O
Oregonbowhunter
Guest
This wasn't getting much exposure over there on the Blacktail forum so I'll post here. First I'll tell the story...
I've been out nearly every waking moment trying to tag a buck during Oregon's late archery season. Yesterday I spent up high at and below the snow line trying to find some deer. I ran into a friend of my dad's up there and he had found a fresh cougar kill from that night, it was a really nice 3x4 with eyeguards. It was a bummer to see such a nice buck taken by a cougar.
Anyway I was headed to a spot I found Saturday. I walked this old grown over skid road and found decent sign and some nice fresh rubs, so I figured it would be a good place to start. As I turned off on the spur I saw a nice set of new tracks in the snow and was glad to see them, for there weren't many tracks on the road at all. I reached the old skid road and started down the trail with my antlers in hand to do some rattling. The wind was really whipping along up there and wouldn't be able to hear anything moving through the thick reprod and salal on my sides and rattling didn't look like much of an option. I got down there a couple hundred yards and hadn't seen any new tracks in the snow. I was hoping for some new tracks but nothing so far.
Suddenly, movement catches my eye to the left. I freeze and see a doe coming through the thick brush. I had a nice opening that also left me in the wide open. It was dark in there and another deer materialized and another. The doe was followed by a nice three point (although I wasn't counting points right then) and behind him was a nice forky. I dropped my rattling horns one at a time and tried to drop them so they wouldn't hit eachother but they did and the doe froze at about 15 yards and looked at me.
She didn't seem to see me even though there was nothing between me and her. The buck was right behind her, and looking to and then she kept moving and disregarded me. I had my bow in my left hand and reached behind my back to take an arrow out without being seen. Now the doe has moved off a little and the buck is standing there at 12-15 yards looking at me. I know it's now or never and I better just try for a shot. I look down very slowly and knock my arrow, hook on my release, slowly glance up. He's still looking, still standing. I draw my bow...still standing...I'm at full draw...still standing. I take a deep breath and let it all out and relax, settling my pin on his chest. He's quartering towards me, I'm not worried about a frontal shot at this distance. I settle my top pin on him and touch off my release. He's so close I can't see my arrow hit, it blows through him before I can catch sight of the arrow. The buck jumps straight up in the air about four feet and kicks his hind legs and is gone through the salal and reprod. Then he runs across an open area at the end of the road and I can tell he is hurt bad. The forky then appears down there, and stands looking towards where the buck had gone, he waits...then takes off the other way.
I wait a couple minutes for it to sink in, it happened so fast and was so unexpected. The rush of adrenaline was so great I thought I was going to hurl, ha ha ha. I calmed down and walked over and picked up my arrow, completely cover in blood and some gut juice. That had me worried and I started to think my arrow got deflected by a limb in the darkness of the reprod. I started looking for blood and wasn't sure of his direct path so I walked down the road to where he ran across. I don't see anything in the wet grass and then see a nice swath of blood in a skiff of snow. As my eyes are following the path of the blood I look up and see a dead buck, feet from wear I saw him disappear. I let out a holler and was elated. Turned out I hit him just inside the front leg and it went straight back through the vitals and exited behind the last rib.
I caped him out unsure if I would have him mounted and quartered and cut all excess meat off of him. I loaded the pack board and made one trip out. OH BOY! That about killed me, I had my bow and back pack too. Maybe I was a little over zealous! LOL. Anyway, I'm super proud of him, he's my best blacktail to date.
So, I took him to the taxidermist and need to figure out what pose to go with. I've looked all over the web and haven't found anything I really like yet. I would really appreciate any help from you guys. Here's some pics of my deer. I would like to capture how he looked when he came in. He was chasing a doe and had his nose down a bit, kinda in a sneak position. Then he came around at 15 yards and stood broadside with his chest turned 90 degrees towards me so he was facing me, he was alert with ears straight forward with neck kinda outstretched upward looking at me while I'm at full draw. Cool experience. First nice blacktail and first mount so I want to do it right. Thanks
I've been out nearly every waking moment trying to tag a buck during Oregon's late archery season. Yesterday I spent up high at and below the snow line trying to find some deer. I ran into a friend of my dad's up there and he had found a fresh cougar kill from that night, it was a really nice 3x4 with eyeguards. It was a bummer to see such a nice buck taken by a cougar.
Anyway I was headed to a spot I found Saturday. I walked this old grown over skid road and found decent sign and some nice fresh rubs, so I figured it would be a good place to start. As I turned off on the spur I saw a nice set of new tracks in the snow and was glad to see them, for there weren't many tracks on the road at all. I reached the old skid road and started down the trail with my antlers in hand to do some rattling. The wind was really whipping along up there and wouldn't be able to hear anything moving through the thick reprod and salal on my sides and rattling didn't look like much of an option. I got down there a couple hundred yards and hadn't seen any new tracks in the snow. I was hoping for some new tracks but nothing so far.
Suddenly, movement catches my eye to the left. I freeze and see a doe coming through the thick brush. I had a nice opening that also left me in the wide open. It was dark in there and another deer materialized and another. The doe was followed by a nice three point (although I wasn't counting points right then) and behind him was a nice forky. I dropped my rattling horns one at a time and tried to drop them so they wouldn't hit eachother but they did and the doe froze at about 15 yards and looked at me.
She didn't seem to see me even though there was nothing between me and her. The buck was right behind her, and looking to and then she kept moving and disregarded me. I had my bow in my left hand and reached behind my back to take an arrow out without being seen. Now the doe has moved off a little and the buck is standing there at 12-15 yards looking at me. I know it's now or never and I better just try for a shot. I look down very slowly and knock my arrow, hook on my release, slowly glance up. He's still looking, still standing. I draw my bow...still standing...I'm at full draw...still standing. I take a deep breath and let it all out and relax, settling my pin on his chest. He's quartering towards me, I'm not worried about a frontal shot at this distance. I settle my top pin on him and touch off my release. He's so close I can't see my arrow hit, it blows through him before I can catch sight of the arrow. The buck jumps straight up in the air about four feet and kicks his hind legs and is gone through the salal and reprod. Then he runs across an open area at the end of the road and I can tell he is hurt bad. The forky then appears down there, and stands looking towards where the buck had gone, he waits...then takes off the other way.
I wait a couple minutes for it to sink in, it happened so fast and was so unexpected. The rush of adrenaline was so great I thought I was going to hurl, ha ha ha. I calmed down and walked over and picked up my arrow, completely cover in blood and some gut juice. That had me worried and I started to think my arrow got deflected by a limb in the darkness of the reprod. I started looking for blood and wasn't sure of his direct path so I walked down the road to where he ran across. I don't see anything in the wet grass and then see a nice swath of blood in a skiff of snow. As my eyes are following the path of the blood I look up and see a dead buck, feet from wear I saw him disappear. I let out a holler and was elated. Turned out I hit him just inside the front leg and it went straight back through the vitals and exited behind the last rib.
I caped him out unsure if I would have him mounted and quartered and cut all excess meat off of him. I loaded the pack board and made one trip out. OH BOY! That about killed me, I had my bow and back pack too. Maybe I was a little over zealous! LOL. Anyway, I'm super proud of him, he's my best blacktail to date.
So, I took him to the taxidermist and need to figure out what pose to go with. I've looked all over the web and haven't found anything I really like yet. I would really appreciate any help from you guys. Here's some pics of my deer. I would like to capture how he looked when he came in. He was chasing a doe and had his nose down a bit, kinda in a sneak position. Then he came around at 15 yards and stood broadside with his chest turned 90 degrees towards me so he was facing me, he was alert with ears straight forward with neck kinda outstretched upward looking at me while I'm at full draw. Cool experience. First nice blacktail and first mount so I want to do it right. Thanks
