OK... Here is the one I missed in Illinois!

[nybuckboy]

I was on a 6 day hunt with my 18 yo son and a friend from Oct 26 thru Oct 31 in Pike County. This was my second trip to Pike County, last in 2009 with the same outfitter. My avatar is the 150 class 8 I took in 2009.

This trip, I saw many bucks in the 120 - 130 range and even a 150-160 class 10 point on the the last day and had him as close as 60 yards.

There was a buck that the farm had named Stickers, a 6 1/2 year old buck with many points, thus the name Stickers. They had him on trail cam 10 different times and he was known to hang in the area I was hunting.

Most of the week I was sitting in a stand called Hickory Ridge that oversaw a creek bottom and was down wind of a large bedding area. The wind was out of the north/northwest most of the week. I was seeing as many as 6 really nice bucks each day but if they did cross the creek, they would then stay just on the other side of a dry creek and then pass by me. The dry creek bed was about 6 foot deep by 8 feet wide. I had range finded across it at 35 yards.

It was Oct 30 at 8am and decided to tip over the bleat can 3 times. At 8:10am I look to my left through the hardwoods and noticed immediately a shooter and I said so to myself. I quickly raised the binos to have a better look and new it was Stickers. The monarch of the farm was walking with the wind toward me. I got ready and hooked on my release. I was shitting my pants but got myself under control and told myself, as I always do " you got a job to do".

In the next instant I realized he was not gonna come by me close and was indeed gonna go on the other side of the dry creek. I practice out to 40 yards and I use only 1 pin. At 40 yards I place the pin at the top of the body and the arrow drops into the lungs perfectly.

I looked for the best open area which was between 2 hickory trees about 5 feet apart. There were not any cut shooting lanes out that far and there were some small branches in the way. I did not want to raise the bow too high and deflect the arrow. I hoped that with the added height of the treestand, about 20 feet I would not have to aim quite so high.

I waited for him to walk into the open spot and when he walked into it I let it go. I did not hit any branches but also did not hear that beautiful thooop sound I hear when the arrow hits a deer in the kill zone. He jumped and leaped again down into the creek and bounded up the other side and stopped. At that point I did not know if I had hit him or not. I do not think he knew what happened either.

I wished at that moment I could have Googled "what to do next if the buck begins to walk away". I grunted at him and then snort wheezed but he just kept on walking away up through the hardwoods. Maybe a bleat would have been better or maybe nothing would have turned him back to me.

I got the binos back out and watch him to see if I could see any entry wound or blood on his side. I thought the shot looked good but did not like what I wasn't seeing... blood.

I got down and walked down and into the dry creek and up the other side. I smelled a musky smell as soon as I reached the top on the other side. I looked and found my arrow. No blood and just dirt in the broadhead. He was gone and I was bummed out. I had shot low... just under him.

I look back and say to myself. "I should be thankful I didn't wound him and how many hunters ever even get a chance to see a true monster buck like Stickers ever." I later learned he was missed twice in 2009, twice in 2010 and I was number 5.

These are 2 trail cam pics of him this year. He is probably a 200 class buck. The sheds of his from 2010 measure over 6 inches and you can see from these pics are all of that now. Hope you enjoyed the read and Yes I will be visiting again as soon as possible.

Edited November 4, 2012 by nybuckboy

[DTG3k]

He sure gets missed a lot. Probably a ghost.

[dave6x6]

Ohh boy, thats gonna sting for a while. What a great story though. As i was reading my heart started to race and i was hoping for you to zip one right through his kitchen, even though I knew the story was going to end with a miss. Sounds like a great week and what an awesome encounter..

[TreeGuy]

Good ole stickers.... prob has made that outfitter alot of money over the years...lol. good story and ur right about just being lucky enough to shoot at a buck like that!

[First-light]

Sorry you missed, great story, he lives on.

[nybuckboy]

These are the sheds from the Illinois buck, Stickers, that I missed a week ago today These sheds are from 2010 season, recovered in March 2011. He started to develop the drop tines in 2011. The bases were over 6 inches here.

[arrow nocker]

stickers is a GOHST.