A Prince of the Forest, Part 3

Where had he gone?  How could he?  Did I just miss somehow and get a flesh wound?  Nothing made sense.  A few hours before, I was so happy to get Prince.  Now, after two hours of searching and nothing much to show for it, the guys; Justin, Caleb, and I headed home.  I would return in the morning and look some.

I planned to get up fairly early Thursday because I had somewhere to be later in the morning, so getting an early start was imperative.  I had planned to wake up a bit before 7, but restlessness woke me an hour before my alarm, I couldn't go back to sleep.  It was just impossible.

I went out that morning, expecting to find him in a particular area where we had heard crashing the night before.  Unfortunately, though I found blood, I didn't find him.  The trail stopped, and I didn't know where to search.  After an hour and a half, I headed out of the woods.  That afternoon, the guys dad, Mark, came out to help me look some more, still nothing.  There was one last area to look at before I called it quits, the woods across the field from where I shot him.  However, it was going to be Saturday afternoon before I got the chance.  Who knows what could have happened to him by then?  Can I even find him?  The answer from the search that afternoon was no.  I couldn't find him.

Now is when questions and replays of the encounter start going through your mind.  Was my shooting technique bad?  Was I not holding steady on the shoulder?  I told myself: "I know I got buck fever, but I've dropped deer before, I'm not a bad shot."  Did coyotes get him?  And this sounds weird, but is he still alive?  Who knows if he's still alive? The camera will have to tell me. 

Heavy hearted, I grabbed the SD card from my funnel camera and headed back home.  As I pulled out of my grandparents driveway and pulled into mine (we live next door), my grandpa's tractor came out from behind me and headed towards my cousins cow pasture.  Hmm, he doesn't head that way often, whatever.  I got home and started checking photos.  Nothing.  Is this really how it was going to end?  A huge deer just, wasted?  Sure, the meats bad by now, but having some token that said "you shot this deer" would be nice.  But he had just vanished.

Then mom gets a phone call, it's from Grandpa.  He had gone to help with something in the cow pasture, and my cousins son, who was with him, had spotted him while in the tractor.  This deer had ran well over 300 yards from where I shot him. 

Finally, the search was over.  I could see him up close, look at his size, hold his antlers.  All the questions, while still largely unanswered, didn't matter anymore.  All I wanted to do was savor the moment.  We got his antlers off, thanks to my cousin.  Could I have mounted him?  Yes, but my last buck mount was my Christmas present last year.  Kinda wanted something different this year, not to mention limited wall space, haha!  But, I think an antler mount might be in order. 

This buck give me a lot of twists and turns, highs and lows, but in the end, it was worth it.

A Prince of the Forest, Part 2

Recently, I've had a father and his two sons start hunting on the property along with me, they had heard about Prince and they agreed not to shoot him because I had been watching him. 

The evening of November 15th was calm.  Very little wind, maybe a slight breeze.  The two sons had come out that night to hunt and after coming up with a game plan for hunting spots and exit times, we started out towards our spots.  I went to a blind at the edge of a field, they went to a stand around 150 yards from my spot (give or take distance).

In my blind, I prayed we would have a successful hunt, that the guys could get a deer, and that I could get Prince, well any good deer really, but especially him.  After a while, about the time the deer start moving around this area, I hear movement.  At first I thought it was a squirrel, given how rapid the footsteps seemed to crunch the fall leaves.  But, it sounded, bigger.  I looked to my right, and I see a deer walking just inside the woods bordering the field.  Ugh, it's just a doe.  She walks parallel to the field through the woods and into the clearcut and disappears.  Guess I just have to sit and wait some more.

At this point, I was hoping to have seen more deer enter the field, but it was 5:20 pm and light was about to start fading fast.  I sent a text to the guys and said I would get out of my blind at 5:30 if nothing showed up in the field.  Put down my phone, and hear crunch, crunch, crunch.  It's coming from behind me now, the one place I can't see while in my blind.  I knew it was a deer, no mistaking that.  It had come down a path behind my blind that deer have come down in the past, an old logging road through the clearcut leading to the top of a hill.  I leaned over to see through the window on my left.  I saw a big deer, with antlers shooting skyward.  It was Prince.  A stroke of luck to see a buck come out so early when all I had were night pictures and the fact that there were no does in the field to "attract him".  My guess is he was hungry.  Quickly, I put on my ear muffs and cocked the hammer on my Winchester and aimed.  He was now about 45 yards away, and walking down the edge of the field.  The gun was pulled up, I made a "MEH" sound, at he stopped broadside.  Perfect.  Crosshairs landed on his shoulder, the hammer came down, BAM!  He hunched his shoulders and ran up into the woods.  Thank you Lord, I got him!

The easy part was over.  The guys came and helped me blood trail, but we only found little splotches of blood on the ground.  Sometimes we'd lose the trail, but we'd pick it back up again.  In the end, after two hours of searching, we couldn't find him.  Where was this buck?  How could he run this far?  Didn't I get him with a heart shot?  Just, how?!? 

A Prince of the Forest, Part 1

There are bucks that have pep and are fun to watch, but are too small to shoot.  There are good bucks that you see, but not shoot.  There are bucks that love a certain area, a certain time of day, have unique antlers, all sorts of things can set a buck apart.  This buck, he liked a certain time of day and had unique antlers.  A nice bodied 8 point with a curved main beam, long G2s and 3s, and loved the night.  His name is Prince, named after Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest.  I thought it fit, whether or not it was an original name.  Here are some pics of him:

Sorry for the blurry pic!

Pic from my new Wildgame Innovations Mirage 14

I had a problem.  As you can see, all these pics were taken at night, and not just that, but well before (or after) shooting light.  The earliest he ever came out is 6:50 pm, just 20 minutes after I had left my stand that evening.  The latest in the morning?  5:55 am, too early to shoot.  He wasn't coming out when and where I want him to.  So I had to figure out where he was in the daytime, which can be a challenge if you don't exactly know where to start.  So, I set another camera out in the woods to hopefully catch him in the day time, meanwhile, my other camera kept getting pics of him at night.  

With the whitetail rut coming up I knew and heard the best time to get him would be the next three weeks or so (about mid to late November).  I knew a doe group was in the area, not to mention all the other does that liked to hang out by themselves, so I would have plenty of chances to see rut action.  All I could do at this point was be where does were and patiently wait for him to show.  

SCO Update with Pictures!

It's November y'all!  Time for the whitetail rut to start, not to mention all the other small game seasons kicking in!  I thought I'd give you guys an update on what I've been up to recently.

My deer hunting is business as usual.  I haven't gotten anything yet, but believe me I will post when I do!  The last 3 times I've been out in the stand, I've seen 13 deer and haven't gotten a shot.  I take that back, I could have shot.  However the deer was much to small, must have been a yearling at most.

Secondly, I bought a Wildgame Innovations Mirage 14 game camera.  14 MP, shoots video, adjustable light exposure and picture/video quality, stylish little camera.  I have it out in the woods at the moment so I'll try to do a product review once I see what the camera can do.

And, here are a couple pictures!

This group regularly visits the area

And a squirrel for you

Until next time!