Posted By: tdecker22
The greatest buck of my life.... - 11/06/14 05:29 PM
I have been hunting northern Missouri for about 6 years now and have fell in love with it up there. Last year I found some property in North Eastern Missouri close to the Iowa line that I wanted to start hunting. I got in with the land owner and was got to shoot a nice buck last year with my rifle. Well all summer long his son has been sending me trail camera pics of the deer they have there and this has been a great year for big deer. I never would have thought that one of the biggest deer they have on camera I would have a chance to shoot much less with my bow. Here we go...
Pitchfork predator (Marc) and myself hunted last Thursday morning and afternoon and we were both able to see some nice bucks and were well within bow range, but not shooters. Friday morning we woke up to a cold front that had blew in during the night and the wind was blowing about 35 straight out of the north. The temp was 33 degree when I got out of my truck at 6am and was continuing to drop. No way was I not going to hunt but this to me just wasnt ideal conditions. I had seen 2 doe about 30 minutes after daylight and that was all. At 7:55 I turned and looked over my back left shoulder to see this deer walking straight to my shooting lane on my left and he would walk out at around 18 yards. At this time the deer was only at 30-35 yards away. As I grabbed my bow and kind of scooted to the left to position myself correctly I knocked my rattle bag off of the platform on the ladder stand. It hit the brace leg and then clanged again when it hit the ground. I guess I took my eyes off of the deer for a moment and then I looked back to where he was and he had disappeared. There was alot of think brush behind me but I still couldnt beleive how this buck could just disappear. I waited for around 5 minutes and I got by binos out and started going thru the brush looking for him. I finally spotted him and he was now walking behind my tree. I stood up and had to get my bow to the other side of the tree. As he walked passed the tree and then thru a ditch I pulled the Mathews back and found a good spot to shoot him. He was walking very slowly so I didnt even stop him and he got to my mark and I let on fly. The deer was 1/4 away and the shot looked good. He was 15 yards. I saw him run out in a corn patch for about 75 yards and then he stopped and i could see blood falling out of him. He then took of walking and walked for about 75 yards and stopped again. Next when he took of walking again that was the last i saw of him. Pitchfork is the only one I told about it at our camp. He went with me to recover him. We let the deer lay for 5.5 hours until we went looking for him. Tracking job was easy an I couldnt belive the what we came up on. We scored him at 182 1/4' with 44" of mass. One base was 7" the other 9". These pictures do him no justice. I hope you enjoy. This beats the biggest deer i have on the wall by 45". Also this is a free range hunt with no fences. Not that this matters to all but I know it will be asked. Even got my pic with Terry Drury. 16 scoreable points.
Pitchfork predator (Marc) and myself hunted last Thursday morning and afternoon and we were both able to see some nice bucks and were well within bow range, but not shooters. Friday morning we woke up to a cold front that had blew in during the night and the wind was blowing about 35 straight out of the north. The temp was 33 degree when I got out of my truck at 6am and was continuing to drop. No way was I not going to hunt but this to me just wasnt ideal conditions. I had seen 2 doe about 30 minutes after daylight and that was all. At 7:55 I turned and looked over my back left shoulder to see this deer walking straight to my shooting lane on my left and he would walk out at around 18 yards. At this time the deer was only at 30-35 yards away. As I grabbed my bow and kind of scooted to the left to position myself correctly I knocked my rattle bag off of the platform on the ladder stand. It hit the brace leg and then clanged again when it hit the ground. I guess I took my eyes off of the deer for a moment and then I looked back to where he was and he had disappeared. There was alot of think brush behind me but I still couldnt beleive how this buck could just disappear. I waited for around 5 minutes and I got by binos out and started going thru the brush looking for him. I finally spotted him and he was now walking behind my tree. I stood up and had to get my bow to the other side of the tree. As he walked passed the tree and then thru a ditch I pulled the Mathews back and found a good spot to shoot him. He was walking very slowly so I didnt even stop him and he got to my mark and I let on fly. The deer was 1/4 away and the shot looked good. He was 15 yards. I saw him run out in a corn patch for about 75 yards and then he stopped and i could see blood falling out of him. He then took of walking and walked for about 75 yards and stopped again. Next when he took of walking again that was the last i saw of him. Pitchfork is the only one I told about it at our camp. He went with me to recover him. We let the deer lay for 5.5 hours until we went looking for him. Tracking job was easy an I couldnt belive the what we came up on. We scored him at 182 1/4' with 44" of mass. One base was 7" the other 9". These pictures do him no justice. I hope you enjoy. This beats the biggest deer i have on the wall by 45". Also this is a free range hunt with no fences. Not that this matters to all but I know it will be asked. Even got my pic with Terry Drury. 16 scoreable points.
