Mississippi 2007 8 point buck

I ended my 2007 season with this Mississippi 8 point. I never get tired of deer hunting and the peace and excitement it brings me. There aren't many things sweeter than capitalizing on a good deer on the homefront. And these deer aren't easy to harvest. I took this buck at the edge of a cutover and rye grass food plot at 8:30AM in the MS rut. After watching him for a minute or so and trying to get a good rest, I let the "Kiss of Death" speak its peace. The buck bolted and ran back into the cutover where he piled up not 25 yds away. I was very excited to have taken this deer and thank my brother, dad, brother-in-law and niece for helping with the recovery. It's always a family affair. When we returned my boy Carter could barely wait........ I think he is coming along just perfect!

"Creek Channel" Nebraska 8 point, 2007

On Thursday, October 20th, I was hit with some disappointing news. A new piece of private property was off limits and I was back at square one - Public Hunting. I would be hunting only on Saturday and would be able to do an hour of scouting Friday night to hang a stand, get out of the woods and get in on Saturday morning. I found myself at work on Friday viewing arial maps and topos in hopes of finding a honey-hole on public land. What I found was perfect- a creek channel seperating the public land. It was more-or-less an island. Friday after work I took my blow up raft, paddled across, hiked in and found some good sign. I hung a stand and got out as soon as possible.

Saturday morning I was perched between two pieces of water with timber in front of me and behind. I was surrounded by scrapes I found the night before and a small 4x4 ft water hole. It was a beautiful clear brisk October morning. At 7:00 AM I had a nice mature doe come 10 yards from me but no bucks were in pursuit. She came from in front and wandered behind me. I hoped she would get picked up and bring a buck by or perhaps a buck would come later following her trail. At 7:50 I heard a stick pop from behind and slightly turned to see this brute walking parallel to me. He was not in a hurry. Not brousing, but just casually walking. I was surprised to see a buck and even more to see a good racked buck. I then picked up movement on the same trail the doe had traveled down. It was her! And she had brought him! She was casually brousing. It was then that I realized he was tending her. He was 20 yards away, not behind her, more like beside her. He was watching her every move and only walking when she walked. The doe read the script and walked on the 10 yard trail beside me. He stopped to drink in the large water puddle. He must have been seeking all night because he drank for atleast 2 minutes. He stopped to dabble in a scrape at 25 yards. Now was my chance. I had to be careful for my draw, as the doe was right below me. At full draw, the deer was on the West of me, the sun rising on the East gave perfect light through my peep sight, the buck just gazed at his new girlfriend. As the arrow released, I could see it in almost slow motion disappear behind the bucks shoulder. SMACK! It's difficult to express the feelings I felt seeing a perfect (lucky) double lung shot. The muzzy was hungry and it was feeding time. The buck jumped and ran back where he came. I immediately called my brother and left him a message of excitement. I said a prayer for recovery and of thanks. After a long 45 minute wait, I got down and picked up the blood trail. This was one even my brother could follow:) I found the buck less than a hundred yards away in some tall switch grass. I was so excited to have recovered this deer. It had been a long time coming from a difficult last year. What a beautiful animal. You gotta love bow hunting.

"Diablo" my Iowa 8 point, 2007

This buck's name Diablo is fitting because of his physcial features and story. The picture doesn't do him justice but his brow tines are 7 inches long and half way up, turn out at a 70 degree angle. He has a broken G3 from fighting and big shoulders. I harvested this buck on November 2nd 2007 at 3:50 p.m. I had just finished hanging my stand on the edge of a fresh cut CRP field and in a pinch point between two tracks of large timber. No sooner had I hung up my cell phone with one of my hunting buddies Mike, this buck came running out of the timber and onto the edge of the field 150 yards away. This struck me as odd due to the time and the way the buck was looking over his shoulder and into the woods. I knew with the naked eye, if presented I would take this deer. Not being concerned of where he was coming, he was facing my direction and looked to have no desire to go back from where he came. When he slanted back into the timber angling south towards me, I knew I would have a shot. With the wind in my face I picked the buck up in the timber heading my way with a pep in his step. He would run a bit and stop to look over his shoulder, then run a bit more and stop to look. I figured the deer was spooked from another hunter, seeing that I was on public land, and thought I may have a difficult time stopping the deer. Without any time for more thoughts, the deer was in my shooting lane a mere 16 yards away. At full draw, I bleated and bleated and bleated before the buck stopped. Slap! The picture shows the double lung smoke job. The buck jumped and ran down the levee he was traveling. Not hearing him crash, I sat down and said in disbelief "it's over, my hunting season is over." I knew I would be putting my last tag on my first Iowa buck. The buck ran 60 yards before tipping over.
The story isn't over yet................As I knelt down and admired such a beautiful animal, I ran my hand across his large swollen rut crazed neck. When I brought my hand up it was covered in blood. Upon a closer look, I noticed the buck had a hole in his neck. My first thought was, while comparing the broken fighting tine, this buck got stabbed by another bucks tine during a fight. A closer look revealed the hair was cut.....a broadhead. When I walked back to my stand I wasn't surprised to find another hunter looking intently on the ground for blood on the edge of the field where I first saw the buck. As I appproached he asked "did you see that $#%$ deer?" I said I did and that "I shot that deer. Come on, I'll show him to you." The other part of the story was that this deer was chasing a doe and was circling this hunters stand, "the buck had his nose right on her" the hunter said. When he shot, his arrow was deflected by a branch and hit the buck in the neck. The arrow broke off and the broadhead stayed lodged in the bucks neck. This was one tough buck. Like I said, Diablo is a fitting name.