So yeah, some big things happened since our last post. I shot an 8 point buck on November 14, 2008 with my bow. When I let the arrow fly, it hit a branch at the last second and instead of hitting the deer's vitals, the arrow dug in right in front of the back legs. I ended up sneaking out of the woods at dark (I made the shot at about 5:15 PM and had 10 - 12 deer around me until dark) and after making a few phone calls to Timmy, Uncle Paul, Ryan, Eric, and Mike Drost (yeah, I wanted a few opinions on what to do), I decided to leave the buck until morning. Needless to say I was not happy about leaving my first buck in the woods over night and even less happy about the bad shot placement - I practiced all winter, spring, summer, and early fall so I could make the perfect shot when the time came and was very disappointed that I didn't see that stupid branch. Timmy and I got to the blind the morning of November 15, 2008 at about 6:00 AM with our guns as it was gun opener and let me tell you, I couldn't wait until good light to start tracking my buck. At about 7:30 AM, Timmy and I left the blind to start tracking - I think Tim was just as excited as I was. We found blood immediately where I had taken the shot and followed a good blood trail through the woods (after I shot the deer, it only ran a step or two and then walked off out of sight). We lost the trail for a little while by a little creek that was running through the woods (normally this woods is dry but with all the rain this fall, there was a lot of water around the area) but once we settled down we found the blood trail once again. We ended up finding the buck probably about 125 yards from my treestand. The arrow was still in the deer's hind quarters and I must have hit the main artery back there because of the good blood trail. This buck is very special to me not only because it's my first but also because I shot it on my Grandpa & Grandma Kooiker's farm in Hamilton, MI. I used to hunt a lot in high school on other farms in Hamilton and would always stop by my grandparents to say hi. I never had much success then but my grandparents always liked hearing my stories. My Grandma passed away earlier this year and my Grandpa is at a nursing home so they weren't around to see the deer I shot on their farm but I know they are very much proud of me. Once I get the mount back from the taxidermist, I'll be sure to stop by my Grandpa and show him the buck that was running around his farm.
Tim also shot a 6 point on my Grandparent's farm later in the gun season. To say this buck was beat up is an understatement. It looked like the deer was hit by a car and had a club for a back leg. It's antlers were also rubbed down quite far. Tim did the right thing by shooting this deer to end it's misery. He made a 145 yard shot with my Uncle Paul's Browning A-Bolt shot gun and dropped the buck in it's tracks. That is an awesome shot with a shot gun. I wish I would have been there with Timmy but I was hunting with friends in Manistee, MI. Congrats Tim!
Timmy and I are now hunting for does on the Berens farm and my Grandparents farm. I am hunting with my new Thompson/Center Encore muzzleloader and Tim is back to bow hunting. I hope to shoot one doe with my muzzleloader and one more with my bow. I'll keep everyone updated on our luck.
Here are some pictures of my deer:
Oh yeah, we also got married on November 1! It was an absolutely beautiful day and I couldn't be happier to now have Joani as my wife. We spent the honeymoon in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and had a great time. We'll have to put a post up about that to fill in more of the details, I was just excited to post my deer :) I will leave you with my favorite photo (thus far) from the wedding. This is a great shot of Joani during Timmy's best man speech. She is absolutely beautiful. Great pic Ashley!
