Citrus Buck 2013

I've been having a tough deer season so far. I had a doe jump my string at 30 yards opening weekend of Ga archery. I had another doe slip right behind me at my property in Fl during archery, when I tried to stand up and turn around she caught my movement and ran off. I missed yet another doe during general gun in Ga. With my wife's Nov. 22 baby due date fast arriving, I was feeling the pressure to put some venison in the cooler.

"Lefty" cruising during mid-day

I saw the cool temperatures on the forecast for Wed. Nov 13 and decided to take a personal day from work and try to make it happen. My plan was to archery hunt my property in the morning and then hit Citrus WMA in the evening for their late archery season. My property camera was telling me the rut was on as I had a couple pictures of a 7 point I call lefty cruising through during the daytime.

I arrived early and though I was happy about the cool temperature, I wasn't thrilled about the 30 mph winds.

Roadkill Buck

Besides getting a wild ride in my tree stand as the gusty winds blew me back and forth there wasn't much action except 9 squirrels at my feeder. I got down about 9:30 a.m. and drove to Wal-Mart to look for a new trail cam as one of mine had stopped working. On my way back to my property I spotted the white belly of a deer in the little ditch beside Hwy 98. I turned around to investigate and found it to be a beautiful 8 point that was freshly killed by a vehicle. It was still warm and smelled fine so I hoisted it on my Hitch&Haul and brought it back to my property. After messing with a few of my hunting buddies by sending them a picture with no explanation, I began cleaning the buck. It's neck and hind leg were broken but there was no damage to the best cuts of meat. Isn't the first time I've taken advantage of a road kill deer and I'm sure it won't be the last.

After getting the meat on ice and cleaning up, I headed over to Citrus for a long afternoon sit. I got up in a tree at 1:30 p.m. and sat till 5:30 p.m. when the wind began to calm. My spacing out was interrupted by the sound of a deer running through the woods across the trail I was set up on. I could just catch some glimpses of brown and white as it ran off to my left. I gave it a couple calls with my grunt tube and I heard it stop. about 5 minutes later I heard another deer trotting strait towards me from across the trail. I stood up and saw a nice buck coming quickly towards me. I knew I would have to stop him at just the right time to get a shot off. As he came into the trail at full trot I gave him a loud deer stopping sound, you know, something like, "Maah!" and tried to get my top pin behind his shoulder before he took off again. He was 15 yards away and quartering towards me. I don't know if it was because I was shivering in the cold wind or what, but for some reason I could not seem to steady my pin on him. I released my arrow and heard a loud "Thwack" that sent him running a beeline across the trail and into the woods behind me.

I sat till dark thinking about the shot and how it just didn't feel right. It happened so quickly I was trying to remember where I saw the arrow hit him. It felt a little far back. When I got down my fears were confirmed. My arrow was laying in the trail covered in stomach matter. It looked like the dreaded gut shot. I decided to not even look for blood but rather to back out quietly and let him lay over night.

Citrus 6 point

After a night spent dreaming about looking for my buck I took the next morning off work and returned with my brother Jonny with the sober understanding that I may not find him. I climbed back up in my stand till it got light enough to look for blood and then began searching on my hands and knees starting where I shot him and moving into the woods where I saw him run. After an hour of searching without finding a drop of blood I went and got Jonny to do a grid search. After saying a prayer we split 30 yards apart and began walking in the direction I saw him run. As we entered a thick stand of palmettos my hopes were sinking lower and lower; but to my delight I looked to my left and there he was laying under a small cabbage palm. A beautiful 6 point. He had maybe ran 100 yards before laying down and expiring!

As the reality of how blessed I was to find him began to set in I jumped up in the air yelling as I pumped my fist and praised the Lord! The shot entrance was a little back but did get liver. The reason I had no blood trail was that with him quartering towards me, the arrow pulled the stomach through the exit hole like a balloon plugging it. All the blood had stayed inside the cavity. I was just thrilled to find him as I know the feeling when it goes the other way. It turned out to be a productive day of hunting as far as filling the freezer goes: Two beautiful Florida bucks. As after every hunt there are always lessons to be learned:

1. I should have made a better shot.

2. As the saying goes, "When it doubt, back out." I gave him time to lay rather than pushing him (I have learned that lesson the hard way before).

3. Don't give up searching just because you don't find blood. Give it your best effort and go a little further because he may be laying dead just ahead.

Now I'm ready for my wife to have this baby and then take my two older boys to my property for doe week to try to get them their first deer.