Coach

A good book is great to pass the time, but as long as there is ANYTHING moving around, including squirrels, jackrabbits, birds or whatever I'm usually OK. It's the long treestand hours that kill me. Afraid to move at all, nothing to watch - trying to keep from falling asleep. It can be brutal. It's amazing how watching a squirrel go about his business can pass the time. I've sat for hours watching a pine squirrel prep his den only to have a hawk sit on a branch arm's distance away watching his next dinner, and waiting for the right time to swoop in. That really makes the day fly. Nothing against the blackberries, games or texting - but for me the time in the field is a great chance to get away from that. Maybe it's because with my job I'm always "connected" - but I'd rather watch a lizard than play with electronic gizmos while I'm hunting. To each their own, I suppose.

Hey guys, I've already posted a pic of this buck on a different topic as a follow-up to an opening day "sob story", but I thought he deserved his own thread. The other thread ("Totally Bummed") kind of started out on a negative note, and the way events unfolded, I went from "Totally Bummed" to "Totally Jacked". Time for "The Rest of the Story". I really had no intention of hunting the early archery season this year due to other upcoming hunts and obligations with my 3 sons' football teams. I just didn't have a ton of time to scout. My buddy, Rocke actually got me all exited a few weeks before the opener. Our "first choice" spot had the attention of another hunter, who we eventually met and he turned out to be a very stand-up guy (you know who you are! ) so we backed out and turned our attention to a newer location we had been watching for a while. Many of you know this part of the story already (see Totally Bummed) above - but long story short, when I finally went to set up on that location, another hunter had set up there as well. So, my opening weekend plans were kind of shot - both my "plan A" and "plan B" locations had other hunters who had been a little more proactive, and willing to risk setting up early. I did NOT want to set up my Double Bull blind and leave it for a week or two for fear it would get stolen. I had already taken Thursday and Friday of opening weekend off from work, but with my plans in shambles I ended up at work Friday, having cancelled my time-off wondering what I was missing out on. To cut to the chase, the hunter sitting our "plan A" location killed a HUGE beautiful buck, and the hunter on the "plan B" location also killed a very nice buck - both on opening day. I couldn't take it any more! I had to get out. There was a spot that Rocke and I and another friend, Bryan, had been watching for a while, and we had cameras up, and had known other guys who had hunted it in other archery seasons. None of our cameras had any good bucks, and none of the guys we knew who had hunted it in the past had seen any mature bucks there, but we just knew that there had to be some good ones in there. It just had too many "ideal" characteristics not to have some good bucks. So "plan C" it was. After getting up at 2:30 am, and driving a couple hours, I arrived early and set up my blind before first light. At around 8:10 the first buck approached. Having never taken a deer with a bow, maybe I shouldn't have been so picky - but I had a specific goal in mind. Either I get a mature 3x3 or nothing. This buck was a smallish small 3x2 but he gave me plenty of opportunity. I held off. Nothing else came in until around 11:40 when I noticed 2 does meanerding in the distance. One took a good hard look at the blind and they disappeared. About 20 minutes later, they showed back up and started to approach. That's when I realized one was a "button buck". After much hesitation, he too came within 16 yards and presented an easy broadside shot. Nothing doing - if I came home with a buck that had milk drippring from his chin, my wife would have put my head on the wall. The next couple of hours passed with no action, and I was starting to wonder if I was being too picky. I had to remind myself that I wasn't just looking to fill my tag - I wanted something special. Around 2:30 another pair of bucks walked in, but one was an "11 pointer" and the other was a "12 pointer" - a 1x1 and a 1x2 - more dinks. But my spirits were high. As long as they kept coming in, I knew the odds of a decent buck were in my favor, and after 9 hours of sitting and watching small game and a few dinks come and go, I was feeling optomistic. About 20 minutes later, another 3x2 approached. My mind was racing and this was actually the biggest buck I had seen all day, but still very small. I had to fall back on my mantra - a mature 3x3 or nothing. Man, that buck acted like he wanted to be shot - he posed in every possible angle, but still I waited. Around 3:15 PM I thought the same buck was coming back in but it wasn't him - it was a different 2x3 (inside the ears) with a noticably bigger buddy - an ear-wide 3x2. Dilemma time - this was the closest thing I had seen yet to my "goal" deer, but was still a little small. I thought to myself, if they come in, I'm gonna take the bigger one. But they got pretty close, and hung up - right about where the little button buck had held up before. The angle wasn't great the way I was positioned. I knew I had only a 30 yd shot but still I wasn't quite sure this was the buck I had been holding out for. About the time I considered drawing back, they both left feeling something wasn't quite right. I learned a good lesson from those two bucks - they were coming in now, but the smarter bucks were holding up in a certain spot, and probably wouldn't come the rest of the way in. I repositioned my seat and all my stuff in the blind and made sure I had a good clean shot at the "hang-up" point. It was only 25 yards away, and I just had a feeling that the next buck would hit that same spot and hesitate, but would likely not get any closer. Sure enough, just minutes later, I look out in the distance and see a buck. This time, it's a no-brainer. He's wide, and definately a mature 3x3. He came right in the tracks of the last 2 bucks so I knew exactly what he was going to do. Just a quick prayer that I wouldn't do anything dumb and I got ready to draw. He did EXACTLY what the previous bucks had done. He walked straight to the "hang up" point and surveyed the area. It was too late, I was already at full draw and in a comfortable position. I framed the back of his shoulder between my 20 and 30 yd pins, exhaled and released. I was shooting through mesh, so I didn't see the impact, but I sure heard it. A hollow "WHACK" and I knew I had hit home. Having lost a deer in the past, my next concern was to watch exactly what he did next. Instead of blowing out of there, he trotted back in the direction he had come, turned around, staggered and fell. WHOOOOHOOOOO! I was so incredibly jacked up at that point - I was scared to death to go look at him for fear he'd jump up and run off, so I forced myself to sit tight for at least 15 minutes. Ok, I only made it 10. Anyway, I named him the "Karma Buck" because of all of the positive support from fellow CWT members about backing out of the other areas for ethical reasons on opening day and eating humble pie while good bucks were being taken on spots I knew would produce. You guys reassured me that backing out was the right thing to do, and I'd get my chance. Well, YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT. Patience, preseverence and ethics DO pay off. A big thanks to Rocke and Bryan who found and nurtured this spot. Another thanks to the guys (remaining nameless to protect the innocent) who had also done their homework and sat the "plan A" and "plan B" spots on opening morning. Congrats to both on fine achery coues deer kills. Niether of them were jerks at about setting up early and were open to sharing time on coveted spots. And finally a HUGE THANK YOU to the CWT family that gave support and best wishes that made sitting for 10 hours waiting for this opportunity feel more like a blessing than a "plan C" or fallback. You guys all provided the stamina that kept me going and sticking to my indended goal of waiting for a beautiful, mature first archery buck! Thank you all very much for your support.

What an amazing buck! Congrats man - he is absolutely awesome!!! Great write up and pictures too!

Congrats to Dean! Nice buck.

Great Job! What a beautiful buck!!! Congrats!

Hey Mike - it was nice meeting you guys. No - you were not sitting the same water. I hope you get the bear you're after.

Your time is comin' bro! Keep at it, and keep us informed!

Just an FYI, I got pics. While it was a really nice buck the guy took, it was NOT the same buck I had on camera. So for you hungry bowhunters, AFAIK, he's still on the hoof!

If it was this one, it is mine. I'm taking collections, by the way... Seriously, good job trying to find the owner. That's a "stand-up" thing to do.

Funny you should ask. I'm a broadhead FANATIC. I have all kinds of heads that I practice with, but believe it or not, the Muzzy 100Grain 3 blade (under $ 18 for 3 at WalMart) shoot the most consistently for me. That's what I used on this hunt and I was blown away at how fast he fell. I don't know if you've seen the 14.5 second Muzzy kill video on the Bowsite.com, but this was pretty much exactly the same deal. He didn't trot for more than a few seconds before he fell dead in his tracks. I LOVE Slick Tricks and Magnus Stingers, but my practice groups didn't lie. Stacked up against the much pricier "premium" broadheads in my collection, the standard old Muzzy 100 grain BH's flew the most consistent, and their performance was completely unreal. Here's the entry hole... And the exit... The exit looks low, but his body is twisted in that picture - look at his hip. It actually exited at the same height and slightly back from the entry hole. The arrow went another 40 yards and stuck in a tree like it had shot through paper. As much as I love my G5 Montec Carbon Steel heads at $40 per pack or Slick Tricks or G5 Strikers or Magnus Stingers - which ALL group together and ALL, when razor sharp, will do their job, when it came time for a critical shot, I was all about the "old standby" Muzzy 100 grain 3 blade heads just based on how consistently they grouped out of my setup. The pictures - plus how this buck fell in his tracks and within sight - really tell the story. It's all about shot placement, and spending extra $$ on broadheads isn't always best. Try out several heads at short and long distance - a great broadhead with poor placement is worse than a decent broadhead with perfect placement. And not all heads will shoot the same out of all setups.

What a great video that was!!! Thanks for sharing. You guys are in for a great hunt! I couldn't believe the forage in there - looked like a food plot! I can't wait to see the hard-horned version of that big one that ran in behind those two smaller feeding bucks!

LOL - this has to be the funniest thread I've seen on here in a looooong time!

Wow for sure!!! That thing is huge! And 3 spot-and-stalk coues...somebody's been doing their homework! Great job!

Wow - that is a great buck! Congratulations!!!

Dang!!! Nice pictures, Scott.

Actually, no. He was in a whole different area than the spot I was looking at opening day.

For starters, I want to thank everyone for your support on this thread! And you guys were right - I ended up switching my locations and strategy a little bit and it paid off! I got my first ever archery deer, and I couldn't be happier with him! Thanks again, Jason

Great looking buck! I love that double drop-tine buck too!

AZOnecam is pretty vanilla - started posting waaaaaay back when I bought my first Mathews SoloCam bow, and duh, I'm from AZ. BTW, Now I shoot Bowtech

Nice buck! I was gonna say "I know but I ain't tellin", then you let the cat out of the bag! Thanks for posting the pix, Cory.

Awesome Job!!! What a great first buck!

Wow - those are huge! You sure you're not a few feet back? Seriously, congrats on some great bruins.

Nicely done! Congrats on a beautiful buck!

Congrats Clay!!! A very nice buck for sure!

I've found that by handling arrows from the NOT razor-sharp end helps avoid injury - not judging - just passing along some helpful advice for the future...