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BIG BUCK SURPRISEBy Kerry Wentworth (10-24-06)I started hunting with a bow in 1975. Having no bow. I purchased a Fred Bear whitetail model from Cabelas. Back then it cost around 70.00 doF lars. To this day I'm still hunting with this bow. It is a compound with a draw weight ot 70 lbs. I think it will outlast me.When I started shooting the bow. I could not hit the broad side ot a barn. Having no one to show me the right way. I developed some bad habits. Sometimes these bad habits haunt me to this day.I practiced shooting the bow all summer and got good enough to where I thought I couId take a deer. I did get a doe the first year at 7 yards. This is what got me nooked on bow hunting. I had no sight on the bow and used my fingers to draw it.The next year of bow hunting I had trouble hitting a deer. Wien the first buck came into bowrange. I shook so badly that I about fell out of the tree. That is when I found out what buck fever was. I never got the bow drawn. There was no venison that year!But the next year and there after. I have shot one every year. I had to go to a peep sight and a release aid. I have been trying to get a big buck for years; but ended up getting average sized deer. I did get a good sized buck in 2003. Switching trom aluminum to carbon arrows; I shot adeer at 40 yards. It was a 10 point. The deer made National Pope Young but not state. I was very happy with this buck.I usually check for deer signs around Labor Day to decide where to hunt. This is about one month before the season opens. The deer usually hav e the ir tra ils estab lishe d by th en. I took my portable tree stand and put it in a old gravel pit overgrown with trees nextto a cornfield.Thisgrove of trees is about 100 yardswide by 150 yards lo ng next to a g rave I ro ao. Th is a re a seems to be good only if there is corn planted there. I have seen a lot of deer tracks along the cornfield on the back side ofthe frees. Some of these trails were made by a large deer. I decided to put the tree sta nd in this spot. I p ut the stand in a tree about 15 ft. up and 20 yards fromthe edge of the corn. I could see fairly well in all directions. I had a shooting lane to the corn which was on my left and a shooting lane on my right.When the season ope ned. I hunte d this stand for the first time during the se cond week in Octob er. I usually h unt just evenings and I started hunting 2 hours before dark. I did not see any deer that evening.After that day. the weather turned cold. I did not go back to this stand until later in October. The temperature was around 40 degrees and a southwest wind 10 to 15 mph. I parked the pickup in a driveway nextstand was about 100 yards from the pickup. I went to my stand 2 hours before dark.Sitting in my stand wating patiently, the only th ing I had to watcn was two sguirrel3 fighting over a nest for the evening, ten minutes after sunset. I started to think about going back to the pickup. It's a good thing that I did not quit tor the evening. Not long after that I saw a buck west of me about 100 yards away on the same side ofthe trees that I was on. When I saw the deer, he had his nose up in a branch. He appeared to be a nice buck. I did not realize he was bigger than he looked. I decided to take him if he gave me the chance. I put the release on the string. and at that mo-ment the buck came towards me at a slow walk. As he was coming in. he stopped behind the trees in Tront of me. AJII could see was parts of him. At that time I did not know what the deer was going to do. Ifthe deer came to my right. I would have to stand up for the shot. He stood there for a few seconds and started to walk towards the corn that was to my left.The buck never got down wind of me. I should have stood up before he got close to me but I did not. As soon as I realized hewasgoingto approach me on the left by the corn. I drew the bow. He came into full view along the corn with his no3e to the ground. I still did not realize the buck was that big. I wanted to shoot when he was straight to my left, but he stopped before ne got to this point. At full draw I put the sight pin on his chest and I realized if I shot I would hit my knee with the b ow when I released tne arrow. (To shoot a bow accurately, you should hold the bow level.) I tipped the bow off to the left to clear my knee. and said to myself. ‘Don't mess this one up. Somebody must have been looking out for methat evening becausewhen I released the arrow it struckthe deer low. right behind the shoulder.(I 3tarted using carbon arrows and a Whisker Biscuit brand arrow rest 3 years ago. It has improved my shooting a lot.)The arrow stopped with about six inches showing. Tne deer bolted and ran right under the tree that I was in. towards the road and truck. At this point I still did not realize how big this buck really was. I heard the deer come to a stop. It so unde d like he wasn't far fromthe road. I could notsee the deer for the trees. At that time. I heard the de er go d own. At that point I thou ght I got him. I looked through the trees to see if I could spot him. Itwasn't verylo ng whe n I saw this la rg e buck cro ss the road and disappear. I thought to myself, that can't be the same buck that I just shot, because he did not look that big. and besides I heard him go down. At this time I was shaking and my heart rate was up. I sat in the stand until I had just enough light to get down. Having no flashlight.I went over to where I hit the deer, [found my arrow and the fletched end was gone.I looked at the arrow and did not see any blood. But itwas getting dark at this time. I followed the deer where I thoughthe ran back towardsthe road.I looked around where I thought I heard him drop.butno deer.The truck was about 35 yards from me so I went to the pickup and took a good look at my arrow. It was blood from one end to the othe r. As it turne d o ut h e left a blood trailfrom the stand to where we found him. I decided to wat one half hour before I started tracking him. I took a flashlight and walked down the road to see if I could pick up the blood trail. I did not go far when I saw the blood trail: therewere smallspots and large spots in a line. I followed the trail across the road to a field-drive going into a crop field. At this time I lost the trail.I decided to go back to the pickup and callfor help; I called Steve Hanna, (better known as ‘T—Bone') from Forest City. IA. I told him I just shot a big b uck b ut d id not know how big. H e as' ked me where I gotthe deer and I told him. ‘Custer's last stand.It was some 15 or 20 years ago; I was hunting this same spot when a doe came in and stopped in bow range of my stand. I drew the bow and shot. The arrow hit a branch and stuck in the ground beside the doe. The deer ran back and stopped. The doe was standing there wondering what that sound was. I knocked another arrow, and about that time the doe came back to where I shot the first time. I shot at the doe again and the same thing happened: [hit a branch and it stuck in the ground. The doe ran back again aboutthe same distance as she did before. I knocked another arrow and before long she came right back to the same spot again. I tried to shoot the doe again but the same thing—I hit a branch and it stuck in the ground. This time the doe ran back to the cornfield corner v/hich was abo ut 60 ya rd s away. At th is time th e sun had just set. To my surprise an 8 point buck came out of the corn right towards me. I drew the bov/when he v/as in range. When I shot the deer .he hunched up andwalked backto the corn and disappeared. It wasn't long before that same doe came back stif v/ondering what that those sounds v/ere. I did not shoot again. Having made a bad shot on the buck I left. 1 v/ent backto town and called T-Bone to help find the buck.T-Bone found my arrow that went threv/the buck. At that time I told him I had other arrows to pick up. I was picking up my other 3 arrows when ne said, it looks like ‘Custer's last stand around here.We never found that deer that night but found him later. That's how this place became ‘Custer's last stand.Back to my original story. I met T-Bo ne at my sn op in tov/n. We went o ut to where the deer v/as. At this time it v/as 2 hou rs afte r I shot the buck. We picked up the trail and foliov/ed it into the tall grass. Some of the grass v/as at least 5 to 6 feet high. We lost the trail three times but managed to get back on it. We finally found the deer, he v/e nt approximately 250 yards fro m where I shothim and about125 yards from where he v/ent down. When v/e found him. I could not believe my eyes. I did not realize that buck v/as that big. I v/as the happiest bow hunter in the U.SA at this time. If I realized how big this buck v/as when he came in .1 probably v/ould have missed him. Most deer do not come in like they are supposed to. and v/here you figure you will take the shot, butthis one did. I did notknov/the deer v/as in the area when I hunted there. We field dressed the deer, and as luckv/ould have it. I drove the pickup right up to the deer. I have loaded a lot of deer in my days but this one v/as the most difficult.I hung the deer in my shop and the next day I took the deer to the taxidermist:. Tim Hanna from Lake Mills, lov/a. Tim capped the deer and had the rack scored by Robert Filbrandt from Lake Mills.lov/a. He scores deer for the Pope and Young (Archery), and Boone and Crocket (Rifle) Club. This deer had a typical rack v/hich green scored 177 and_1;9 inches. I have been hunting for 31 years, and this is the biggest buck I have ever shot. I guess you just have to be in the right place, at the right time and don't mess it up. I v/eighed the deer and it v/eighed 220 lbs. field dressed. This buck took first place in the big buck contest. I v/on a free mount an3 a nev/Hoyt. Lasertec model bov/from John Carlson Archery of Lake Mills, lov/a. In my opinion, the bow is the ultimate weapon for the taking ofthe whitetail deer.
Newspaper Details
Thompson Courier and Rake Register
Thompson, Iowa, US
Thu, Jan 17, 2008
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Mary S.
MO, USA 05 Jul 2020
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