no fun pictures......just a good story

Mitch

Active Member
I took my kiddos to my land in southern Oklahoma. We are calving right now and they wanted to see "the babies" lol I was going to do some bowhunting while I was there. I hunted Saturday morning and didn't see much. I've been sick lately with a horrible cough at night and in the morning. Makes bowhunting awfully difficult. lol
So I skipped Saturday evening and hung out with the kids. We had a campfire and just goofed off. I set my alarm for 4am Sunday morning. It went off and I began to cough. So, I figured I'd surprise them and just skip Sunday morning hunting too and have pancakes and hot chocolate waiting for them once they woke up. We all got up about 7:30am and they were definitely happy to see I was fixing breakfast and not in a tree lol

We have an old 70's model 5th wheel camper that we stay in. I opened the door of the camper to take a look outside and see what was going on as I was brushing my teeth......the door always makes a hideous noise when you open it.......I look up across the pasture and probably about 100 yards away stands a BEHEMOTH of a buck. Easily over 200# and a rack like i've never seen on my land before. He looked like an Iowa deer that I grew up chasing. He was huge. I dang near choked on the toothpaste and scrambled to get my camo. This took about 5 mins to get dressed and bow in hand. I told my son to hide behind the camper and keep an eye on the pasture, so if they bolt, I'll have an idea of where they go.

The wind was NOT in my favor so I belly crawled up a fence line to get parallel with the buck. This took about 30 minutes. Finally I felt like I was in a good spot, so I slowly raised up and saw a spike. No big buck. WHAT?! Where is he!? The spike takes one step and the big buck jumps up and runs him off. Sure enough there was a doe along with 4 bucks in this pasture. For the next 5 minutes I watched this huge buck chase off the other 3 bucks. At one point I had the behemoth at 45.6 yards....standing broadside. Wind was blowing pretty good. I can make that shot easily in practice....easily. But since my heart was about explode from buck fever.....do I take the shot I know I can make or hold off because I don't want to wound him? I held off. On the other side of the pasture was a hill, which was down wind. My goal was to make it to that hill so I could look down at him and get in better position. I called my son and whispered keep an eye on these deer, i'm going to drop down and circle down wind. 30 minutes and I was in perfect position and the deer were nowhere to be found. Completely gone. I figured at least my son will know which direction they went! So I looked at my phone and my 11 year old son had sent me a text saying "Dad, i'm very sorry but I can't sit here anymore. I have to go to the bathroom so bad, I'm about to go in my pants" I literally busted out laughing. What an encounter. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
Yesterday I pulled out the target and stepped off 45 yards.....I just wanted to see.....of course I put the arrow dead center in the bullseye. Then again I wasn't about to pass out from hear failure either.

Thanks for reading :) Wish I had pictures.

Mitch
 
Mitch, kudos for not shooting while in that heart pounding condition. Good judgment and you still have a good story. Man, there are many grumbly tummy mornings when I wish I'd stayed home for pancakes than gone hunting. I know how your kids feel for sure!
 
Mitch...great story! Don't blame your son. When nature calls you gotta go! Hope you have an eye-to-eye encounter with him again.
 
Mitch,

If you need any help chasing that big monster buck, I am sure this forum has been of bandwagon hunters. :rolleyes:

A great story. Make all of the memories you can with the kids while they are at home. They just grow up before you turn around twice.

Look forward to a hero shot with the big buck. Good luck.
Wayne
 
Mitch...great story! Don't blame your son. When nature calls you gotta go! Hope you have an eye-to-eye encounter with him again.
Not at all, when I saw him I laughed and laughed. He knows I've been there too and when you gotta let loose, you better make it happen lol
He gets to go back with me over our Thanksgiving break, I'm really hoping we see that buck. Given the rut is on, I highly doubt it, but you never know what else may show up this time of year.
 
Great story, not all great hunts end with a trophy buck being taken. In fact deciding to cook breakfast and spend time with your kids probably does more to encourage our kids to continue hunting as they get older than we realize. The smell of breakfast being cooked in the morning, the excitement of spotting a huge buck and the stalking of it sounds like a
great time spent together.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top