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2024-25 Traditional Kills

Jtaylor said:
After a couple sleepless nights and a long day of searching, I got ahold of a tracker.
I gut shot this deer Friday night, backed out and left everything in the tree besides the bow to creep out as quietly as possible.
I woke up early Saturday and searched all day until it started raining early evening. I work with my dog to track but she was spent after about 4 hours of zig zags through tall grass. She did get me on first blood.
I had lost hopes but woke up Sunday with a bit of renewed ambition. I called a tracker, went to the shot site, described the situation and we started. After about 2 hours, I was losing hope until the dog popped his head up sniffed the wind and lead us straight to the deer.
The coyotes got to it, basically ate half and the meat was turning green with the warm fluctuating temperatures.
The buck ran a half a mile straight line from last blood Saturday without being pushed as far as I know and died in thick grass near a creek. He passed 2 other ponds on the way (the consensus is gut shot deer seek out water).
I was set up in a tree with very tight clearance and in hindsight it probably would've been better suited for a shorter bow. I had to maneuver the bow to avoid limbs hitting branches.
I shot him with a 40# Black Hunter, 175gr. Simmons Swampshark. Same bow as earlier doe this year just switched up to Swampsharks.
View attachment 110295
Click to expand...
Thats a hammer!! Congrats and way to stay after him.
 
Jtaylor said:
After a couple sleepless nights and a long day of searching, I got ahold of a tracker.
I gut shot this deer Friday night, backed out and left everything in the tree besides the bow to creep out as quietly as possible.
I woke up early Saturday and searched all day until it started raining early evening. I work with my dog to track but she was spent after about 4 hours of zig zags through tall grass. She did get me on first blood.
I had lost hopes but woke up Sunday with a bit of renewed ambition. I called a tracker, went to the shot site, described the situation and we started. After about 2 hours, I was losing hope until the dog popped his head up sniffed the wind and lead us straight to the deer.
The coyotes got to it, basically ate half and the meat was turning green with the warm fluctuating temperatures.
The buck ran a half a mile straight line from last blood Saturday without being pushed as far as I know and died in thick grass near a creek. He passed 2 other ponds on the way (the consensus is gut shot deer seek out water).
I was set up in a tree with very tight clearance and in hindsight it probably would've been better suited for a shorter bow. I had to maneuver the bow to avoid limbs hitting branches.
I shot him with a 40# Black Hunter, 175gr. Simmons Swampshark. Same bow as earlier doe this year just switched up to Swampsharks.
View attachment 110295
Click to expand...
Congrats!!! Not only is he a toad, but to hang in there with multiple resources for recovery ( I mean I see why, but still!)
Can you share more about your stand setup choice & what he was doing that put him in front of you??
 
Jtaylor said:
After a couple sleepless nights and a long day of searching, I got ahold of a tracker.
I gut shot this deer Friday night, backed out and left everything in the tree besides the bow to creep out as quietly as possible.
I woke up early Saturday and searched all day until it started raining early evening. I work with my dog to track but she was spent after about 4 hours of zig zags through tall grass. She did get me on first blood.
I had lost hopes but woke up Sunday with a bit of renewed ambition. I called a tracker, went to the shot site, described the situation and we started. After about 2 hours, I was losing hope until the dog popped his head up sniffed the wind and lead us straight to the deer.
The coyotes got to it, basically ate half and the meat was turning green with the warm fluctuating temperatures.
The buck ran a half a mile straight line from last blood Saturday without being pushed as far as I know and died in thick grass near a creek. He passed 2 other ponds on the way (the consensus is gut shot deer seek out water).
I was set up in a tree with very tight clearance and in hindsight it probably would've been better suited for a shorter bow. I had to maneuver the bow to avoid limbs hitting branches.
I shot him with a 40# Black Hunter, 175gr. Simmons Swampshark. Same bow as earlier doe this year just switched up to Swampsharks.
View attachment 110295
Click to expand...
My goodness man what a hoss.
 
Bigterp said:
Congrats!!! Not only is he a toad, but to hang in there with multiple resources for recovery ( I mean I see why, but still!)
Can you share more about your stand setup choice & what he was doing that put him in front of you??
Click to expand...
Tell him he can PM us the phone number of the high fence operation where he killed this one. I think they usually tie them to a tree if you’re hunting with a traditional bow. This one must’ve broke the leash, making the track hard.

Just kidding @Jtaylor i can hardly comprehend killing such an awesome buck much less with a recurve! And like others said your commitment to find this buck is highly commendable even with it being such a stud.
 
Bigterp said:
Congrats!!! Not only is he a toad, but to hang in there with multiple resources for recovery ( I mean I see why, but still!)
Can you share more about your stand setup choice & what he was doing that put him in front of you??
Click to expand...
It's an area I was fairly familiar with and knew it had good bucks and knew adjecent properties have good bucks too.

I had observed what I believed to be this buck a couple weeks ago about 400 yards away from the stand I shot him.
I was waiting for the same wind I observed him from to make the move.

I was hunting an island of trees in the middle of a large open grass field with a large dry drainage ditch previously scouted full of beds. The drainage runs north/south (predominant wind here and has good escape routes).

I walked in with the wind in my face and basically did a big J hook into the stand location Friday evening. The tree and stand set up was my first. I've set up in a different tree before in the same location but the way the topography lays the tree I picked Friday let me be more concealed.

I got in fairly late with only about 2 1/2 hours of daylight left. I was kind of going for broke and got out my grunt call. I made a couple aggressive grunts and thought they sounded too high pitched so I adjusted the reed deeper, tried again and about 5 minutes later heard movement in the grass over a rise I couldn't see. I broke a branch off the tree I was in, thrashed it around and dropped it hard in the grass trying to mimick a rub all while grunting short bursts.

A fork buck walked over the rise and was headed straight toward my stand (slightly quartering wind). I heard separate movement behind him and separate movement to my left (upwind). Shortly behind the fork buck, the buck I shot stepped up onto the rise and stood for probably 5 minutes scanning the area for the buck making the rukus.

Thankfully the movement upwind of me was a 3x3 and he pulled the buck I shot off that rise and he was heading broadside in front of me at about 20 yds.
I only trimmed a couple limbs because I really don't like giving away stand positions in case I ever want to go back. I only had an area about the size of the recurve to shoot through.

The buck I shot was postured walking towards the 3x3 slowly. I could've tried to stop him but I've had bad luck doing that with these pressured bucks and they just bolt without any hesitation.

I shot, knew I hit guts and the opposite ham/hip since the arrow was about half way in.

I snuck out after dark, went in the next day before first light and another pickup was already there. I searched a bit, found no blood so I went and got my dog.

My dog got me on blood and I followed it up to a fence I didn't have permission on, also coincidently the fence line the other guy probably walked in on. So it's possible he inadvertently bumped it going in.

I ended up getting permission where I thought he went and the rest is the previous post above.

I was in a small loc on, 3 sticks high in a scraggly tree that was first time I've hunted in that tree.
 
gcr0003 said:
Tell him he can PM us the phone number of the high fence operation where he killed this one. I think they usually tie them to a tree if you’re hunting with a traditional bow. This one must’ve broke the leash, making the track hard.

Just kidding @Jtaylor i can hardly comprehend killing such an awesome buck much less with a recurve! And like others said your commitment to find this buck is highly commendable even with it being such a stud.
Click to expand...
No high fences that I know of around here. I couldn't comprehend it either, definitely not what I expected to see that night.
 
Jtaylor said:
It's an area I was fairly familiar with and knew it had good bucks and knew adjecent properties have good bucks too.

I had observed what I believed to be this buck a couple weeks ago about 400 yards away from the stand I shot him.
I was waiting for the same wind I observed him from to make the move.

I was hunting an island of trees in the middle of a large open grass field with a large dry drainage ditch previously scouted full of beds. The drainage runs north/south (predominant wind here and has good escape routes).

I walked in with the wind in my face and basically did a big J hook into the stand location Friday evening. The tree and stand set up was my first. I've set up in a different tree before in the same location but the way the topography lays the tree I picked Friday let me be more concealed.

I got in fairly late with only about 2 1/2 hours of daylight left. I was kind of going for broke and got out my grunt call. I made a couple aggressive grunts and thought they sounded too high pitched so I adjusted the reed deeper, tried again and about 5 minutes later heard movement in the grass over a rise I couldn't see. I broke a branch off the tree I was in, thrashed it around and dropped it hard in the grass trying to mimick a rub all while grunting short bursts.

A fork buck walked over the rise and was headed straight toward my stand (slightly quartering wind). I heard separate movement behind him and separate movement to my left (upwind). Shortly behind the fork buck, the buck I shot stepped up onto the rise and stood for probably 5 minutes scanning the area for the buck making the rukus.

Thankfully the movement upwind of me was a 3x3 and he pulled the buck I shot off that rise and he was heading broadside in front of me at about 20 yds.
I only trimmed a couple limbs because I really don't like giving away stand positions in case I ever want to go back. I only had an area about the size of the recurve to shoot through.

The buck I shot was postured walking towards the 3x3 slowly. I could've tried to stop him but I've had bad luck doing that with these pressured bucks and they just bolt without any hesitation.

I shot, knew I hit guts and the opposite ham/hip since the arrow was about half way in.

I snuck out after dark, went in the next day before first light and another pickup was already there. I searched a bit, found no blood so I went and got my dog.

My dog got me on blood and I followed it up to a fence I didn't have permission on, also coincidently the fence line the other guy probably walked in on. So it's possible he inadvertently bumped it going in.

I ended up getting permission where I thought he went and the rest is the previous post above.

I was in a small loc on, 3 sticks high in a scraggly tree that was first time I've hunted in that tree.
Click to expand...
Really appreciate the write up. I’ve been trying to up my game & do mental or actual notes after each close encounter or shot. I enjoy seeing how others go about it, 10x on a deer of that caliber! Can’t wait to see the mount…
 
I got a nice spike at last light the other day. I was thankful to have my string tracker since it lunged at the sound of my ILF bow, resulting in the arrow hitting further back than I intended. I followed the string for almost 100 yds. before finding him floating in the lake. I had to take the plunge to retrieve him, but he was my first Trad Buck, so I couldn’t be happier.IMG_1339.jpegIMG_1340.jpegIMG_1338.jpeg
 
jbogg said:
I got a nice spike at last light the other day. I was thankful to have my string tracker since it lunged at the sound of my ILF bow, resulting in the arrow hitting further back than I intended. I followed the string for almost 100 yds. before finding him floating in the lake. I had to take the plunge to retrieve him, but he was my first Trad Buck, so I couldn’t be happier.View attachment 110442View attachment 110443View attachment 110444
Click to expand...
Good job
 
jbogg said:
I got a nice spike at last light the other day. I was thankful to have my string tracker since it lunged at the sound of my ILF bow, resulting in the arrow hitting further back than I intended. I followed the string for almost 100 yds. before finding him floating in the lake. I had to take the plunge to retrieve him, but he was my first Trad Buck, so I couldn’t be happier.View attachment 110442View attachment 110443View attachment 110444
Click to expand...
100 yards?? Did you forget to set the hook? :p
Seriously, congrats on your first trad buck!! Fun aint it?
 
BTaylor said:
100 yards?? Did you forget to set the hook? :p
Seriously, congrats on your first trad buck!! Fun aint it?
Click to expand...
I started string tracker specifically for bears since they can be so schizophrenic when it comes to bleeding, or not. It seems to have no impact on arrow flight out to 20 yards so I just left it on for deer hunting, and I’m glad I did.
 
6f630b313608dc7d4e3392d5a4011ebb.jpg

Should have been a really nice 8pt too but I clipped a limb.

Edit to add it was not the buck from the "Live" thread. He was a fair bit better that one, different spot the next day.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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South Dakota over a decoy. I've passed bigger bucksin Illinois this season waiting for a good one. I'm only in SoDak a few days so I figured it was time to kill one. I'm sure I've put 200 hours in stand so far. It was time to draw blood.
 

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