The week-long hunt started on Monday afternoon as the weather turned bad, raining hard all the way into midweek. Now with time cut short, every sit had to be exploratory, a learning mission in and out with my stand on my back punctuated by a short observation sit. I felt this way, my time was spent gathering intel and not hoping, telling myself that if I found the right sign I’d know it and have an opportunity. As the week was ending, I was scouting my way out of the timber around noon and noticed a half dozen hub scrapes I’d been monitoring each day were lit up from before daylight. I made a game plan for the evening and decided to sit an oak ridge that came down to a thermal hub near 3 of the scrapes that worked well for the ENE wind I had.
At 4:00 p.m., with my stand on my back and bow in hand, I began hiking up the ridge when I paused part of the way up to noticing a large fresh rub and several historic scrapes on a lower third flat adjacent to 4 big oaks that were dropping. I opted to sit here vs push further in hopes he’d come down to feed and open those scrapes back up or I’d at least get a glimpse of him leaving his afternoon bed.
The evening settled in and 4 does worked down the ridge into the feed trees. They’d been inside of 20 yards for close to an hour when I heard the big buck roar and thrash a tree at the top of the ridge to my northwest. He proceeded to work down the hill, grunting and looking for the does that were making a commotion around me. As he made his way to 12 yards he paused momentarily, giving me time to settled the pin on my Dialed sight behind his shoulder and let my arrow fly. Unfortunately, the moment I touched the release, the big deer bolted to chase a doe and I hit him further back than I wanted. When the arrow hit, he stumbled, sliding into a nearby drainage and regaining his footing as he darted to 27 yards where he paused, giving me just enough time to estimate yardage and send one more arrow down range. This one struck home, with my Iron Will connecting perfectly as he quartered away from me, shattering his offside shoulder on its exit and knocking him to the ground again. It only took another 10 yards for the big deer to collapse and it was over within 30 seconds.
The evening settled in and 4 does worked down the ridge into the feed trees. They’d been inside of 20 yards for close to an hour when I heard the big buck roar and thrash a tree at the top of the ridge to my northwest. He proceeded to work down the hill, grunting and looking for the does that were making a commotion around me. As he made his way to 12 yards he paused momentarily, giving me time to settled the pin on my Dialed sight behind his shoulder and let my arrow fly. Unfortunately, the moment I touched the release, the big deer bolted to chase a doe and I hit him further back than I wanted. When the arrow hit, he stumbled, sliding into a nearby drainage and regaining his footing as he darted to 27 yards where he paused, giving me just enough time to estimate yardage and send one more arrow down range. This one struck home, with my Iron Will connecting perfectly as he quartered away from me, shattering his offside shoulder on its exit and knocking him to the ground again. It only took another 10 yards for the big deer to collapse and it was over within 30 seconds.
Bow Setup / Gear:
Dialed ARXOS Picatinny Mount in Dialed Earth with a Dialed Sage Wheel
Sight Details: Single Pin, I lock my sight down at 22 yards, giving me flexibility to effectively shoot anywhere from 5-30 yards with minimal margin for error and only slight mental adjustments.
Bow: Hoyt Ventum Pro (Buckskin) at 65lbs
Broadheads: Iron Will V-Series 100
Arrows: Easton FMJ w/ 4in White Vanes
Buck Score: 147in | 8pt