Finally on the Board

It was Dec. 2, 2010 and I hunted MA with a muzzleloader in the morning again having a deer slip by behind me. I've been chasing deer for 2.5 months and have yet to get one due mostly in part to my own stupidity.

After sitting the morning in MA I decided I would go to NH and check my camera to see if there was any recent activity. I threw my bow in the car and went up. If it looked promising I would stay up there otherwise I would return to MA and waste my time down here. I have been hunting NH since Sept 15 and have not seen a deer. Why would I think it could ever look promising.

Early I posted pictures of a big 7 PT that I got on my camera last week. It had rained hard and heavy for most of the day Wednesday, so when I arrived and found fresh tracks I thought I would have some pictures that would tell me how recently the deer had been there. I pulled the SD card and found the batteries were dead and there were no pictures.

I'm here and the tracks look fresh so screw it I thought. Something might come. I changed, and climbed into the treestand just before 2 PM. I hadn't been in the tree 45 minutes when I heard a noise to my left. I glanced over and saw the body of a deer behind a hemlock. When it stepped out I could see it was the beast.

He started toward me and was no more than 30 yards and he stopped. I had switched out the batteries in the camera and I thought he might have caught my scent. I had used this scent I saw on TV called Calm A Herd, it's supposed to be a cover scent and smell like deer. The stuff is a stick and is $20 for 2.5 oz. I rubbed some on the nearby trees to cover my scent from changing out the batteries before I got in the stand.

The buck acted cautious but didn't seem to scared. He would start in, then walk back, he was after the acorns that were under my stand. He circled behind me and in front of me just out of range for an hour and a half. He was just taking his time never acted scared, but very cautious. He was back in the hemlocks behind me and I could hear him, but not see him. It was getting late 4:40 when I heard a deer walking steady toward me. I thought it was a different deer.

The beast never stopped and walked right under my treestand. He was broadside at 15 feet when I drew back. I had watched him for so long that I was completely calm and I was telling myself to take my time and not blow it. It was gray light, and I could see the green dot from my sight as I lowered it onto his form. I touched the trigger on my release and he bolted going about 100 MPH. I had no idea where the arrow hit as I couldn't see it when it released.

The string on my string tracker was going out, so I knew the arrow was in him. I climbed down and was going to look for him in the morning since I was unsure where he was hit, and I had a detail at 6:30 I had to get to. As I was walking out I came across my string. I noticed the blood trail at that point was heavy and I only went about 20 yards and I saw him piled up.

His inside spread is just about 21 inches. He weighed 168 lbs.