saw that the plastic had cracked allowing moisture to get into the cables leading to rust. needless to say new straps where ordered that day. Dad took about a week break from hunting and let his ankle heal up. thankfully he was at ground level when all that happened and not 10 or even 25 feet up.

A few more november hunts revealed sightings of the big 11 and poindexter but they where never in recurve range.



I remember on thanksgiving eve he was debating on where to hunt the next morning. He finally decided to hunt behind his house, although later that night he sent me a text telling me that all of my young cousins where at his house having a sleep over and that he wouldnt be able to go to sleep and get up to hunt. at this time i was getting pictures nearly every day of the big 10 that i missed at my house and told him to come sleep on the couch and get in my stand in the morning. He didnt waste any time and jumped at the oppurtunity to get away from the chaos. haha, 30 minutes later he was in the driveway. sadly the next morning the big 10 was a no show. after thanksgiving dinner i went behind his house and pulled the card on his camera. sure enough that morning a new wide 8 had been standing with a doe right below his treestand at 9 am. imagine that!







 

Diablo54

Senior Member
7,082
126
Outside
December ended up being pretty rough hunting, as the weather was never favorable for late season bow hunting. we setup a blind on a different property and brushed it in.


after a few weeks a camera check revealed 2 shooter bucks and alot of young bucks in the area,

my little brother ended up killing one of the smaller 8 points durring muzzeloader season out of this blind with me. Not much bowhunting action occured at this setup, One evening he had one of the shooters working in to his blind but the wind switched and the buck picked him up before commiting to the setup. other than that the blind wasnt hunted much.


coming into January the weather was still not very favorable, warm and wet days are not what he was hoping for this time of year. although around the 15th of the month the camera checks kept getting better and better as this wide 8 was coming in more often than a mature buck typically would.

one evening the wind was not particularly in dads favor for his setup so he decided to take his climber in and move about 50 yards. the wide 8 meandered his direction stopping at 25 yards and staring over the point. the buck eventually layed down and watched the bank behind dad for 10 minutes leaving dad standing with his bow in awe wondering what was going to happen next. 3 other bucks had been on the trail this buck was on and walked by at 15 yards clueless to his setup. The buck stood up and dad shifted his feet preparing for the shot, much to dads surprise rather than walk the trail and keep working downwind the buck galloped straight to the 3 small bucks leaving dad with no shot.

a few nights later dad sat in his stand waiting and had the same three bucks come in, he was standing with his bow hanging infront of him when he heard something behind him, looking down he could see the wide 8 directly below him, he was able to grab his bow and prepare for the shot, the buck got to a log and paused long enough for dad to draw, a single limb was in the way but dad said the limb looked to be so close to the deer that even if he clipped the limb he would still send the arrow into the lungs, after all the shot was only 7 yards, The arrow went on its way heading to its mark. Although it clipped the limb and angled straight down into the dirt between the bucks feet, All the deer bolted but none of them where sure what had happened. The next 45 minutes dad had to watch the buck work back and forth at 30 yards trying to figure out what had happened, at one time the buck came into 25 but with an alert deer and his recurve he wasnt taking the shot. eventually all the deer left and dad slipped out.

I believe the very next night he went back in and the buck came back working left to right, at 20 yards the buck stood slightly quartered to, the wind swirled and the buck picked him up. but was unsure of exactly what he smelled, the buck acted nervous but never wigged out. leaving dad with another great encounter with no shots offered.


The next evening dad decided to give it one more shot before giving the area a break, around 4:30 the bucks started piling in, 6 small bucks in a row with the big 8 behind them being number 7. with a big 7 point and the big 8 infront of him at 15 yards dad slowly shifted his foot and started to draw, all of the deer bolted, leaving the big 8 at 40 yards looking for what made all the deer run, after several minutes the deer slowly meandered back in. the big 8 was the last to come back, dad drew again and at half draw another buck picked him up and ran, causing all the deer to take off, dad finished his draw and thankfully the buck stopped at 15 yards. dad let the arrow fly and watched his arrow sink in at the last rib. the buck ran down the hill and went towards the creek. the buck tried to climb the next hill and follow all the other bucks but ended up turning and coming back down the hill towards the creek. dad watched the buck until dark verifying that it didn’t move from that spot, he slipped out and came back to the house. knowing the deer was gut shot he told me to come in the morning and we would take up the track.


 

Diablo54

Senior Member
7,082
126
Outside
The next morning my dad and uncle and I went back to the shot site and looked the place over, I stayed ontop of the hill for a minute glassing the opposite bank, I was not able to see anything, dad ended up finding blood. We took up the track while my uncle stayed on the ridge watching to make sure the buck didnt get up and take off. we had decent blood and only made it about 30 yards when my uncle started yelling, neither of us understood what he was saying, but after a few more yells i could tell that he could see the buck laying on the opposite bank, we walked over and from the sight that we could see there was no doubt that the buck was dead. Sadly the coyotes had eaten his whole back end overnight.



My season is now complete as Kayla, parker, dad, my uncle and I all killed bucks this year, It doesn”t get much better than that! This buck was well deserved and alot of hours where spent in the stand for this one.



I believe i have his shed from last year and if so this was a buck we let walk several times, I wish i had a front view pic saved from last year as this buck was 18’ wide last year.



 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Great read Tay! Y'all had an awesome season for sure! Congratulations to all of you and thanks for sharing! I'd say that the shed did come from the same buck.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
Nice recap Taylor, tell the old man congrats and sorry to see the yotes found it before y'all did....


 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
Nice write up. Glad your old man is ok. Looks like he needs some new boots tho

I've got a pair that looks just like them... I only wear them when cleaning the kennel out lol.... Keep them in my buddy's garage and have to dump corn outta them every once in a while that the mice store in them lol.... once shook a little critter outta them that was stuck lol
 
Excellent season write up for your dad Taylor!! So glad his stand mis-hap didn't slow him down much to allow him to experience such a great season. Sure hate to hear that the damn coyotes got to him but so glad you were able to recover the buck.

On a side note, have you had Pointdexter showing up in the last couple weeks?? Just curious if and when he may have headed our way.
 

Diablo54

Senior Member
7,082
126
Outside
Excellent season write up for your dad Taylor!! So glad his stand mis-hap didn't slow him down much to allow him to experience such a great season. Sure hate to hear that the damn coyotes got to him but so glad you were able to recover the buck.

On a side note, have you had Pointdexter showing up in the last couple weeks?? Just curious if and when he may have headed our way.

Last night