Sanilac county buck - story

As many of you might remember, 2 weeks ago i shot a big 8 point in huron county, tracked blood for 125 yards then nothing. That night i called in a dog that advanced the track another 250 yards and then the dog lost the trail. Needless to say, that knocked the wind right out of me. I stopped hunting for 2 weeks taking a break to rethink wtf i was doing wrong...

Well, like any passion, it drove me back to the woods for round 2. Fast forward to this past Friday, i worked the am and then beelined straight to my port sanilac farm for the first sit of the year there. Its a 10 acre crp land with 1 small treeline cutting it in half.

I arrived to stand at 2pm anxious and full of excitement again! At 5.15pm, i had 2 does come by at 8 yards. As i flipped the safety off, centered the cross hairs on the small window and waited. As soon she got to the opening, i mouth bleated to stop her and she took off instantly!! She must of heard that before! I flipped my safety back on and started getting pissed at myself again and felt like i screwed up yet again.

For the next 20 min pondering the wtf again, i look up and see horns coming up out of the creek bottom and making his way accross the crp field. He was walking straight at me!! I started shaking like a leaf. He cut into the treeline i was sitting on and stopped 12 yards in front of me. After what seemed like an eternity, he made his way left and popped out of the treeline. Once off the treeline, if he turns right, walks straight away = no shot. To my surprise, he turns left and closes the distance to 10 yards he proceded to make a scrape right below me. Raking his antlers in the apple tree, digging dirt etc... it was awesome and made my shakes even worse!

Once he was done, he turned quarting toward me and i placed the crosshairs high on his front shoulder and pulled the trigger. He mule kicked and landed 5 yards under my 10' stand. He ran like a bat outta hell for 60 yards into the crp field, stopped and fell down. I was freaking pumped!!!

Looked at my clock it was 5.30. I reloaded and waited as there was plenty of time. At 6pm, i was looking at the area he fell and to my surprise, he stood and fell again. My heart sunk. My full focus was on that area now. For the next hour, i didnt see grass move, him get up, anything. I then got pumped again!! At 7pm, i look over, 1.5 hours after the shot, he stood and fell again. I my heart sunk. Being only 10 acres, i didnt want to try and stalk close because it wouldnt take much to bump him off the property plus with the crp height, i would need to get super close and im no.hunting public zach if you kmow what i mean, lol

I quietly got down and backed out. With the forcast going down to the 20's, i decided to let him lay overnight. At 7.20am, i was back at the property and headed out to look. Once i got to his last known bed, found no body, my heart sunk yet again. Looking in disbelief, I took 4 more steps and i see a white belly! BOOM! He only moved 10 yards throughout the night and was laying there in the am. I called my 72 old father over and we started to celebrate! What a relief to find him! Goes to show you that you dont need a big chunk of property to have great opportunities! just got to hunt it right and backout when needed.

Main frame 8 point with 1 kicker on his base

sanilac county 9



Thx for reading!

 

Side story, when we drug him out for pics it was awesome! Unfortuantly a damn yote took part of his front shoulder which is a first for me. Rest was completely untouched and his cape is still perfect. Which i thought was weird because i thoughylt theyd hit the hind quarter first but this was my impact shoulder. Yote? Fox?

Im going to process as normal and just not use this area. Anyone else have this happen like this?.


In a nutshell, this sport has constant up and downs and is 1 hell of a rollercoaster of emotions and i wouldnt give it up for the life of me.

And the chance you taking playing it safe and backing out!

 

Ya, once i sae him, completely forgot about the doe, lol