Mudshack
New member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2010
- Messages
- 10
This story started back on opening day of archery when I drilled the biggest buck of my life right at first light. After 12 hours of trailing in the rain, we had to give up on my first non-recovered deer ever. Then, I had an opportunity to arrow an 8pt that bigger than anything I had ever shot, in Mid-October. Sadly, it was too dark when I went to look through my peep sight. Then on Nov 5th, I missed a doe when my top limb hitting my bow hanger. On top of the 50 some hours sitting in stands, you have to understand that my hunting buddy/best friend/marvelous comrade, Eric, and I had been hunting public land 1.5 hours from driveway to parking lot. Then we would hike another 1-1.5 miles into the property. Every trip into the woods with stands and climbing sticks. Every trip out of the woods with stands and climbing sticks. What a hard year, both physically and mentally on me and my family.
So the opportunity came for me to pick up my Browning Lever-Action Rifle (BLR) Model 81 shooting 165gr lead for the first time in over 2 years. The day before Missouri Rifle Opening Day we headed out to camp for the night with 4 other grown men in love with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Eric and I gave them a tour of the property in a light drizzle Then we hung our stands and got our tent city set up before the 40 degree downpour with 20mph winds began.
When we were setting up camp, a neighbor from the private land to our south drove by on his 4wheeler with a skull and rack on the front of the 4wheeler. I ran over and quickly found out that the neighbor shot the buck that I had lost only 2 weeks prior to us setting up camp and he was unable to recover it. Seeing this rack in another hunter’s hands brought closure to that chapter of the year. It was a very nice 10pt and was bigger than anything any of us at camp had ever shot. It sure got the juices flowing for everyone in camp, and I could shake the hand of the proud owner of the 10pt coyote assisted euro mount.
It rained so hard that night, that we got an inch of water in the bottom of closed coolers (my insulated bibs absorbed it all) But as the Lord loves to surprise us, a buddy who showed up at 4:15am just happened to have a set of extra bibs that actually big on my 6'4" 280lbs frame....go figure. Only the Lord could have produced that!
We prayed and all walked out of camp at 5am. Sitting on our familiar land until 9:30am and had guys walk all over us; they sat 40yds away; we encouraged them to move on; guys walked through areas we were watching; hunters shot deer that were working towards us....ahhhh....the joys of public land hunting. Eric and I knew that we could only shoot one deer at this property, so we had a back up plan to head to a different public access property which would allow us to fill doe tags (since we are on missionary budgets, we need the meat). We never set eyes on this new place, but we did a ton of Google Earth scouting the week before. It was time to execute that plan.
After the 45min drive, we looked for parking lots that had less than 2 trucks parked in them. Well, every parking lot had tents, RV's, pop-up campers, coffee wagons, hot dog vendors (ok, maybe the coffee and hot dogs were made up, but it sure looked like it). We found one place that had only a tent and a single truck parked in it. We pulled in and shoved some impromptu turkey and cheese wraps into our bellies while looking at an aerial and topo to devise a hunt plan.
We walked in and sat on the edges of deep hollows to try and catch deer running up the hollows to thicker cover, away from the orange army. By 12:16 we were set up. This was old school, just like I remember from growing up back in Pennsylvania. Deep hollows, mature hard woods, fallen trees to sit on, etc. I sat on a root wad that gave me a shooting rest looking down a steep hollow and texted Eric that I was settled in and liked the potential of the spot. Just as I put my phone in my pocket, HERE THEY CAME!!
Up the hollow came 2 big deer scrambling at a full run. I saw one was a shooter buck and the other was a doe. We were there to meat hunt, but the buck got my full attention. The buck headed up the far side of the hollow and I still had my Bushnell scope only set at 2.5 power but the hammer was back and ready for the over 100 yard shot. My Cross hairs were scanning for brown, and there he was. Running up the side hill hard quartering away...BOOM! The Browning Model 81 barked in the woods for the first time in over 5 years.
Where did he go? I lost sight of him. I think the doe ran back down the hollow, but he stopped moving. Then I saw him through the scope. He was standing still and facing up the opposite hill not far from where I first shot. Trees blocked the view of his head and butt. All I could see was his mid section through some small twigs in the tree tops, but knew that I had to sling lead on public land, and I expected him to bound off at any second....BOOM!!!!
Now where did he go? Again, scanning the opposite hill side on 2.5 power...THERE HE WAS!...He had turned to my left and was walking on the same contour, but walking very slow. I scan ahead him for an opening in the trees. I found an opening where I thought he would walk and focused on it. Now at 110+yds I see horns walk out from behind a tree, then his front shoulder and BOOM!!!!!
I think I saw a the buck mule kick but wasn't sure. I saw him run up the side of the hill and lost sight of him. Then I heard it...the sound of a thrashing deer in the leaves. I moved around on my root wad and saw him belly up with feet flailing. Oh My Goodness....that deer is down! My cross hairs were on him until he stopped moving. Based on previous experiences etched in my Pennsylvania public hunting upbringing, I knew I couldn't let him lay for 15-30 minutes to make sure he was dead, I had to get down my side of the hollow and up his side of the hollow to put my tag on him before another hunter walked up on him. I texted Eric "Get over here, NOW!" at 12:20pm. Not even 10 minutes after getting sat down on a new property.
I threw on my pack, and down I went, stopping only to put my cross hairs on him every so often. Then up the other side where the climb was tough. We got over an inch of rain the night before on freshly fallen leaves. The mud and leaves made climbing this 60-80 foot hill feel like a bad dream where you run run run and get no where. I crested a hump and there was his belly. (at this point I still think the buck is a big buck, but have absolutely no clue what is about to unravel). I looked at this huge bodied deer laying there and thought that he must have tangled up in a small tree while thrashing around because a branch was tangled in his rack. Then it hit me as I got closer. That WAS his rack! I mean....THAT WAS HIS RACK!!! I just started saying the same phrase over and over and over as I walked up to him..."Oh, Lord. Oh Lord....OH, LORD!" I was never intimidated to poke an animal in the eye to confirm it was dead like I was intimidated with this buck. He was HUGE!
Here is how he laid when I found him.
Here is a 3D view from Google Earth showing the action.
I fell to the ground and just stared up to Heaven and thanked Jesus for blessing me. When we left camp at 5am in the morning, we prayed for an over abundance of the Lord's blessing so that there was no way that people could say we did it out of our own strength, but that it would clearly be the work of the Lord. And wow, did he ever answer that prayer!
Now to get my buddy Eric to find me....Because we had no cell phone reception, I couldn't call, and text messages stacked up and were delivered about every 20 min. He went old school and found where I shot from (in the excitement I had forgotten to pick up HIS camo pad on the root wad where I shot from). He headed down the hill thinking I must have shot a bunch of does and needed help tracking. We first made eye contact when he was at the bottom of the hollow. I held up my arms like Rocky and he did the same! He got about half way up the hill, still trying to be quiet, when he saw me holding the rack in my hands. Then he said it. I will never forget this for the rest of my life. He yelled out at full voice, "IS THAT A RACK????" I yelled back, “YES!!!” and ran down to him sliding in the mud. I grab him and we hugged and jumped up and down like little girls! We clambered back up to the buck and both fell to the ground in amazement!
We took some quick pics with phones:
Then the work took place. After retrieving the real camera and game cart from the truck, we took some official pictures.
And here is a video I took with my phone because the pictures don't do it justice.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mudshack#p/a/u/1/zivx-F8TPls
So the opportunity came for me to pick up my Browning Lever-Action Rifle (BLR) Model 81 shooting 165gr lead for the first time in over 2 years. The day before Missouri Rifle Opening Day we headed out to camp for the night with 4 other grown men in love with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Eric and I gave them a tour of the property in a light drizzle Then we hung our stands and got our tent city set up before the 40 degree downpour with 20mph winds began.
When we were setting up camp, a neighbor from the private land to our south drove by on his 4wheeler with a skull and rack on the front of the 4wheeler. I ran over and quickly found out that the neighbor shot the buck that I had lost only 2 weeks prior to us setting up camp and he was unable to recover it. Seeing this rack in another hunter’s hands brought closure to that chapter of the year. It was a very nice 10pt and was bigger than anything any of us at camp had ever shot. It sure got the juices flowing for everyone in camp, and I could shake the hand of the proud owner of the 10pt coyote assisted euro mount.
It rained so hard that night, that we got an inch of water in the bottom of closed coolers (my insulated bibs absorbed it all) But as the Lord loves to surprise us, a buddy who showed up at 4:15am just happened to have a set of extra bibs that actually big on my 6'4" 280lbs frame....go figure. Only the Lord could have produced that!
We prayed and all walked out of camp at 5am. Sitting on our familiar land until 9:30am and had guys walk all over us; they sat 40yds away; we encouraged them to move on; guys walked through areas we were watching; hunters shot deer that were working towards us....ahhhh....the joys of public land hunting. Eric and I knew that we could only shoot one deer at this property, so we had a back up plan to head to a different public access property which would allow us to fill doe tags (since we are on missionary budgets, we need the meat). We never set eyes on this new place, but we did a ton of Google Earth scouting the week before. It was time to execute that plan.
After the 45min drive, we looked for parking lots that had less than 2 trucks parked in them. Well, every parking lot had tents, RV's, pop-up campers, coffee wagons, hot dog vendors (ok, maybe the coffee and hot dogs were made up, but it sure looked like it). We found one place that had only a tent and a single truck parked in it. We pulled in and shoved some impromptu turkey and cheese wraps into our bellies while looking at an aerial and topo to devise a hunt plan.
We walked in and sat on the edges of deep hollows to try and catch deer running up the hollows to thicker cover, away from the orange army. By 12:16 we were set up. This was old school, just like I remember from growing up back in Pennsylvania. Deep hollows, mature hard woods, fallen trees to sit on, etc. I sat on a root wad that gave me a shooting rest looking down a steep hollow and texted Eric that I was settled in and liked the potential of the spot. Just as I put my phone in my pocket, HERE THEY CAME!!
Up the hollow came 2 big deer scrambling at a full run. I saw one was a shooter buck and the other was a doe. We were there to meat hunt, but the buck got my full attention. The buck headed up the far side of the hollow and I still had my Bushnell scope only set at 2.5 power but the hammer was back and ready for the over 100 yard shot. My Cross hairs were scanning for brown, and there he was. Running up the side hill hard quartering away...BOOM! The Browning Model 81 barked in the woods for the first time in over 5 years.
Where did he go? I lost sight of him. I think the doe ran back down the hollow, but he stopped moving. Then I saw him through the scope. He was standing still and facing up the opposite hill not far from where I first shot. Trees blocked the view of his head and butt. All I could see was his mid section through some small twigs in the tree tops, but knew that I had to sling lead on public land, and I expected him to bound off at any second....BOOM!!!!
Now where did he go? Again, scanning the opposite hill side on 2.5 power...THERE HE WAS!...He had turned to my left and was walking on the same contour, but walking very slow. I scan ahead him for an opening in the trees. I found an opening where I thought he would walk and focused on it. Now at 110+yds I see horns walk out from behind a tree, then his front shoulder and BOOM!!!!!
I think I saw a the buck mule kick but wasn't sure. I saw him run up the side of the hill and lost sight of him. Then I heard it...the sound of a thrashing deer in the leaves. I moved around on my root wad and saw him belly up with feet flailing. Oh My Goodness....that deer is down! My cross hairs were on him until he stopped moving. Based on previous experiences etched in my Pennsylvania public hunting upbringing, I knew I couldn't let him lay for 15-30 minutes to make sure he was dead, I had to get down my side of the hollow and up his side of the hollow to put my tag on him before another hunter walked up on him. I texted Eric "Get over here, NOW!" at 12:20pm. Not even 10 minutes after getting sat down on a new property.
I threw on my pack, and down I went, stopping only to put my cross hairs on him every so often. Then up the other side where the climb was tough. We got over an inch of rain the night before on freshly fallen leaves. The mud and leaves made climbing this 60-80 foot hill feel like a bad dream where you run run run and get no where. I crested a hump and there was his belly. (at this point I still think the buck is a big buck, but have absolutely no clue what is about to unravel). I looked at this huge bodied deer laying there and thought that he must have tangled up in a small tree while thrashing around because a branch was tangled in his rack. Then it hit me as I got closer. That WAS his rack! I mean....THAT WAS HIS RACK!!! I just started saying the same phrase over and over and over as I walked up to him..."Oh, Lord. Oh Lord....OH, LORD!" I was never intimidated to poke an animal in the eye to confirm it was dead like I was intimidated with this buck. He was HUGE!
Here is how he laid when I found him.
Here is a 3D view from Google Earth showing the action.
I fell to the ground and just stared up to Heaven and thanked Jesus for blessing me. When we left camp at 5am in the morning, we prayed for an over abundance of the Lord's blessing so that there was no way that people could say we did it out of our own strength, but that it would clearly be the work of the Lord. And wow, did he ever answer that prayer!
Now to get my buddy Eric to find me....Because we had no cell phone reception, I couldn't call, and text messages stacked up and were delivered about every 20 min. He went old school and found where I shot from (in the excitement I had forgotten to pick up HIS camo pad on the root wad where I shot from). He headed down the hill thinking I must have shot a bunch of does and needed help tracking. We first made eye contact when he was at the bottom of the hollow. I held up my arms like Rocky and he did the same! He got about half way up the hill, still trying to be quiet, when he saw me holding the rack in my hands. Then he said it. I will never forget this for the rest of my life. He yelled out at full voice, "IS THAT A RACK????" I yelled back, “YES!!!” and ran down to him sliding in the mud. I grab him and we hugged and jumped up and down like little girls! We clambered back up to the buck and both fell to the ground in amazement!
We took some quick pics with phones:
Then the work took place. After retrieving the real camera and game cart from the truck, we took some official pictures.
And here is a video I took with my phone because the pictures don't do it justice.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mudshack#p/a/u/1/zivx-F8TPls
