The 2015 Wisconsin Bow Hunting
Season came up on us quicker than ever this year. In preparation of this season we spent
countless hours in the woods working on existing food plots, clearing trees,
and maintaining trails. Additionally, we
also had trail cameras out for the entire antler growing season beginning in
April of this past spring. This summer
we had a severe storm come through that had straight line winds that brought
down several large trees across the property.
The chainsaw was ran many days straight for about a week and a half in
cleaning up the fallen mess that was left behind.
After
reviewing thousands of trail camera photos over the months it became apparent
that the deer had a pretty good winter and spring this past year in contrast to
the past couple as there were more fawns present, the antler growth appeared
better, and the overall health of the deer certainly looked a lot better.
Two bucks ran together all summer
and frequently were caught on film together, “High Boy” and “Big Nine.” High Boy is a buck that I have known from
years past and believe him to be a 5.5 or 6.5 year old this year. –I saw him from my stand twice two years ago,
had him on film many times last season, and had him on film again this
summer. High Boy is not a high scoring during
by means of inches of antler, but is simply a very high racked buck that is a
clean eight point. Meanwhile, the buck
that I was seeing with High Boy was the Big Nine. Big Nine is simply a very clean nine point
that I really didn’t know of prior to this summer. I would guess him as a 3.5 or 4.5 year old,
but that’s just a guess based on body size.
Both of these bucks were ones that I decided to try to target for the
upcoming bow season.
The opening weekend of bow season
found me perched in a couple of my favorite stands. I hunted one stand by the east side of the
property and one on the west side property.
Both days the weather was perfect and I had activity around me. I had a pair of twin fork bucks wrestling
with one another directly beneath me on evening and had a smaller nine, eight,
and an unidentified buck all within 50 yards of me on the second sit of the
year. Although I didn’t pull the string
back I was feeling good about the year to come.
The following weekend I once again
found myself perched about 20 feet up one of my favorite stands. –I had checked a trail camera close by and
had seen Big Nine on it twice and High Boy on it once the previous week shortly
after shooting hours. (The weather had
been warm earlier this week so I was optimistic that a little cooler weather
may have the deer moving slightly earlier, which gave me an additional glimmer
of hope.) After sitting in the stand and
watching a grey squirrel that had a snowball white tail dance around picking up
acorns for a couple hours I gazed behind me as I ritually do from time to time
while leisurely reading while in the stand.
When I looked back I saw a buck, Big Nine, standing in patch of sunlight
about 80 yards away. My heart jumped
and was now kick started.
The Big Nine was coming from the
south, just as I had suspected he would, and the slight southwest wind was
perfect for me if he was coming to the food plot like I had suspected he
was. I sat motionless in my stand as I
knew he was approaching. I envisioned him
coming straight off my left shoulder and had plans on drawing and releasing as he
quartered away towards the food plot, which I was about 75 yards off of. I envisioned him being 12-15 yards where I would likely get the shot... Unfortunately, he came around the right side
of my stand over my right shoulder where I knew I would be extremely vulnerable
to him with the wind and could not draw and spin as I am right handed.
(Seems like it is rare that things happen as planned!?) As Big Nine continued to move forward it was
evident by his body language that he knew something was not right and would
take the smallest of steps and then scan, scan, scan. He did this for what seemed like a half hour, but in reality probably was less than five minutes. Although he didn’t ever visually detect me
his nose was clearly telling him something wasn’t right as his body language said so. He was now easily within bow range at maybe
25-30 yards however I was exposed in drawing my bow and Big Nine was ready to
blow and bolt at any second. In fact, I
would have bet anything at this point that he would have busted out of there
and I wouldn’t see him again until rut if I was lucky.
Fortunately, a doe, which was
walking the same trail about 5-10 minutes behind him decided to come to the
food plot and go directly towards it like I had envisioned the Big Nine
would. She passed my LEFT at 12-15 yards and had not detected me as the wind was favorable on this side of the tree. The Big Nine was now about 55
yards out and was looking like he would be passing on the food plot visit for the
evening, however he saw the doe that had safely made it to the food plot. His confidence increased and emotion to
safety suddenly was tossed aside as he began bee-lining straight towards the
food plot right in front of me. Now, my
fortune had quickly changed and I knew I would get a shot so long as I wasn’t
busted drawing back. Big Nine walked
behind a large white pine about 25 yards away and I started to draw, but somehow my
nock came off of the string as I was beginning to draw. (I recall doing this once when I first started to hunt as I was usually shaking like a leaf at this point.) Although I thought to myself that I messed up
the opportunity the buck continued to walk from right to left in front of me
now. I kept my cool and regrouped and got the nock back
on the string as I weaseled it forward ever so slowly. (To this day I don’t know what happened
there outside of me possibly not having the nock snapped on tight???) I started to draw back again as the buck was now behind another white pine. As he came out from the white pine I was at
full draw and released the arrow from about twenty-seven yards as his forefront leg moved forward. The arrow disappeared through Big Nine right
where I was aiming with a “whump” sound.
Big Nine quickly spun a 180 degree turn and loped off. I did not hear a crash or any running sounds
after just a couple seconds.
I scanned the woods for the next
fifteen minutes and then exited my stand as quietly as I could. I found the arrow after a couple minutes of
looking and decided to exit the woods and leave the tracking until I got my
sons, JD, and Nolan. However,
immediately upon getting on the trail that leads me into my stand I looked down
to where I thought the buck may have crossed and spotted crimson soaked leaves. I looked up and there was the Big Nine lying
dead not 30 yards off of the trail and only about 70 yards from where I shot
him. As much as I wanted to check him
out I waited until the boys could help me “track” him as they both live for
this and it’s a wonderful learning opportunity.
Once I got the boys back in the
woods with me the two easily found Big Nine. Upon inspection, I had taken out the top off one lung and the
bottom of the other with the shot. JD and
Nolan both helped me load the deer and get him back. –I think the best part of the hunt was seeing
the smiles on their faces as they found the deer. Another great kick-off to our family’s
favorite time of year!
