the community buck

[the skrat]

i took my new armstrong rifle out for the first time saturday decided to do a stillhunt in a large cedar swamp.
in the last couple of days we had 8 inches of snow, well it got up to 35 degrees and it was like a rain forest out there had to stay conciese of the flintlock the whole time kept it tucked under my arm. after about an hour and a half i saw a doe then she noticed me had a staredown for a couple minutes then she took off and so did another one that was hiding in some thick stuff. i stood there for a couple of minutes all of a sudden seen another deer come in off to the right nose to the ground and running hard. this deer was zig zagging all over the place real fast but the swamp was so thick couldnt tell what it was. finally seen it was a decent buck just couldnt get a shot. it kept running around like crazy when 25 yards away it hit a small opening and i fired on it when the smoke cleared i seen it stillon the run went to where i last seen itand saw a big patch of blood in the snow. :grin:
i started tracking and this blood trail was like you sprayed it with a garden hose. followed for about .5 mile then jumped it couldnt get a shot followed it for another .75 of a mile jumped it again up untill this time the amount of blood was unbelievable but now it slowed down to a to a trickle and was headed for the neigbhers land it crossed over the line just then i seen my neigbher asked him if he seen a deer and said it went through about 5 minutes before then said he would help me went all over his land then across a creek in front of one of his hunters so he joined us to then it went across the next guys landinto another swamp but started to get dark.
we went back to the neigbhors camp got flashlightsand 2 more guysand one went to my houseto tell my family where i was because it was way after dark. picked up the trail again jumped the buck again and it crossed the creek but could only run about a 100 yards walked up to it and finished off with a pistol had to drag it .25 a mile to a logging road got to another guys camp he got his truck helped me get my buck home.
this buck ran close to 4 miles and involved 6 guys so i call it the community buck. my first neigbhor said it was his first day of hunting because he had to work the last 4 daysi felt bad but he said dont because this was more fun than hunting. my buck had 8 points and 14.5 inch inside spread not my biggest buck but by far my favorite hunt first time hunting with my new rifle.
happy thanksgiving everybody curly maple

 

[roundball]

Great story... congratulations!
:hatsoff:

 

[bulletman]

Meat well earned, what a story.

 

[rabjr]

Grats curly maple!

 

[dwarvenchef]

Thats a buck that had issues with getting caught, wow glad ya found him :thumbsup:

 

[Walks Alone]

Great story and thanks for sharing. Ya made meat and an excellent follow up after the shot by running it down. Good job. :thumbsup:

 

[the skrat]

thanks guys what i like about this hunt is that i notice at least around here most adjoining landowners tend to become enemies during deer season everyone acusing each other of shooting all the deer or a 100 other things well we helped the neighbor a couple years ago now he returned the favor both parties happy to help each other and getting a buck the first time out with the new rifle was a bonus went to bed feeling pretty good :thumbsup:
curly maple

 

[Halftail]

Great story Curly!!Glad you got him!I'm envious of you being able to carry a pistol in the woods.Noting like that allowed up here.

 

[guncobbler]

Curly - Where did you hit the deer to make it bleed so much but be able to run so far? I guess this was not a solid lung shot. Glad you had snow to track it on. Thanks, GC

 

[the skrat]

hello halftail we are very fortunate down here in the usa with our gun rights but we must never take it for granted there are peaple every day wishing to take them away.

gun cobbler i hit the deer as it was quartering towards me hit it in the front shoulder never actualy entered the body but made a very large wound i have never seen a deer bleed this much also the deer was running probably not the wisest shot but i made it and followed through untill the end.i was also very lucky to have fresh snow.
curly maple

 

[wtilenw]

Great story, good job recovering the animal.
Where is the U.P?
Idaho PRB

 

[the skrat]

the u.p. stands for upper puninsula of michigan we are connected to the lower punninsula by the mackinaw bridge we are called yoopers. most of the u.p. is woods a few small towns and not much agriculture. the winters are usually quite harsh with temps reaching 40 below at times and snowfall along the lake superior region has at times been over 250 inches although a lot less as as you get inland about 30 miles all and all a nice place to live.
curly maple

 

[KyFlintlock]

Glad you recovered him, way to go!!

 

[vermontfreedom]

Congrats and THANK YOU for not giving up on the tracking job. A LOT of other hunters would have stopped tracking after not finding the deer in the first few hundred yards, especially after the blood trail got thinner.

Surprised the deer bled out so much yet took so long to recover. My first (only) deer this season was much the same way. Copious blood trail for about 300 yards, then nothing. Ended up finding her after a total of 600-750 yards (map measured), the longest I've ever had to track a deer. Last 250 yards had no blood so resorted to merely searching the mountain, under laurel, in bramble thickes, fern patches, etc. She bled more than just about any other deer that didn't fall over dead where I shot.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Very pleased to hear your hunt had a happy ending. :thumbsup:

Thank you for sticking to it and seeing it through properly. :hatsoff:

Congratulations.