elpepe25

Sorry I’m no writer, and this is long but here goes: It all started in October, I had gotten a couple of game cam pictures of this fella but had already tagged out for 07 so I decided I wanted this guy for Jan. I wanted this deer or nothing. I would check my camera on a week by week basis and he'd would be on there every time like clock work, every other day or so, but he always came in at like 10pm or 2am. So by the time mid December came around I had acquired a lot of pics of this bad boy, like 50-75 or so. I showed a couple of friends the pics of him, and a few "other" guys and didn’t think anything about it. My friends kept it quiet, the few "other" guys didn’t. Random people I know were asking me about the deer. Needless to say I was not happy about the outbreak and the snowball effect. It seemed everybody in town knew about the deer. There is one group of hunters in particular that had heard of the buck and we refer to as the "Swarm." They don’t really hunt for deer but other hunters’ spots instead. A real bunch of scumbags, but there wasn’t anything I could do being public land and all. Then the deer quit showing up......at all. Then.......the December archery hunt/ and rifle hunts started and the rumor mill kept churning out good ones. "So and so went in there and hammered him." "He's dead." "I went in there and found bloody drag marks coming from your spot." All these rumors were really getting to me. Between the rumors and the lack of recent game came pics I was learning a brutal lesson "loose lips sink ships." Finally January showed up and I was back in the game. I hadn’t received or seen any pics of my buck dead or anything, but I honestly wondered if I was wasting my time sitting my spot, I wanted this deer or nothing. I sat 3-4 days a week, 12 hours a day staring out of my Double Bull Blind. Every Morning I could, I would walk the 2 miles in by flashlight, sit all day and hike out by flashlight. I went 8 days with-out even seeing a deer out of my blind. I saw more hunters than deer. I tried my best to dig deep, and I told myself even if I don’t kill this buck I’m going out wait the Swarm, and I wasn’t going to allow them to run me off. I was now sitting out of principle. I was turning myself into a wreck. Between lack of sleep and obsession, I was pretty depressed. January was now half over. I truly believe hunting 1 particular deer and accepting nothing else is the hardest hunting challenge I have ever had. Then on the 25th I went and checked my camera and my buck had came in on the 18th. He was still alive. My doubts and fears reversed themselves in a flurry of yells, whoops and fist pumps. Back in the game. This buck or nothing. I sat Saturday and Sunday that weekend with just small buck and does coming in. Then on the 28th I found myself sitting in the blind once again with time passing very slowly. Since I had been sitting a lot without seeing a lot I had been doing a lot of reading. Then at about 5 minutes till 5pm I was looking through the Cabela’s reloading catalogue and I heard something slurping water. I looked up and it was him, quartered away , 20 yards. Time slowed, I slowly set the catalogue down and reached for my bow. I kept one eye on him as I ducked behind the window and drew my bow. Some time in the process his 6th sense told him to look my way. Once I felt the roll over of the cam and had a rock solid anchor I leaned out and buried my pin on his last rib as to drill the shoulder on the other side. I don’t recall ever squeezing the trigger but soon my Lumenock hit home and he crashed off into the thicket. I waited the mandatory 30 minutes and retrieved my arrow. Great sign on the arrow and immediately at the sight of the hit. I just walked to the last place I saw him running and he was within 20 yards of that spot. The G5 Montec had once again done its job and I had a blood trail of only 40 yards. After a few photos I had a moment of silence to remember what went into this harvest, and to what this deer meant to me. Total I spent 132-140 hours in the blind, had hiked in 11 times to hunt putting on some 44 miles. This deer represented the best test I have received in the woods. He made me earn it. Patience, perseverance, determination, doubts, fears, hate, anger, jubilation, and joy were all felt on this hunt and to the extremes at times. This buck or nothing The night game cam photos are from november, the day game cam just before and after the shot, and finally the field photos He gross scores 107 1/8 inches P/Y and has double split brow tines. This make 2 P/Y bucks in 3 months <img src="http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" /> Thank you if you made it all the way through that. Robert Poor

+1 for HD either way. I like the Nikon field scope ED as well but if you got the money for swaro.....that is the way to go IMO

ive heard that if thats what your trying to do...sloped bases are the way to go

i dont think the 80 is worth it if your doing any hiking. The 80 mm is freaking huge, the 65 is more manageable. In my experience the 65 gives ample light for all acceptable conditions IMO

what a stud, great job this year

I really appreciate all the feedback from a lot of the great folk on here. You guys are the best and I love sharing with you all and seeing all the success of the many talented people on here. This is more than I coulda imagined and I really appreciate it, it means a lot. Thank you, Rob

ive had it work somewhat, in stand where nothing was coming after like 20 mins we hit the howls and we'd have dog pop up and hang up like 200 yard out. it seems that when we howl them they hang up at 200 yards, still dead but not in our laps, but ive seen it work and use it all the time

way to go, if money isnt a problem the fox pro is the ticket IMO.

thanks guys, heres another photo from the hunt

i took this photo on day 6 of my jan. endurance hunt

I wouldnt mind seein some close ups of those brow tines. hard to make them out in the pictures Here ya'll go

i like the randy anderson/calling all coyote videos as well as the Verminators vids.

i love my Johnny Stewart Preymaster $100, they have a new wireless Preymaster also for $200 and holds 3 sound cards instead of 1

i spend random hours in the woods and if i caught some 1 in my blind/stand/ messin w/ my cams they'd prob get beaten to a pulp. i respect others rights to do the same to me if i mess with their stuff

Nooooo More hand outs

thats thing is freakin sweet

rickshaw type wheel barrel, then you can use it at home

what do you want for just the scope?

i saw it a book store

saw you on the cover brotha last night

thanks for the heads up

wow another prime example of someone willing to give thiers/others right away. if they decided to take away dec. rifle tags a lot of people would scream bloody murder. so jab the archers thats ok i guess. all i can say is wow.

congrats on your 2nd pig? good job stud