You obviously never think you’re going to post here, until you do. This one hurts, not gonna lie.
It’s my third year bowhunting and first full season with my compound. I missed a nice 8 last year on private with the mini, but this one hits different. It was my first encounter with a good buck on public.
Had the day off work, weather was set up nicely, winds were shifting in the right direction for this spot, and the temps dropped about 15 degrees overnight. Got set up in the tree by 615 am, shooting time was 658. I’m hunting a small ridge that bottoms out into a marshy swampy area for a couple hundred yards before it hits a lake. I shot my doe on the same ridge last year and this year I found a good scrape line and some good rubs last weekend. Last weekend I bumped a bedded doe near a tree I was planning to sit in. As I walked through her bed I could smell a buck. I knew I was getting close. This morning I set up in the middle of the scrape line about 80ish yards east of where that bed was. I did a rattling sequence at 7ish and working 30 seconds of putting my bag away I could hear leaves and sticks crunching and cracking. This buck came in on a string from roughly 100 yards, right in the general area of where I bumped that doe last weekend. While it was legal shooting light it was a little cloudier that in was on my walk in. It wasn’t uber clear but as he got closer I realized it was one of the nice 8 points I had in camera from the last week. Honestly it didn’t matter what it was, if I had a quality shot at any buck it was going down. I had the wind advantage and felt good. At about 40 yards he turns and starts circling my tree heading towards my back side. He stepped behind a large oak tree and I drew. He steps out from the tree at my 530 and he stands broadside, probably 15 yards.
I had all the time in the world, he was calm, had no idea I was there, and I yanked it, clean miss. He jumped and went about 10ish yards and turned around and looked back. On one hand I’m obviously happy it was a clean miss, at the same time it’s devastating to do almost everything right and still come up empty.
Takeaways
-I feel like a lot went right, so I need to remember that.
-He was startled but certainly not spooked. While it’s the rut and anything can happen, I suspect he’ll be in the area for the next couple days unless other pressure pushes him out.
-I need to continue to shoot with my bow. Buck fever or not, 14 yards broadside is a shot I should make, often.
Ya learn and move on, doesn’t mean it that sting is leaving anytime soon.
Good luck everyone, hunt on!
It’s my third year bowhunting and first full season with my compound. I missed a nice 8 last year on private with the mini, but this one hits different. It was my first encounter with a good buck on public.
Had the day off work, weather was set up nicely, winds were shifting in the right direction for this spot, and the temps dropped about 15 degrees overnight. Got set up in the tree by 615 am, shooting time was 658. I’m hunting a small ridge that bottoms out into a marshy swampy area for a couple hundred yards before it hits a lake. I shot my doe on the same ridge last year and this year I found a good scrape line and some good rubs last weekend. Last weekend I bumped a bedded doe near a tree I was planning to sit in. As I walked through her bed I could smell a buck. I knew I was getting close. This morning I set up in the middle of the scrape line about 80ish yards east of where that bed was. I did a rattling sequence at 7ish and working 30 seconds of putting my bag away I could hear leaves and sticks crunching and cracking. This buck came in on a string from roughly 100 yards, right in the general area of where I bumped that doe last weekend. While it was legal shooting light it was a little cloudier that in was on my walk in. It wasn’t uber clear but as he got closer I realized it was one of the nice 8 points I had in camera from the last week. Honestly it didn’t matter what it was, if I had a quality shot at any buck it was going down. I had the wind advantage and felt good. At about 40 yards he turns and starts circling my tree heading towards my back side. He stepped behind a large oak tree and I drew. He steps out from the tree at my 530 and he stands broadside, probably 15 yards.
I had all the time in the world, he was calm, had no idea I was there, and I yanked it, clean miss. He jumped and went about 10ish yards and turned around and looked back. On one hand I’m obviously happy it was a clean miss, at the same time it’s devastating to do almost everything right and still come up empty.
Takeaways
-I feel like a lot went right, so I need to remember that.
-He was startled but certainly not spooked. While it’s the rut and anything can happen, I suspect he’ll be in the area for the next couple days unless other pressure pushes him out.
-I need to continue to shoot with my bow. Buck fever or not, 14 yards broadside is a shot I should make, often.
Ya learn and move on, doesn’t mean it that sting is leaving anytime soon.
Good luck everyone, hunt on!
