Fat Pig Buck

[erussell]

Well I guesss there are miracles. I had to work the night before gun so I put everything in the car and went to work. Got out at 6 and headed to my spot. After changing and walking to a ground blind i built last winter and settling in I said a little prayer and asked for blade to walk by. 10 min later he did. I dont know what else to say but thankyou Lord. Ask and you shall receive.

Edited November 19, 2014 by erussell

[thphm]

Congrats on a great old buck.

[Zem18]

Sweet brother. Congrats on staying persistent and getting it done. He is HUGGGGGGEEEEE. That is a wall hanger for sure.

[dbHunterNY]

awesome!  I'd think you're mounting it?  I'd tell the taxidermist that you want the jaw bones.  send me pictures or post on here and I'll look at them as well as get other reliable opinions.  looks like a big deer.  weigh him at all?

[thphm]

Congrats a nice deer and a great end to the post,

[First-light]

That is great! I hoping for the same story this weekend. That buck is huge look at that from hoof.

[wmig2]

That's awesome you got another chance and closed the deal.

[grampy]

What a way to take the weight off a hunters heavy heart! Congratulations!

[jjb4900]

so what happened with the bow shot? what did or didn't it hit?

[SteveB]

Great job and congrats! Did you get a weight?

[NFA-ADK]

Truly epic!  Congrats and way to be persistent!  Very nice!  Love to see the jaw bone and estimated age after we all try to guess what it is!

[erussell]

No money to mount just throw him in the pile of racks i have already. One of the ugliest racks i have. lol. arrow hit right where i thought it did right above the shoulder and out the neck. must not have bothered him to bad he was covered in shavings from just rubbing a cedar tree. Didnt get the jaw bone might check it out once hes all bones though if the yotes dont drag it off. teeth were all black I assume from eating acorn's.

 

[erussell]

He had a funny rack because he had 2 broken legs at one time. suprised he lived from it.  season ended well, ended up with 3 deer 2 bucks and a doe and a coyote to. The second buck i thought was a doe but he had grown bases and that was it.

[TopGun270]

Did you ever get him aged?

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[wolc123]

I can relate to the "miracle" part of that story. I had it happen myself this year on a fat pig of a buck up in the NW Adirondacks. I also said a short prayer, if I could only see a buck, as they are quite rare in this area. Not 10 minutes later, this old boy came cruising along down the creek-bank I was watching from a ridge, high above. I said another short prayer, that my shot would be true. The distance was far. My rough estimate at the time was 300 yards, amd it looks to be at least that based on "Google Maps"

My first shot missed (taken from a rested seated position, probably due to range underestimation), so did the second (hurried offhand). Then the Lord provided a perfect tree for a rest, in just the right spot, as I followed him from up on the ridge. He paused in an opening, just when I found the rest and that third shot hit perfectly, diagonally, thru the rib cage. I did not see him go down, but he disappeared after that final shot.

I scanned the area all around where he stood with my scope on 9X, but nothing moved. There was a large pine tree right near where he had stood, and I thought maybe, he had turned 90 degrees away, and ran up the next hill, keeping that tree between me and him, after a third miss. Had he continued forward, I would have seen him, as I would have if he backtracked. There was only one other possibility. I gave out a third prayer, that he would be laying there under that tree.

It was a long hike around. I left my bright red camp-chair up on the ridge, to mark my shooting location. The creek below was too deep and wide for me to cross, and the ridge to steep to descend direct without climbing gear. I carefully studied that pine tree on the creek-bank below, so that I could identify it when I did get back over to its general location.

It took me almost an hour to reach a location on the far bank of the creek, where I could finally see my red chair up on the ridge. It looked like a tiny spec with the nakid eye. Shortly after I saw the chair. The brush was so thick on the far bank of the creek, that it took another half hour or so before I saw a familiar looking, lone pine tree down on the creek.

My plan was to locate the buck's tracks in the fresh snow near the tree, and try to catch the buck by following his trail. That is a very popular technique in this area. I knew the trail would be fresh, and the sounds of my three shots were probably mixed right in with the crashing of ice that morning along the creek-bank, caused by the rising, warming sun. The buck likely had no idea he was being shot at (like Steve Martin in the Jerk with the oil cans).

As fate would have it, the Lord had other plans. There at the base of the tree, lay the old buck. He was on his side, eyes wide open. There was no mark on him, and no blood or hair on the fresh snow. I stuck the muzzle of my loaded rife (safety off) in his eye and he did not blink. I rolled him over and there was no mark or blood on the other side either. Upon gutting him, I noted a hole centered on the second last rib, and two jagged, similar sized holes, adjacent to that rib, looking inside of the cage. At first I thought maybe all three bullets hit, but it turned out just one did, and the other holes must have been caused by bone fragments.

I called my Father in law on the cell-phone, but he could only get within a half mile or so with his ATV because the brush was so thick down on that side of the creek. That is definitely the heaviest deer and the most difficult drag I have ever had to do. I suspect this buck may be quite old because his stomach was full of acorns and most were not even chewed. It was not the biggest rack that I have taken, but surely my oldest buck. Since I turned 50 on Christmas this year, my wife let me get him mounted as a present. Plus it was the first one taken at her folks new camp up there.