One that got away....

[BizCT]

2 hours ago, moog5050 said:

Resided on my property first year I bought it.  It was my second season hunting.  Tagged out on a lesser buck (but my first wall mounter) in bow not really knowing better.   I should have really just focused on this guy.  He ended up chasing a doe right in front of a blind in the neighbors field day 2 of gun season. Dump shot.  Live and learn.  

WOW

[Trial153]

Hunted this guy for two seasons. He is still alive as this summer.

[Moho81]

Hunted this guy for two seasons. He is still alive as this summer.

Looks like your hunting him for 3 seasons now


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[Trial153]

Looks like your hunting him for 3 seasons now


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I did not draw the tag this year.

[Moho81]

I did not draw the tag this year.

Out of state I assume? Where?


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[LET EM GROW]

I had the luxury of chasing (2) different bucks at the same time on the same property that ended up dying/dissappearing at age 9.5 and 10.5 yrs old. I Have the history every year to prove it. Chasing bucks like these teaches you how to really hone in on what big bucks do and why. I finally crossed paths with The Ghost after passing him in 2012, again  during late October 2018, It just felt right so I went with my gut.. And i misjudged yardage and sent an arrow an inch over his back. And the other buck, Chunk, was in my wheel house more often than the other so I had to patiently wait the right times and weather to hunt him. Over a couple years I narrowed his daily patterns down to almost a T.. But my youngest child became quite ill when the stars really lined up for this buck, but I gave up hunting for the season a skids come first.. And My homework proved right... He should have died by my arrow on many occassions.. ( I believe he got poached after dark at the end of season) as I knew what this deer did every season.. and he was never seen again after the last week of season, and the tresspassing and poaching greatly increased in the area... Cell cams and regular cams on access paths proved this..

Heres a brief part of our history... and I miss it dearly.. 

Buck 1 is The Ghost, he died at 9.5yrs on Day 1 of gun season

Buck 2 is Chunk, he disappeared at 10.5yrs (6" and 6-5/8" bases) 

[Lucky118]

On 10/21/2021 at 6:50 AM, wolc123 said:

None have gotten away from me since 2015, unless they were supposed to:

 

Yeah the big ones might have gotten away but their buddies didn't  lol

[wolc123]

7 minutes ago, Lucky118 said:

Yeah the big ones might have gotten away but their buddies didn't  lol

One of these years, I may regret punching a buck tag because a bigger one shows up later (when all I got left is dmps), but in 39 years of deer hunting it has not happened yet.

 

[suburbanfarmer]

1 hour ago, wolc123 said:

One of these years, I may regret punching a buck tag because a bigger one shows up later (when all I got left is dmps), but in 39 years of deer hunting it has not happened yet.

 

I always tell the kids "Shoot the deer that lets you".

I spent 2 seasons chasing a ghost , all the while passing nice bucks in my early yrs and hard lesson learnt. Antlers look great but its filled tags that make moments into memories.

[Lucky118]

3 hours ago, wolc123 said:

One of these years, I may regret punching a buck tag because a bigger one shows up later (when all I got left is dmps), but in 39 years of deer hunting it has not happened yet.

 

Oh I've  had a few lol. Shot one of those on the wall and watched him go down. Dropped my stuff off at the car and came back with the knife and a rope. While cleaning him out and absolute giant walked by me at 30 yrds with his nose to the ground grunting away. Never saw him again lol

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, Lucky118 said:

Oh I've  had a few lol. Shot one of those on the wall and watched him go down. Dropped my stuff off at the car and came back with the knife and a rope. While cleaning him out and absolute giant walked by me at 30 yrds with his nose to the ground grunting away. Never saw him again lol

That happens to the best of us I suppose, and the longer that we hunt, the more likely it probably is.   
 

Being a pure “meat hunter”,  in my 39 deer seasons, I can count on two hands for sure and maybe even one, the number of legal (at least one antler point longer than 3 inches) bucks that I have passed, while waiting on a larger one.

There was only one time that I can recall, when I was not rewarded for those passes later that season, with a larger antlered  (and bodied) buck.  That one time, the reward was a larger-bodied doe.  
 

The primary reason I passed that particular 15 yard chip shot on a 6 point 1.5 year old buck was that I govern my life on two principles (Love God and Love thy neighbor).
 

 If I can accomplish just those two things, nothing else really maters, because this life is fleeting while forever lasts for an eternity.  
 

In the case of that young buck, the pass occurred on the last or second last Saturday of gun season in 2017 (I work 45 hours a week so I am mostly limited to just hunting on the weekends).  That late in the season, I am always in  “anything goes” mode  meaning a single point 3” or longer, if I still have a buck tag.
 

The buck in question was standing on about 6” of fresh snow and about 10 yards onto a neighbor’s property.  I had met that neighbor, and I knew that he would be ok with me shooting that deer, but that he wound have preferred that I didn’t.

“Loving thy neighbor” means doing what they prefer not what you do. I also skipped the early morning hunt the next day, and took my family to church instead (that is where the “loving God” part came in).  
 

When we got home from church at about 9:30 (we always went to the 8:15 service back then) I grabbed my shotgun and walked to a stand on our farm. The “pass” the day prior was at my parents place.  Low and behold, just like magic , 15 minutes after climbing into that stand the fat doe ran by 30 yards behind my tree.  
 

Some folks would call that and my making that full tilt running shot thru a small opening “just a coincidence”, “superior marksmanship” or some other crazy bs.  Those would be the same ones who don’t know who determines “where every sparrow falls”.  You can always google that if you don’t know yourself.  

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by wolc123

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, wolc123 said:

 

 

The search function works pretty good here.  I can’t sleep anyhow, with a severe case of northern zone opening day of gun season anticipation, so I decided to fact-check this earlier claim from the 2017 gun harvest thread:

it turns out that the “15 minutes” part was incorrect.   It was actually actually more like 5 hours.  The Good Lord has His schedule and I got mine, but He has always delivered the NEEDED goods, and quite often lots of extra.

the “edit” function leaves a bit to be desired however, hence this correction.

Edited October 23, 2021 by wolc123