Kirk
Well-known member
<font size="3">In July 2005, I made a discovery on a trail cam that made my heart pound a little quicker. I had never run mid summer trail cams before so this was a new experience for me. I looked in total disbelief at the the full velvet buck that was posing in front of the camera.(Notice the malformed brow tine)</font>
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<font size="3">I was excited and had two full months to wait before I could even think about harvesting the buck. I put out two more cameras in the area (a rookie move) trying to narrow down his travel route. He was very cooperative and appeared on all three cameras with great regularity.</font></p>
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<font size="3">His antlers kept growing and he remained in the area the remainder of the summer and in to late September. </font></p>
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<font size="3">The 05' archery season began and I started hunting his outside range trying to catch him passing through the area. I caught a glimpse of him on 05' archery opener. He never got any closer than 75 yards.</font> </p>
<font size="3">I had a 43 yard shot on him the following Thursday and didn't let the arrow fly because he was acting sort of spooky. I had this deer figured out. I knew where he slept and knew the trail he took every afternoon just before dark. I was dialed in to this deer and was confident I would take him.</font> </p>
<font size="3">I decided to move out of the area for a couple of weeks to let everything calm down. I hunted another property for two weeks and killed a doe. That sort of took away the nerves of the seasons first kill and calmed me down.</font></p>
<font size="3">The last week of the 05' archery season I moved back to his favorite oak ridge. I placed my tree stand 30 yards from his most frequently traveled trail. He had changed his movement pattern just a little and had adjusted his path down the ridge about 100 yards. The next afternoon I split the difference and moved down the ridge about 55 yards. With about 14 minutes of legal shooting light left I could hear him crossing the fence and heading up the ridge. Unfortunately he walked about 10 yards from where I had been sitting the day before. I didn't get to hunt the next two days. </font></p>
<font size="3">I hunted him the Friday before the archery close I didn't see him.
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<font size="3">I got one last trail cam picture of him two days before the 05' juvenile hunt. I found out I had this picture two weeks later. (which added insult to injury).
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<font size="3">I took my 12 year old son on the juvenile hunt to another piece of property and he killed a little 5 point. The next day a juvenile hunter on property adjoining the land I had been hunting shot a big buck and he ran off. Several hunters searched the area for several days looking for him. he had a decent blood trail but it ran out after about 150 yards. A guy down the road brought in his beagles to see if they could find the deer and they lost the trail at a creek. </font></p>
<font size="3">The deer was never seen again.</font></p>
<font size="3">It broke my heart. He may have survived the wound and he may have ran for a few miles and crawled up in a thicket and died. I spent the rest of the winter and spring looking for his skull and rack but never found it. </font><font size="3"> I will never know for sure what happened to him.</font></p>
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</p>
</p>
<font size="3">I was excited and had two full months to wait before I could even think about harvesting the buck. I put out two more cameras in the area (a rookie move) trying to narrow down his travel route. He was very cooperative and appeared on all three cameras with great regularity.</font></p>
</p>
<font size="3">His antlers kept growing and he remained in the area the remainder of the summer and in to late September. </font></p>
</p>
<font size="3">The 05' archery season began and I started hunting his outside range trying to catch him passing through the area. I caught a glimpse of him on 05' archery opener. He never got any closer than 75 yards.</font> </p>
<font size="3">I had a 43 yard shot on him the following Thursday and didn't let the arrow fly because he was acting sort of spooky. I had this deer figured out. I knew where he slept and knew the trail he took every afternoon just before dark. I was dialed in to this deer and was confident I would take him.</font> </p>
<font size="3">I decided to move out of the area for a couple of weeks to let everything calm down. I hunted another property for two weeks and killed a doe. That sort of took away the nerves of the seasons first kill and calmed me down.</font></p>
<font size="3">The last week of the 05' archery season I moved back to his favorite oak ridge. I placed my tree stand 30 yards from his most frequently traveled trail. He had changed his movement pattern just a little and had adjusted his path down the ridge about 100 yards. The next afternoon I split the difference and moved down the ridge about 55 yards. With about 14 minutes of legal shooting light left I could hear him crossing the fence and heading up the ridge. Unfortunately he walked about 10 yards from where I had been sitting the day before. I didn't get to hunt the next two days. </font></p>
<font size="3">I hunted him the Friday before the archery close I didn't see him.
</font></p>
<font size="3">I got one last trail cam picture of him two days before the 05' juvenile hunt. I found out I had this picture two weeks later. (which added insult to injury).
</font></p>
<font size="3">I took my 12 year old son on the juvenile hunt to another piece of property and he killed a little 5 point. The next day a juvenile hunter on property adjoining the land I had been hunting shot a big buck and he ran off. Several hunters searched the area for several days looking for him. he had a decent blood trail but it ran out after about 150 yards. A guy down the road brought in his beagles to see if they could find the deer and they lost the trail at a creek. </font></p>
<font size="3">The deer was never seen again.</font></p>
<font size="3">It broke my heart. He may have survived the wound and he may have ran for a few miles and crawled up in a thicket and died. I spent the rest of the winter and spring looking for his skull and rack but never found it. </font><font size="3"> I will never know for sure what happened to him.</font></p>
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