ChuckA84

In Cayuga county, town of Throop.

Thank you sir. I am actually a LEO, not a CO.

Hello everyone and thank you for the kind words. I am the person in the pictures and to answer a couple of questions I am coming up on 30 years old and I have shot several deer with a bow. I was lucky and fortunate enough to get my first buck with a bow my first ever season at 14 years old, but this is my largest buck to date and to get him with a bow just makes it that more special. I do not know the age or weight on the deer, but he is an absolute trophy to me regardless. I posted the story on a different forum so I will copy and paste it below and then will follow it up with some more pictures. Story: Let me start off by saying that I've been in a slump and I went deerless last year for the first time ever (minus the years I was away in the Army). I hunt hard, getting in the woods practically every afternoon I can, seeing as the overnight shift I work allows me to do so, and I also spend my mornings on my days off in the woods. Last year I watched bow season, then gun season, then late muzzleloader season slip away with not even a shot opportunity on a doe, although I did pass on a small year and a half buck early in bow season. Then this past spring slipped away with no turkey to show for my time. It was getting discouraging and tough to handle with all the hours I put in the woods, but I didnt let it get me down and told myself I'd make up for it once next season comes around. Moving on to this fall, I jumped right back into hunting hard and saved up all my vacation time for deer season (last year I had to use it all for my wedding/honeymoon). I've been out pretty much every afternoon since October 1st, and every morning when I'm off (I work a continuous 4 days on 2 days off rotation). I started my vacation days on October 21st and am off until November 4th, and I also took off the first week of gun season. I've been seeing plenty of deer but have not been able to get anything in range besides a button buck, a small fork horn, and a doe that probably was about the size of my rottweiler. So yesterday morning comes, and as I'm about to leave the house I decide to open up a bottle of Tinks 69 that I bought to use once the pre-rut/rut started because I saw some scrapes popping up in the past few days and it is getting to the end of October. Poured a little in a fresh scent bomb and headed to the spot I've been hunting in the mornings, even though I have only seen one deer (button buck) there so far this year. The spot is a section of pretty open hardwoods and the stand is on the intersection of an ATV trail that I rode on as a kid and an old and overgrown tractor path that was used in the past by a farmer to cut through the woods and get from a crop field on one side to the field on the far side. I walked as silently as a I could to my stand and got in there before dawn. I hung up the scent bomb on a limb near a shooting lane and climbed into the ladder stand. Within 10 minutes I hear leaves crunching and can just make out the silhouette of a deer coming up the tractor path. It wasnt quite light enough to shoot yet but I get myself ready as the deer approaches and I see it is a small 4 point. He walks directly to the scent bomb, sticks his nose in it, then starts circling and looking around. He then starts making a scrape about 15 yards away from me and rubbing his head on branches for a few minutes, then he casually strolls away through the woods. About 20 minutes later I hear that amazing sound again and see another deer coming in the same path. This time it was a small spike. He walks up and as he is walking by my scent bomb he startles and jumps and runs about 10 yards. Then he starts creeping towards it and sniffing, with his neck stretched out trying not to get too close. He takes baby steps up to it, sticks his nose in it, then starts milling around underneath me for a while. Eventually he walks off and the woods got quiet again. 8:00 comes around and as I'm scanning I catch movement on the same path and I immediately saw the antlers. I get to my feet and grab my bow and get ready, starting to shake as I realized how nice this buck was. He is near my scent bomb and curling his lip, but his vitals are behind some small branches and leaves. He begins walking around the branches and I start drawing my bow. He stepped out in the open before I finish drawing and he catches my movement and his head promptly swings facing straight at me as I'm coming to full draw. I put my pin where I wanted it and punched the release as fast as humanly possible and watch him start ducking as the arrow makes its way to him. The arrow ends up lodging right under his spine and drops him, and I promptly put another one center lungs just to make sure. This is my best buck ever and my first nice one with a bow