Hey Fellas,
I'm bored and it's a slow time of year around this site. Let's get some of those all time greatest hits hunting stories posted up here. You've got to give a little to get a little. Here is a short one of my own:
This past year I lost a very close family member and my hunting mentor in the summer. We had multiple trips planned last fall before his passing and I had to figure a lot out on my own. I ended up taking his old bow and swapping out the cams so I could hunt with it in this place. I took that bow all over the elk woods of New Mexico, and up and down our hills in Tennessee the whole season. One morning, on my way to the property I hunted together with him often, I kinda zoned out and zoomed right past the exit. I have been out there literally hundreds of times at all times of the day and night and not once have I missed it. In fact, I had no clue what had even happened until several miles had passed. Annoyed at myself for running late, I turned around at the next exit and headed back in the right direction. Once I got to the farm, the sun was already cracking the horizon and I knew that my plan to sneak in and set up in the dark in this bedding area was ruined. Having been just chasing elk on the ground a few weeks before, and getting more interested in ground hunting, I figured screw it, I will just hunt my way to my spot.
At this point in the season I had spent a significant amount of time in the woods and still hadn't let an arrow loose out of my buddy's bow. So here I am, creeping down this road, bow in hand when all of a sudden a deer pops up out of a bed right beside me. It bounded a few steps into thick brush and turned to face me. As we locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity, it became clear to me that antlers were gleaming darkly behind the young beech limbs just above its head. The wind was crossing, and he just wasn't sure what I was. As I stared intently and more light slowly poured into the forest, I realized that I knew this buck! We had been face to face once before around the season opener when I crawled in on him and his buddy on the ground. On top of that, I had many photos of him. This deer, I knew, was the main rival for my #1 buck on this property who I have been chasing for years. During the pre-season, I had even glassed them multiple times leading their respective bachelor groups towards each other like two rival gangs, and posturing in the fading light.
As the seconds and then minutes passed, he finally decided he should circle down-wind and smell what this strange new object was. He began to cut to my left, passing behind brush and trees, when he passed the thickest patch, I quickly knocked an arrow and got my bow half raised. He was starting to hit my wind as he worked around me and I could tell alarm bells were going off. Sure enough, just as I slowly ranged him and dropped the rangefinder at my side, he turned to face me and stomped his hoof in indignation. At this point, he was standing in a perfect window in the understory and I had a fresh range on his location. Just as it looked like he was going to turn and run, I raised my mentor's bow, found my new anchor. settled the pin, and heard a POP!!!! At first I was worried something went wrong with the bow, but I quickly realized that was the sound of the arrow center punching his chest. I immediately heard crashing going off through the woods.
At this point, I was feeling all of the emotions one feels when you hunt hard for weeks and finally connect the dots. On top of that, was was missing my friend and wondering if he was watching or helped at all. At that very moment, I felt my pocket vibrating and looked down to see Dan, my mentor's nephew, was calling. Dan is the other guy who got to learn and hunt with him growing up. As soon as I swiped across the screen to pick-up the call, I heard his voice whisper-yell: "DUDE I JUST KILLED A GIANT!!!" I replied: "well....I think I may have too!!" After some back and forth we soon realized that we had both launched an arrow at almost the exact same instant, having both hunted hard for over a month prior to this moment. He was hunting a lease in Illinois and ended up shooting the biggest deer of his life (~160"). After waiting a while, I took up the track and found my buck piled up 30 yards from where he was last standing. After sharing the good news, I got to work getting him out of the woods. I noticed that I had shot him clean through the top of his heart. It wasn't until days later that I found out Dan had also shot his buck through the heart in the same spot. So over the course of a full month of hunting multiple states, the two guys who were mentored by our late-friend both sent an arrow through the top of a buck's heart within literal seconds of one another. This event that only could have happened because I inexplicably missed my exit. I will add that it was the hottest day of the month and got up over 80 degrees a few hours after I killed him. Many other details had to conspire to make this crazy coincidence come together.
Epilogue:
Exactly 7 days later (within an hour or two) I was stalking though another place we both loved to be together and a buck came in, made a rub 20 yards from me, responded to my buddy's old grunt call, and I shot that deer through the heart as well! It was an amazing couple of hunts that made me feel not so alone in the timber this year. I think about him constantly and want to call him and give my report every time I am out in the woods. Thanks for reading!
Pics:
Dan's Deer
My buck from that day:
The buck I shot one week later
I'm bored and it's a slow time of year around this site. Let's get some of those all time greatest hits hunting stories posted up here. You've got to give a little to get a little. Here is a short one of my own:
This past year I lost a very close family member and my hunting mentor in the summer. We had multiple trips planned last fall before his passing and I had to figure a lot out on my own. I ended up taking his old bow and swapping out the cams so I could hunt with it in this place. I took that bow all over the elk woods of New Mexico, and up and down our hills in Tennessee the whole season. One morning, on my way to the property I hunted together with him often, I kinda zoned out and zoomed right past the exit. I have been out there literally hundreds of times at all times of the day and night and not once have I missed it. In fact, I had no clue what had even happened until several miles had passed. Annoyed at myself for running late, I turned around at the next exit and headed back in the right direction. Once I got to the farm, the sun was already cracking the horizon and I knew that my plan to sneak in and set up in the dark in this bedding area was ruined. Having been just chasing elk on the ground a few weeks before, and getting more interested in ground hunting, I figured screw it, I will just hunt my way to my spot.
At this point in the season I had spent a significant amount of time in the woods and still hadn't let an arrow loose out of my buddy's bow. So here I am, creeping down this road, bow in hand when all of a sudden a deer pops up out of a bed right beside me. It bounded a few steps into thick brush and turned to face me. As we locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity, it became clear to me that antlers were gleaming darkly behind the young beech limbs just above its head. The wind was crossing, and he just wasn't sure what I was. As I stared intently and more light slowly poured into the forest, I realized that I knew this buck! We had been face to face once before around the season opener when I crawled in on him and his buddy on the ground. On top of that, I had many photos of him. This deer, I knew, was the main rival for my #1 buck on this property who I have been chasing for years. During the pre-season, I had even glassed them multiple times leading their respective bachelor groups towards each other like two rival gangs, and posturing in the fading light.
As the seconds and then minutes passed, he finally decided he should circle down-wind and smell what this strange new object was. He began to cut to my left, passing behind brush and trees, when he passed the thickest patch, I quickly knocked an arrow and got my bow half raised. He was starting to hit my wind as he worked around me and I could tell alarm bells were going off. Sure enough, just as I slowly ranged him and dropped the rangefinder at my side, he turned to face me and stomped his hoof in indignation. At this point, he was standing in a perfect window in the understory and I had a fresh range on his location. Just as it looked like he was going to turn and run, I raised my mentor's bow, found my new anchor. settled the pin, and heard a POP!!!! At first I was worried something went wrong with the bow, but I quickly realized that was the sound of the arrow center punching his chest. I immediately heard crashing going off through the woods.
At this point, I was feeling all of the emotions one feels when you hunt hard for weeks and finally connect the dots. On top of that, was was missing my friend and wondering if he was watching or helped at all. At that very moment, I felt my pocket vibrating and looked down to see Dan, my mentor's nephew, was calling. Dan is the other guy who got to learn and hunt with him growing up. As soon as I swiped across the screen to pick-up the call, I heard his voice whisper-yell: "DUDE I JUST KILLED A GIANT!!!" I replied: "well....I think I may have too!!" After some back and forth we soon realized that we had both launched an arrow at almost the exact same instant, having both hunted hard for over a month prior to this moment. He was hunting a lease in Illinois and ended up shooting the biggest deer of his life (~160"). After waiting a while, I took up the track and found my buck piled up 30 yards from where he was last standing. After sharing the good news, I got to work getting him out of the woods. I noticed that I had shot him clean through the top of his heart. It wasn't until days later that I found out Dan had also shot his buck through the heart in the same spot. So over the course of a full month of hunting multiple states, the two guys who were mentored by our late-friend both sent an arrow through the top of a buck's heart within literal seconds of one another. This event that only could have happened because I inexplicably missed my exit. I will add that it was the hottest day of the month and got up over 80 degrees a few hours after I killed him. Many other details had to conspire to make this crazy coincidence come together.
Epilogue:
Exactly 7 days later (within an hour or two) I was stalking though another place we both loved to be together and a buck came in, made a rub 20 yards from me, responded to my buddy's old grunt call, and I shot that deer through the heart as well! It was an amazing couple of hunts that made me feel not so alone in the timber this year. I think about him constantly and want to call him and give my report every time I am out in the woods. Thanks for reading!
Pics:
Dan's Deer
My buck from that day:
The buck I shot one week later
