A few of my bow kills, public and private.

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jpsmith270
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby jpsmith270 » Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:44 am

buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby buckeye » Sat Feb 24, 2018 12:31 pm

jpsmith270 wrote:
buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


Sorry for the delay. Not all beds are chosen based on thermals. Often times cover based bedding is used with this being a good example of that.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby rfickes87 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:16 pm

buckeye wrote:
jpsmith270 wrote:
buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


Sorry for the delay. Not all beds are chosen based on thermals. Often times cover based bedding is used with this being a good example of that.


Buckeye, sorry man but can you elaborate on his question? I'm really curious too...

See, I'm to the point now where I could spot that on the map and find that bed easily. BUT... I too like the gentlemen above would have set up on it on a north wind day. So, what gave you the stones to set up on this bed on a SW wind? Did you know he used it on any wind bc of how secure this buck was with all the thick cover? If so that makes me rethink a lot of my beds...

Does it have anything to do with the shape of the whole drainage? It seems that buck was getting thermals from a lot of different winds...
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:58 pm

See, I'm to the point now where I could spot that on the map and find that bed easily. BUT... I too like the gentlemen above would have set up on it on a north wind day. So, what gave you the stones to set up on this bed on a SW wind? Did you know he used it on any wind bc of how secure this buck was with all the thick cover? If so that makes me rethink a lot of my beds...

Does it have anything to do with the shape of the whole drainage? It seems that buck was getting thermals from a lot of different winds...[/quote]
you last sentence answered it. that is the kind of points big bucks love. for just that reason that wind is going to swirl on that bed any day.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:04 pm

rfickes87 wrote:
buckeye wrote:
jpsmith270 wrote:
buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


Sorry for the delay. Not all beds are chosen based on thermals. Often times cover based bedding is used with this being a good example of that.


Buckeye, sorry man but can you elaborate on his question? I'm really curious too...

See, I'm to the point now where I could spot that on the map and find that bed easily. BUT... I too like the gentlemen above would have set up on it on a north wind day. So, what gave you the stones to set up on this bed on a SW wind? Did you know he used it on any wind bc of how secure this buck was with all the thick cover? If so that makes me rethink a lot of my beds...

Does it have anything to do with the shape of the whole drainage? It seems that buck was getting thermals from a lot of different winds...

I think your last two sentences answered it for you.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby buckeye » Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:00 pm

rfickes87 wrote:
buckeye wrote:
jpsmith270 wrote:
buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


Sorry for the delay. Not all beds are chosen based on thermals. Often times cover based bedding is used with this being a good example of that.


Buckeye, sorry man but can you elaborate on his question? I'm really curious too...

See, I'm to the point now where I could spot that on the map and find that bed easily. BUT... I too like the gentlemen above would have set up on it on a north wind day. So, what gave you the stones to set up on this bed on a SW wind? Did you know he used it on any wind bc of how secure this buck was with all the thick cover? If so that makes me rethink a lot of my beds...

Does it have anything to do with the shape of the whole drainage? It seems that buck was getting thermals from a lot of different winds...


One of the main give aways that it was a primary bed and not just a bed for Northerly winds, is that the bed was hammered... Worn down to dirt with tons of hair in it and big tracks all around it. The green briar around it was all browsed down as well. We do not get enough Northerly winds for the useage that the bed showed.

This is a very thick and rugged walking area from spoil banks and nasty briars from the strip mining, deer on this land use cover based bedding as much or more than thermal based bedding.

Now, I am not implying that this buck wasn't able to use any sort of thermal wind currents in the bed above as I am sure he was, though it is obvious the bed was not chosen as a leeward bedding location.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby jpsmith270 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:45 pm

buckeye wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:
buckeye wrote:
jpsmith270 wrote:
buckeye wrote:2011 Public Land Buck

Friday, October 21st 2011 was just one of those magical feeling days of Autumn. We were at the tail end of a cold front with overcast skies and moderate winds from the SW. I knew the weather could not have been any more perfectly suited for big buck movement. My experiences over the years have taught me that the third week of October in my area to setup on traditional scrape areas and acorns that lie near preferred bedding areas. I had just the place in mind with a good bed I found the past winter, this would be my first setup on this bed. This bed was just above a hill side with a handful of big oak trees and scrapes. The buck would have to travel SouthEast from his bed to drop down to the oaks and scrapes.

Image

My hunt did not exactly start as planned though as I was busted by a doe and fawn as I was pulling my bow up to my Assault. The wind was blowing hard enough to mask their sound, I never heard them until it was to late. As bad as it is to get busted by any deer... I knew it was a good sign that deer were on their feet three hours before dark.

There is no point in showing the Topo as it's is all blacked out like the Topo in the post above due to being reclaimed strip mines.

Image

Image

Hardly an hour had passed and I could see a deer briskly moving my direction. A brief flash of antlers through the foliage confirmed it was a buck. I grabbed my bow and readied for a shot in case it was a good buck, and a good buck he was. I could see mass and lot's of it. At this point I was very thankful for the compact 30" axle to axle length of my bow, as the buck stopped just two yards from the base of my tree. I drew back, quickly settled in and off I sent the arrow toward him. I could see the impact and hear the loud crack of the arrow meeting it's target, the buck whirled around and ran back the same way he came. I was 100% confident in my shot placement, although I could see I did not get a complete passthrough. I could tell the broadhead punched an exit hole from the blood trail though.

I lowered my bow to the ground, then took down and packed up my Assault and sticks to help pass time before I went onto the blood trail. Off I went and it was easy to follow... Blood everywhere, I also found the back half of my arrow on the trail. Then I could see him across the ravine. I abandoned the rest of the blood trail and made a bee line to the buck. Once there I made a discovery, the other half of my arrow! The slightly quartering to shot took out both lungs. The arrow entered a few inches below the spine and exited the sternum.

Image

Image

Image
This photo was back in the truck in my dragging clothes.


Please help me think through this. In my short Beast career and still trying to learn many new things, I would have never thought to hunt this area on a southerly wind. It seems that the buck would bed on this point with a more northerly wind. What am I missing? Can you explain?


Sorry for the delay. Not all beds are chosen based on thermals. Often times cover based bedding is used with this being a good example of that.


Buckeye, sorry man but can you elaborate on his question? I'm really curious too...

See, I'm to the point now where I could spot that on the map and find that bed easily. BUT... I too like the gentlemen above would have set up on it on a north wind day. So, what gave you the stones to set up on this bed on a SW wind? Did you know he used it on any wind bc of how secure this buck was with all the thick cover? If so that makes me rethink a lot of my beds...

Does it have anything to do with the shape of the whole drainage? It seems that buck was getting thermals from a lot of different winds...


One of the main give aways that it was a primary bed and not just a bed for Northerly winds, is that the bed was hammered... Worn down to dirt with tons of hair in it and big tracks all around it. The green briar around it was all browsed down as well. We do not get enough Northerly winds for the useage that the bed showed.

This is a very thick and rugged walking area from spoil banks and nasty briars from the strip mining, deer on this land use cover based bedding as much or more than thermal based bedding.

Now, I am not implying that this buck wasn't able to use any sort of thermal wind currents in the bed above as I am sure he was, though it is obvious the bed was not chosen as a leeward bedding location.


This helps drive it home for me. The obvious signs that the bed was being used on many different winds and not solely for thermal advantage. Thanks Buckeye for taking the time to explain.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby rfickes87 » Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:10 am

Yes, Thank you Buckeye! I totally understand this scenario now. I would have been thinking just like you if I had found a bed worn out like that. Thank you again for taking the time.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby bowfreak8 » Tue Jul 31, 2018 9:27 am

This is my second time reading through this thread and I just had to comment and say thank you for the awesome information and stories. You are a killer!
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby Kane0928 » Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:12 pm

Appreciate you taking the time to write all this out. This is the stuff that motivates to keep on reading and to keep scouting your results are inspriational!
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby Brandonkinchen » Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:38 pm

Nice. Congrats
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby buckeye » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:38 am

November 1st 2021

I was setup behind a pond that was in an inside corner where an open area met the timber. The woods I was setup in was also an inside corner where mature trees with good ground level cover meets two different clear cuts. Both clear cuts are only a few years old. I had a WSW wind but in this spot it works like a wind tunnel and the SW wind will swirl and push back to the WNW

The clear cuts were North and East of my stand location, but I was confident the wind swirl would keep me clean from deer coming from the East winding me making this setup work.

Around 6:20 I could see a buck making his way from the clear cut and J hooking toward me. He was grunting quite a bit but also stopped to eat a few acorns on his way. He came from the NE and J hooked straight East of me. When he hit about 18 yards I released the arrow hitting him high and back. I knew soon as the shot broke it wasn't an optimal hit, but luckily it did the job. I had an amazing blood trail. He covered about 90 yards on his death run.
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby Mike32 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:08 am

Congratulations that's a slob
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby Arrowbender » Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:32 pm

Congrats Wind Whisperer!!
Seriously! You got it figured out.
Well Done!
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Re: A few of my bow kills, public and private.

Unread postby greenhorndave » Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:27 pm

Great hunt and great buck! :clap:

Sounds like an amazing convergence of transitions.
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