Super Ohio Bowhunt: Bedded Buck at 20 Yards Scored 161 3/8!
Mike: I shot this Ohio buck last Oct. 25. Here’s the story.
I was climbing into my stand very slowly and saw him bedded 20 yards away in some tall weeds. (I was hunting a 1-acre bedding area and had to be very careful going into this stand in the afternoon). I was about 3 steps up the tree when I scanned the weeds and spotted him bedded so close and facing my stand.
I decided to keep climbing, so I went at a super snail’s pace up the tree, and after about 15 minutes I finally made it to the platform without him seeing, hearing or smelling me. I did have the wind in my favor. After very slowly pulling up my bow and getting my release on, I carefully knocked an arrow, put my bow on the holder and cautiously sat down to regain my composure. My heart was pounding and my legs were really tired from climbing so slow.
I debated what to do next: Shoot him in his bed or wait for him to stand up and hope he gives me a good shot?
After assessing the situation I decided I had a good enough angle to his vitals, and that there were no obstructions in the way. I also decided that if I waited for him to stand up, I might not get a good shot angle on him. It was about 2 hours before sunset, and I didn’t want to take a chance on the wind swirling. I might get winded without a shot.
It was very cool to watch the buck lay in his bed and see his actions. Like all bucks do, he was bedded with his back to the wind, watching his downwind side.
I decided to go for it. I said a quick prayer, drew back, settled the pin behind the shoulder and let her rip. The arrow hit perfectly and he jumped up and made a half circle back of me and stopped no more than 15 yards directly south of my stand. He started to make a coughing sound and I knew he was hit well, but I instinctively knocked another arrow and shot him again from 15 yards broadside.
This shot was also perfect and he ran to the base of my tree and fell over. All 4 feet straight in the air and on his back!
He is a main-frame 9-point with double split brow tines and a kicker on left G-2. He has 6 points on left side and 6 on right. Main beams are 24” & 25" and he has a 19" inside spread. He green scored 161 3/8” and field-dressed 199 lbs. Thanks, Chad Moore
Very cool and well-written story, with some fantastic hunting moves and decision making. From our correspondence I could tell that Chad, who has been on my blog a long time, is a great bowhunter. This hunt is certainly proof of that, way to go man. comment
For starters I was impressed by your decision to shoot based on the possibility of swirling winds. How many hunters could've thought that out with their heart beating through their neck and chest? Well done. Second, you put yourslef in that position by crawling up the tree. How many hunters do you know could pull that off? I'm guessing you're in pretty good physical shape? I know my butterball a%$ probably couldn't do that right now. LOL!
Third, you made the right decision that the buck, after possibly standing up, might not offer you a shot. Awesome! Hey, if you're offered a shot on a mature stud like that, and maybe aren't offered the "perfect" scenario, you BETTER TAKE YOUR SHOT.
Very impressive, Chad Moore. Very impressive indeed. I'll remember your story if this ever happens to me. Well done, sir!
Dean, I basically had no chance other than to keep climbing the tree once I realized it was a shooter buck, and that he was already within bow range. If I would have went back down to the ground I would have had less than a 10 percent chance at killing him. I figured if I could scale that tree and get into position I had better than a 90 percent chance of killing him. It was the getting into position part that I had the least chance of, 50/50 I figured..... Adrenaline kicks in and you find that you are able to do some things you possibly couldn't do under normal circumstances. Another reason I decided to shoot was because I couldn't take the chance on having to explain not getting a shot off on a buck like that..... I'm not the kind of guy that comes up with excuses, and I've heard a lot of excuses from guys over the years if you know where I'm coming from.
and do learn all the time.
Hanback, as you know there are so many ego-maniacs in our industry. I mean, we ALL have an ego (we're men, it goes with the territory), but we can always pick up tips from many different sources. To think that you know more than thousands of other hunters is narcissistic. I pick up tips from great hunters all over the place. It's part of what makes this so much fun.
And, this is why this blog is so cool. There are no know-it-alls here. We can pick up tips from each other, and everyone has fun in the process.
I believe I don't live too far from you.... within a short distance of FW Indiana. If you would like to talk deer hunting some time let me know. I have found some really good sheds already this year which is getting me pumped up for the coming season.
I am getting a delay from my email server when sending to you for some reason, but you should get them sometime soon.
this knowledge in the past to help me be a better hunter and look forward to learning a lot more in the future. Good stuff
Horns are hitting the ground! Good luck to all those who are looking. Have had a pretty good start here in Southern IL! (for me anyways)
Great deer, Chad. I don't think any "real" hunter would think twice about taking the buck you did, the way you did, under the circumstances. Heck, we all work to hard to get opportunities and you had a great opportunity! I've shot deer bedded down before, but it was a little different. I had a herd of deer come crashing in from a corn field - heck, it looked like rabbits going everywhere. I couldn't shoot because I couldn't figure out which one was going where. They obviously got busted out of some bedding area. I just sat there and watched with amazement...to this day I don't know how many deer came crashing into the woods that day, but it felt like 10-12. Ironically, one doe stopped, looked back, and layed down on top of a hill just to my left. Since this was the late season in Michigan and I had a doe tag, I raised my gun. Then I thought to myself, "how am I going to explain to my family (all hunting on the same property that day) that I shot a doe that was laying down?" Easy, I finally decided, I pulled up my gun, set the sights, found the vitals (smaller than normal because she was laying down, I thought to myself), and pulled the trigger. Either way, I had spent all day in the woods to finally get the opportunity (it was going on 8 hrs that day) and I wasn't going to pass it up.
Now, place that nice rack of Chad's on the head of that doe and I bet my vitals would have gotten even smaller!
Dean, I got a fairly nice deer this fall with my bow and would like to score it out of curiousity...it is not a monster, but nice. In fact, I posted some stuff about it earlier in the year that you can still find on the blog. Do you know of something/someone near Noblesville? I don't want to go to any trouble, or anything fancy because I don't think it is worth it, but I would like to know for personal reference. As many of you guys know, I was brought up a meat hunter, so scoring never meant a damn thing. "If it's brown, it's down," was always the montra around my house. Now that I'm in Indiana and I only get one buck/year, I'm sort of getting into the idea of shooting a big one - a big scoring one, that is...but I haven't a clue about the details. For me its always been about the freezer and probably always will be. That said, I'd like to get an idea of what this one scored so I can "judge" for myself a little better in the field.
Happy Hunting,
BD