deerhunter61
Member
All,
I posted a thread before the season started and it asked what you all considered a trophy to be. There were a lot a great responses to that thread so I was wondering now after this season is basically over for most of us if any of you got a trophy this year? If so what about it made it a trophy this year?
I did get a trophy this year! I actually feel like I got two of them. The first is a Nine pointer with a 17 inch inside spread. Real nice buck and the nicest rack I have ever taken. That is the first part of why now the rest.
This is the first year for me to hunt on the lease I am on. I joined it and joined 7 other hunters who hunt this place. I did not know any of them when I joined. It was the one thing that provided some trepidation as far as getting on this lease in the beginning. But now that I have met them and spent a hunting season with them it was a great decision. They are all good guys. Pretty unusual to get that many hunters together and all of them be pretty good. Inevitably there will always be a jerk in the mix but not here! So the whole season was a trophy season to me. Got a couple of cool bucks and made some friends.
Now back to the buck. I had passed on a nice nine pointer earlier in the season hoping that I might get a shot at a ten pointer that I saw the week before the season started. It was the week after Thanksgiving and this was my second week of vacation I had scheduled this year during deer season. After seeing the nine point that I had past on I had not seen another shooter buck since. I was beginning to get concerned. Why? Well I spent a LOT of money this year to hunt there. The cost of the lease and then everything it cost to get set up was a little more than I had planned and to get the feeling I might not get a good buck was started to seep into my mind. :banghead:
So it was the evening hunt on Dec 1, a Monday, I was watching all the deer around me. I had a nice 8 pointer, not a shooter though, to my left and a real big cull buck at my feeder to my left. It only had 4 points, no brow tines, and had a spread of about 18-19 inches. It was the one I wanted to shoot as my cull but needed to make sure the owner was ok with it so I did not shoot it.
I was looking back to my right when all of a sudden I saw movement from the left. I swirled around and there down the left side of a shooting lane I had cleared out was my nine point! My heart started pounding! I grabbed my binocs and as soon as I raised them to me eyes and got a better look I put them down and grabbed my rifle. I raised it only to bang the tripod holding my camera! AGH! So I had to set my rifle down...ease my camera out of the way and finally was able to get my rifle up. By this time the buck had started walking right toward my stand but was doing so hugging the left side of the shooting lane. Man I was worried he would turn to my left and be gone! I tried to stay patient and wait........finally he made a turn and turned to my right providing a great side view and shot! I put the crosshairs on his heart area and fired...BOOM! He TOOK OFF! Uh oh...I missed....No way I could have missed....he was tooo close! BUT HE TOOK OFF!....none of the other game I have taken with my 6.5x55 Swede had done anything but fell in their tracks! Oh no! I quickly ejected the spent shell and popped another in...then the buck turned back toward the left and that is when I saw it....I LARGE red spot on his left side. It was gigantic! I had hit him in the heart. The bullet just did not hit any bone. At this point I relaxed just a bit. I immediately called my father-in-law. my long time hunting buddy, and the first thing out of his mount was how big is he...How could he hear the shot? He was over 350 miles away
, I told him how big he was and then explained what had happened. I asked him if I should immediately go after him or give him some time. He asked me how dark it was...it was getting late the sun had already went behind the hills in the distance. He asked me if I saw where he fell...nope. He said he thought I had hit him in the heart and rather than take a chance on not finding him in the dark to go ahead and see if I could track him. Well I got out of my stand still talking to my father-in-law and found the spot where the bullet had hit the buck. Blood was sprayed everywhere. I knew immediately now that he had not ran far and told my Luther, my father-in-law, the same. He agreed. So I started following the trail and did not look five minutes when I saw him about 40 yards ahead! I walked up to him and he was done. He looked majestic! What a beautiful buck! And to top it off I was able to share some of it with Luther! That made it all the more special. As you all know this is when the work really starts! So I hung up with my father-in-law and headed to get my truck. The next day I took it to the processor and then the cape and atlers to the taxidermist to have it mounted!
The other buck I kind of consider a trophy is a relatively small 6 pointer. Why you ask is it a trophy? The main reason is because he was still in velvet! I have always wanted to get one in velvet and now I had!
So now the question is did you get one? If so what makes it a trophy?
I posted a thread before the season started and it asked what you all considered a trophy to be. There were a lot a great responses to that thread so I was wondering now after this season is basically over for most of us if any of you got a trophy this year? If so what about it made it a trophy this year?
I did get a trophy this year! I actually feel like I got two of them. The first is a Nine pointer with a 17 inch inside spread. Real nice buck and the nicest rack I have ever taken. That is the first part of why now the rest.
This is the first year for me to hunt on the lease I am on. I joined it and joined 7 other hunters who hunt this place. I did not know any of them when I joined. It was the one thing that provided some trepidation as far as getting on this lease in the beginning. But now that I have met them and spent a hunting season with them it was a great decision. They are all good guys. Pretty unusual to get that many hunters together and all of them be pretty good. Inevitably there will always be a jerk in the mix but not here! So the whole season was a trophy season to me. Got a couple of cool bucks and made some friends.
Now back to the buck. I had passed on a nice nine pointer earlier in the season hoping that I might get a shot at a ten pointer that I saw the week before the season started. It was the week after Thanksgiving and this was my second week of vacation I had scheduled this year during deer season. After seeing the nine point that I had past on I had not seen another shooter buck since. I was beginning to get concerned. Why? Well I spent a LOT of money this year to hunt there. The cost of the lease and then everything it cost to get set up was a little more than I had planned and to get the feeling I might not get a good buck was started to seep into my mind. :banghead:
So it was the evening hunt on Dec 1, a Monday, I was watching all the deer around me. I had a nice 8 pointer, not a shooter though, to my left and a real big cull buck at my feeder to my left. It only had 4 points, no brow tines, and had a spread of about 18-19 inches. It was the one I wanted to shoot as my cull but needed to make sure the owner was ok with it so I did not shoot it.
I was looking back to my right when all of a sudden I saw movement from the left. I swirled around and there down the left side of a shooting lane I had cleared out was my nine point! My heart started pounding! I grabbed my binocs and as soon as I raised them to me eyes and got a better look I put them down and grabbed my rifle. I raised it only to bang the tripod holding my camera! AGH! So I had to set my rifle down...ease my camera out of the way and finally was able to get my rifle up. By this time the buck had started walking right toward my stand but was doing so hugging the left side of the shooting lane. Man I was worried he would turn to my left and be gone! I tried to stay patient and wait........finally he made a turn and turned to my right providing a great side view and shot! I put the crosshairs on his heart area and fired...BOOM! He TOOK OFF! Uh oh...I missed....No way I could have missed....he was tooo close! BUT HE TOOK OFF!....none of the other game I have taken with my 6.5x55 Swede had done anything but fell in their tracks! Oh no! I quickly ejected the spent shell and popped another in...then the buck turned back toward the left and that is when I saw it....I LARGE red spot on his left side. It was gigantic! I had hit him in the heart. The bullet just did not hit any bone. At this point I relaxed just a bit. I immediately called my father-in-law. my long time hunting buddy, and the first thing out of his mount was how big is he...How could he hear the shot? He was over 350 miles away
, I told him how big he was and then explained what had happened. I asked him if I should immediately go after him or give him some time. He asked me how dark it was...it was getting late the sun had already went behind the hills in the distance. He asked me if I saw where he fell...nope. He said he thought I had hit him in the heart and rather than take a chance on not finding him in the dark to go ahead and see if I could track him. Well I got out of my stand still talking to my father-in-law and found the spot where the bullet had hit the buck. Blood was sprayed everywhere. I knew immediately now that he had not ran far and told my Luther, my father-in-law, the same. He agreed. So I started following the trail and did not look five minutes when I saw him about 40 yards ahead! I walked up to him and he was done. He looked majestic! What a beautiful buck! And to top it off I was able to share some of it with Luther! That made it all the more special. As you all know this is when the work really starts! So I hung up with my father-in-law and headed to get my truck. The next day I took it to the processor and then the cape and atlers to the taxidermist to have it mounted!The other buck I kind of consider a trophy is a relatively small 6 pointer. Why you ask is it a trophy? The main reason is because he was still in velvet! I have always wanted to get one in velvet and now I had!
So now the question is did you get one? If so what makes it a trophy?
