Remember that 15' stand?
 

Well, today was the last day of archery season in PA. I shot this buck yesterday as I took a little time of work and went in to get him this morning. I got it all on film but need to buy a cleaning tape since my camcorder is displaying "needs cleaning". I'm pretty sure I got some good footage and a kill in film so we'll see.

Quite honestly this is the only thing I've seen this season worth shooting. Nothing like waiting until the last moment, huh? Anyhow this morning while going after him I heard a snort weeze and a very wide (over 20") buck ran a doe right by me with another smaller 8 point in tow. 5 Minutes later came a 6 point and another 8 point 5 mins after that. I guess their's only one doe left in the area and every buck is running her!!....well I take that back. My wife calls me as I'm draggin thsi boy out and says there's a good buck running all around our yard and won't leave. She managed to snap a couple pictures, which I'll also share. When I got home He was still there running a doe all through my property.

Oh yeah, I shot this buck from that stand I hung "lower" than normal for me. A 18-20 yard shot was all it took and my season was over, only1 day to spare! I"m happy I didn't have to sit out in the rain all day today.

If I got some good video, I'll post it a bit later. I'm whooped and tired from the long drag out. Seems all my friends and family were busy today so it was all 150 pounds of me towing this ol boy out of the woods. Let me tell you, they sure don't drag easy without snow. It took me 30 mins to get him lifted in the back of my jeep! By the way, this was shot on public land, the only left in the area. He's got a 17" spread and 9 scorable points, with a knarly one coming out of the base.

here's a picture my wife took in my back yard

a zoomed out from the picture above. I feel kind of lucky as my buck is an above average for my neck of the woods.

nice job !
 

congrats :D

Nice job.
Dan
:D

Good job Petey. That pic your wife took looks pretty familiar to me. LOL I think we were breaking some clays down that way.

So, why are you hunting public land when you have these bucks running around your house? Ask your wife to set out a little feeding plot in the back yard and you might be in business next year. God, I wish I could hunt in my backyard, or even fire a gun in my backyard.

Thanks guys! He's all skinned out and I'll probably be breaking out the grinder today. I think all this ol boy is going to be good for is burger and jerky!

Fabs,

Yup, that's the spot we shot clays from and he's about 40 yards from my sandbox/backstop on my shooting range. I have plenty of bucks and deer hanging out on my property, but I kind of like getting out and away from the house if you know what I mean? Also, if you can't tell, just beyond that buck and the trees, I have 3 acres of corn planted with most still standing. This was left for just the deer. There wasn't too much corn around and what was this year has been harvested...the deer seem to be staying on my little plot quite a bit.

Yep, 3 acres of corn is a good idea, and I completely understand about wanting to get away from the house.

Nice Buck Petey!
 

Great job! I blew a great opportunity over the weekend myself. I'm a big believer in staying aggressive as I know from experience that you may only have a 2-3 second window during the rut to make a killing shot on a big boy. I'll typically hold my bow in my brace arm almost all day.

Well, after hunting on stand for a few hours Friday morning in a brisk, cold chill, I hung my bow up for a few seconds to rotate my wrist a few moments and reach down to my hanging backpack and retrieve a swig of water from my water bottle. When I look up, there's a 150 class, high tined 8 pointer standing broadside at 25 yards from my stand. Those two critical seconds that I just talked about???:D Yeah, those went "Poof!!!" as my mind was in processing mind. Oh, my hands did reach up instinctively for my bow and I managed to get my release hooked unto my loop but not before this deer trots off to another shot angle further off to my left. I draw and let an arrow fly. To my horror, I see my arrow descend and then make a quick uphill tick and proceed safely over this buck's back. He spins around and then hops off, stops to look around and then meander off. No amount of grunting or bleating would bring this ol boy back again. When I went down to retrieve my arrow, I saw the branch that my arrow hit.

This wasn't a normal shooting lane that I use but learned my lesson well. As bad as I felt that I had missed my shot, I didi take solace that I didn't hit him in a bad spot. Saw a few smaller bucks on Saturday morning but nothing that presented a good shot angle. Will bring out the heavy firepower during this weekends shotgun opener.

Glad to see that you connected on a nice buck Petey!

Nice deer! It must have been nice to avoid all the nasty weather too. (I wouldn't know, lol). Even better taking him on public land. Good job!

gd

Waidmannsheil Petey, and I'll second that notion about hunting, if you wanted to, from your backyard, nice Pics, Dom.

Good on ya Petey. Your backyard is not that much different from mine. I got lots of deer back there, good ones too, turkeys, coyotes, rabbits, foxes, quail, ect.... Pretty cool little place for as many houses are nearby. And I got a 90yd range, cant quite get 100.

Anyway, other than rabbits, we dont hunt back there. Those animals are for me lookin at not for eatin. :D

However, I did piss my neighbors off last May. I had a hour and a half converstation with a male coyote that was part of a pair raising a litter back there. He was chewing out the neighbor dog and I grabbed my howler and we had quite the session with yip howls, challenge barks, ect... Had him within 30 yds of the house and I was just standing there next to the house. The problem was our conversation was at 1am. :D Its cool having animals close like that to watch and mess with.

Thanks guys. He's pretty much history now...I have him all cut and ground up, plus jerky merinating as we speak! One final picture before he went into my freezer.

What a toad! His nose was on the floor, almost not enough clearance for my gambrel. As you can see he was a fighter also.