Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Eleven Point Buck!?!


October 1, opening day of bow, I shot an eleven point….    Yeah, that’s right, it is an eleven point.  This will teach you to never assume that just because a buck has a lot of points that it is a monster.  I like to call this little guy the sticker monster. 
 
He is really a five point buck, but thanks to those stickers, I get to boast that I shot an eleven point.  Of course, the bragging rights end once people ask to see pictures.  None the less, he felt good to take considering I had an antler dry spell last year.  Yes, the curse has been broken. 
 
 
I camped out in Hastings, Michigan for the early doe weekend and hunted the land I mentioned in "The Season is Upon Us" post with my buddy Chris Korreck.  The first morning I didn't see anything, but the remainder of the weekend had plenty of deer (mostly bucks) but no shots.  So once opening day arrived, I was excited to try sitting out by the bank.  Chad and I headed out there after work at around 5:00 pm.  We flipped the Doberman head key chain, as is tradition now, and it was determined that I was going to be in the lower stand. 
 
 

As I headed down there, I spooked a spike from under the stand.  It wasn’t a big deal since I had planned on refraining from shooting spikes this year anyway.  After getting in the lower stand, I took some ranges and got familiar with the new lay of the land since the power lines were mowed and clear cut this summer making everything look very different.  The night went on and just as I was starting to think that the spike I scarred out was going to be the only deer that night, a buck stepped out into a clearing at the very last minute of shooting light.   I knew it was not a monster, but I also knew it was not a spike so it was game on.  This buck was on a mission and was not slowing down so by the time I stood up and grabbed my bow the buck was in the last possible clearing for me to shoot.  I drew my bow, made a grunt noise with my mount to stop him, and looked through my peep site to see nearly complete darkness.  I finally made out the front leg, placed my pin right behind it and let the arrow fly.  I heard the thump of what I thought was a gut shot followed by the deer crashing through the woods and finally what sounded like a crash in its final resting place. 
Chad and I got down from our stands only minutes later and found the arrow full of bright red blood.  Jackpot!!  The well-defined blood trail easily lead us to the deer only 40 to 50 yards away.  It was the first time ever shooting Bloodrunner Broadheads and I must say I am pretty pleased.  See the video below.  
 


Stats:
Sex - Male
Points - Eleven
Weight (dressed) - 125 lbs
Shot Distance -17 yards
Weapon - Hoyt CRX 35 Bow (first whitetail deer taken with this bow)
Broad Head - Blood Runner (first time ever shooting this type of broad head)
Lighted nock by Nocturnal (failed to work) Note to self - Go back to Burt Coyote Nocks.
Location - Lower stand at the Bank

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work Bryan. Now the pressure's off for the rest of the year, and your "restricted" tag is punched. Are you getting this one mounted? I see that your nockturnal nocks failed to work, I had the same experience with my bear. I got the shot on video, but there was no bright blue streak flying towards the bear, not what I had hoped for. I haven't been out for deer yet, hopefully this weekend. Good luck on the rest of the year.
-BK

Anonymous said...

Do you wear the waldo shirt in the stand? AK

Bryan and Katy Kraker said...

Of course I wear the Waldo shirt in my stand. Waldo always had the best camo. Remember how hard he was to find? Well in works in the woods too.

Unknown said...

That makes sense. can I borrow it?

Unknown said...

you guys have any good venison recipes you can share? I want bambi to be as delicious as possible.

Andrew Kraker said...

Rage. My hole was bigger :-) Just not in as good of a spot.