Syracuse.com - Coordinator of white deer tours at Seneca Army Depot arrows impressive 9-pointer in Canandaigua

[HuntingNY-News]

<p>

"I could not have been happier. It was a great deer, a quick kill and a fantastic experience! It more than made up for all the times we go in the woods and never see a creature. "

</p>

<div id="asset-11826505" class="entry_widget_large entry_widget_right"><span class="adv-photo-large"><img height="570" width="380" src="http://media.syracuse.com/outdoors/photo/11826505-large.jpg" class="adv-photo" alt="denismoneydeer.jpg" /><span class="photo-data"><span class="byline">Submitted photo</span><span class="caption"></span></span><span class="photo-bottom-left"><!-- IE6 HACK --></span><span class="photo-bottom-right"><!-- IE6 HACK --></span></span></div>

Dennis Money, has been instrumental in getting the white deer tourism tours at the Seneca Army Depot this fall, is also a bow hunter. He wrote the following about a nice nine-pointer he arrowed on his ranch near Canandaigua.

<p>Money wrote: "Today evolved into an incredible experience, not only because I harvested a very nice 9 pt drop tine buck but everything else that encompassed leading up to the final moments. </p>

<p>"About 15 minutes after climbing up into my tree stand my greatest archery experience started. Out of now where a big buck (I figured an 8 pt) charged into our Xmas trees then circled in front of me at a fast run but always looking over its shoulder. He disappeared into some old growth firs and as I looked up another large buck was seen chasing after him. Wow! What a great start to the day.</p>

<p>"Soon after that, a small buck appeared, the first of seven seen today. While I studied him, on my left I noticed a big buck coming out of the thicket. When he appeared I could tell he was a beauty with a nice high rack on this right side and a lower rack with a drop tine on the left. He came out into the goldenrod and walked around about 50 yards away and he then kept this up for about 45 minutes, obviously getting me excited but knowing I had no chance at that distance.</p>

<p>"During this time the area virtually exploded with bucks of all sizes - a spike, a 3pt, 4pt, 2, six pts etc and each time they would approach the big guy who would take one step towards them and they they all backed off. Quite humorous. the other big buck never showed up.</p>

<p>"And so it went, the big guy teasing me by hanging out of range and moving back and forth into the thicket rubbing his antlers. I then decided to climb down and try stalking the buck. I figured it was a low percentage but still a percentage and so I started to ease myself down the stand when suddenly I realized there as a spike buck only 15 yards away who would give me away if he saw me so I eased back up and waited. When the spike finally moved out of the danger zone, I crept down the stand and started my stalk.</p>

<p>"Since I had cover at first, I carefully approached the field and saw him still in the thicket. I then dropped to my knees and started crawling to within 20 yards. At this point, I figured this is as close as I am going to get so lets go for the gold! I slowly stood up and released the arrow. I saw the arrow hit too far back I( I thought), as the buck bolted and headed away. My heart was pounding and I let out a big relief hoping that by some stroke of good luck I had my buck.</p>

<p>"I went over to the strike area and started to follow the trail I thought the buck had taken. I soon found blood and then the broken top half of the arrow. I decided to follow the blood trail for a short ways just to see what direction he was heading before I backed off. I had gone about 75 yards and the blood trail was getting better but I have been down this path before and never found the deer I was tracking so I didnt want to get my hopes up. Then I looked up the hill and saw the white tail and the "brown log" of the dead deer. It turned out to be a perfect shot which I was grateful for.</p>

<p>"I could not have been happier. It was a great deer, a quick kill and a fantastic experience! It more than made up for all the times we go in the woods and never see a creature. It will probably not happen again but I don't care. This was a totally awesome experience."</p>

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog