Bucksport
Member
Should have shared this story earlier but just getting around to it, sparked by getting the deer back from Fortner Taxidermy!
I hunt with a group in West Central Illinois, private farms, a group of close friends and some family, usually 7-8 of us. This is my 7th year/trip. I hunt a bunch in GA and really hold out for a good deer in Illinois each year. I have killed two now, missed one, passed many 130" class that other members would probably be happy with but as mentioned I get more opportunities than other members do, and usually have a chance to take a mature buck in Ga as well. For some of the others, this is their only whitetail hunting trip of the year. In other words, I am picky...
Last year, 2014, on the second day of our trip we got a blurry picture of what looked like a good buck, really tall, not wide but definitely mature looking. We got excited but no encounters. We leave cameras up even after the trip and we did get a couple more shots of him. Some late into January of 2015 so we felt good about him making it through the season. Come summer 2015, we make our annual setup trip and place several more cameras out. We had high hopes of catching this deer through the summer and early Fall months. However, "patchy" never showed upon review of all pictures during the first day of the early November hunting trip, of course he was still in our minds. This deer was named Patchy by my cousin's four year old son who gave him the name due to some hairless spots on his back, they were very noticeable in the 2014/15 pictures, so the name stuck. Always fun to get the kids involved...
On to the hunt. Five days into a ten day hunt and there has been very little action for all members, no good encounters with mature deer and the "ideal" weather seemed to be behind us. On November 11th they were calling for an extreme front to come through the Midwest starting early afternoon. Some of you might remember this front if you were in the area, they expected sustained 20+ mph with 50+ gusts and severe thunderstorms with tornadoes possible. Not a comforting forecast for a deer hunter, treestand or ground! We were all on the fence about hunting that evening, only two of eight of us challenged the incoming storm. I decided to head in a couple hours later than normal, sat down about 3:15pm, gets dark around 5pm. I decided to hunt a spot where I could park fairly close to the stand, 150 yards or so, in case I needed to make a quick departure. Stand was in a mighty hickory which I felt could better handle the winds and reduce sway/movement. Walked in, sat down, figured I was crazy. Sticks, leaves, stuff falling all around with the wind, tree parts popping in all directions. Ironically, I was only equipped with my phone, bow and release. No calls, fanny pack full of stuff, just the bare essentials. I was sitting no longer than 5 minutes when there was a odd and brief moment of quietness and my ears picked up footsteps behind me. Peaked around the large trunk against my back and boom, there was a no doubt shooter on a slow trot coming right for my tree at about 35 yards. Tall, not real wide (sound familiar?,) couldn't count points and didn't need to. My breath left me and heart seemingly sank and tripled in size all at once. I had my phone in hand as I was texting the group that I had made it safely into my set up. The phone quickly became a problem in my hand as I struggled desperately to find a pocket. I knew I couldn't reach out for my bow on the hanger as he would see the moment. I hid, putting the trunk between me and him as I could hear him approaching toward the base of the tree. I tried to time my reach for the bow for when he was coming around the truck to my right, bow to left so once again the trunk was between me and him, hiding my movement. Hand on bow, all good so far and I know he hasn't spotted me as I can still hear his footsteps at a slow steady trot. Still no visual for me. Bow is slowly swinging to my front and my right hand is moving the release to the string. Then I feel something brush my leg, a brief pause and SMACK goes my phone that I failed to secure in my pocket in the hastey moments that took place earlier. It bounds off the base of the tree and literally rolls/tumbles within feet, maybe inches of the deer. At this point I am no longer trying to be stealthy, I connect my release and frantically try to figure out what is next. The deer has stopped, the phone got his attention but with all the wind and tree debris falling around I truly believe he did not feel threatened. I now have a visual of him as I look down next to my boot, I'm still not breathing I don't think. He resumes his trot. I spin and simultaneously draw, knowing that the angle he is taking will quickly put him behind some brush, illuminating any shot. I know that the effort to align by body and get him in the sight will likely get his attention, but he is at less than ten steps and I know I can get him in the sight immediately. He stops, as he picks up my movement, which is convenient as I didn't have to stop him with my mouth. He didn't look right at me but I could tell he was quickly becoming uncomfortable. But, it took him to long to process the situation, I released and connected. Start to finish this all happened in less than ten seconds I would guess. I began to breath again, but my heart was about to explode, I feel it now. The penetration was marginal, I did not feel that there would be an exit hole. Which led to worry, no blood trail... or, very little blood with a monsoon coming. Regardless, I got down and began to look for my phone. Found it about five minutes later, talk about emotional overload worrying about whether you will find your phone after the previous events... There is a message from the guys back at the cabin, "Evan/Randy, are you guys safe out there?" I reply with, "I just shot one." No one believes me and I don't have time for texting right now. I walk to area of impact and find hair, no blood. Walk down the trail a few yards, trying to take advantage of what little light there is in the woods, no blood. It has only been a few minutes since the shot so I back out and head to the cabin to gather myself and share this events with the group.
The weather begins to role in and darkest as well. My cousin, who has a few years experience on me, suggests we go back and follow the deers run and try to find some blood before it's too late. We head back out, just him and I. I replay and reenact the events, we start on the trail and as we pass the spot where I turned around and backed out, blood! Good blood. A very easy trail to follow and we begin celebrating immediately knowing this deer has already expired. I was clearly wrong about an exit hole. We follow the trail about 80 yards, maybe more I don't know, and there is lays. James puts his light on the head and rack from a distance and hollers, "its Patchy!" We both turn into children on Christmas morning! Hug, tear up and celebrate the moment that we have both dreamt about since last year at the first image of Patchy. Of course, this very moment is why we hunt together, and travel to Illinois in the first place. Deer hunting has brought us very close, but that's another story.
It is now a race to get him gutted and get us out of the woods as the weather continues to turn for the worse. About an hour later we are out of the woods, out of flashlight battery and exhausted. We get to cabin, greeted by the rest of the group. Soon after, the storm causes us to lose power. We celebrate the deer and the group as we count up inches in the dark (that may have added a couple.)
The way this hunt unfolded led to the most intense moments I have ever experienced hunting, and only adds to the addiction. It goes to show it can and will happen when you least expect it sometimes. I don't know if I will ever kill a bigger one,(I am certainly going to try) but that is OK because the experience and memories will last forever. Blessed to have these opportunities to hunt and have the support from family and friends.
Credit to Chris at Fortner Taxidermy. He has brought Patchy back to life, amazing work!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the story!
I hunt with a group in West Central Illinois, private farms, a group of close friends and some family, usually 7-8 of us. This is my 7th year/trip. I hunt a bunch in GA and really hold out for a good deer in Illinois each year. I have killed two now, missed one, passed many 130" class that other members would probably be happy with but as mentioned I get more opportunities than other members do, and usually have a chance to take a mature buck in Ga as well. For some of the others, this is their only whitetail hunting trip of the year. In other words, I am picky...
Last year, 2014, on the second day of our trip we got a blurry picture of what looked like a good buck, really tall, not wide but definitely mature looking. We got excited but no encounters. We leave cameras up even after the trip and we did get a couple more shots of him. Some late into January of 2015 so we felt good about him making it through the season. Come summer 2015, we make our annual setup trip and place several more cameras out. We had high hopes of catching this deer through the summer and early Fall months. However, "patchy" never showed upon review of all pictures during the first day of the early November hunting trip, of course he was still in our minds. This deer was named Patchy by my cousin's four year old son who gave him the name due to some hairless spots on his back, they were very noticeable in the 2014/15 pictures, so the name stuck. Always fun to get the kids involved...
On to the hunt. Five days into a ten day hunt and there has been very little action for all members, no good encounters with mature deer and the "ideal" weather seemed to be behind us. On November 11th they were calling for an extreme front to come through the Midwest starting early afternoon. Some of you might remember this front if you were in the area, they expected sustained 20+ mph with 50+ gusts and severe thunderstorms with tornadoes possible. Not a comforting forecast for a deer hunter, treestand or ground! We were all on the fence about hunting that evening, only two of eight of us challenged the incoming storm. I decided to head in a couple hours later than normal, sat down about 3:15pm, gets dark around 5pm. I decided to hunt a spot where I could park fairly close to the stand, 150 yards or so, in case I needed to make a quick departure. Stand was in a mighty hickory which I felt could better handle the winds and reduce sway/movement. Walked in, sat down, figured I was crazy. Sticks, leaves, stuff falling all around with the wind, tree parts popping in all directions. Ironically, I was only equipped with my phone, bow and release. No calls, fanny pack full of stuff, just the bare essentials. I was sitting no longer than 5 minutes when there was a odd and brief moment of quietness and my ears picked up footsteps behind me. Peaked around the large trunk against my back and boom, there was a no doubt shooter on a slow trot coming right for my tree at about 35 yards. Tall, not real wide (sound familiar?,) couldn't count points and didn't need to. My breath left me and heart seemingly sank and tripled in size all at once. I had my phone in hand as I was texting the group that I had made it safely into my set up. The phone quickly became a problem in my hand as I struggled desperately to find a pocket. I knew I couldn't reach out for my bow on the hanger as he would see the moment. I hid, putting the trunk between me and him as I could hear him approaching toward the base of the tree. I tried to time my reach for the bow for when he was coming around the truck to my right, bow to left so once again the trunk was between me and him, hiding my movement. Hand on bow, all good so far and I know he hasn't spotted me as I can still hear his footsteps at a slow steady trot. Still no visual for me. Bow is slowly swinging to my front and my right hand is moving the release to the string. Then I feel something brush my leg, a brief pause and SMACK goes my phone that I failed to secure in my pocket in the hastey moments that took place earlier. It bounds off the base of the tree and literally rolls/tumbles within feet, maybe inches of the deer. At this point I am no longer trying to be stealthy, I connect my release and frantically try to figure out what is next. The deer has stopped, the phone got his attention but with all the wind and tree debris falling around I truly believe he did not feel threatened. I now have a visual of him as I look down next to my boot, I'm still not breathing I don't think. He resumes his trot. I spin and simultaneously draw, knowing that the angle he is taking will quickly put him behind some brush, illuminating any shot. I know that the effort to align by body and get him in the sight will likely get his attention, but he is at less than ten steps and I know I can get him in the sight immediately. He stops, as he picks up my movement, which is convenient as I didn't have to stop him with my mouth. He didn't look right at me but I could tell he was quickly becoming uncomfortable. But, it took him to long to process the situation, I released and connected. Start to finish this all happened in less than ten seconds I would guess. I began to breath again, but my heart was about to explode, I feel it now. The penetration was marginal, I did not feel that there would be an exit hole. Which led to worry, no blood trail... or, very little blood with a monsoon coming. Regardless, I got down and began to look for my phone. Found it about five minutes later, talk about emotional overload worrying about whether you will find your phone after the previous events... There is a message from the guys back at the cabin, "Evan/Randy, are you guys safe out there?" I reply with, "I just shot one." No one believes me and I don't have time for texting right now. I walk to area of impact and find hair, no blood. Walk down the trail a few yards, trying to take advantage of what little light there is in the woods, no blood. It has only been a few minutes since the shot so I back out and head to the cabin to gather myself and share this events with the group.
The weather begins to role in and darkest as well. My cousin, who has a few years experience on me, suggests we go back and follow the deers run and try to find some blood before it's too late. We head back out, just him and I. I replay and reenact the events, we start on the trail and as we pass the spot where I turned around and backed out, blood! Good blood. A very easy trail to follow and we begin celebrating immediately knowing this deer has already expired. I was clearly wrong about an exit hole. We follow the trail about 80 yards, maybe more I don't know, and there is lays. James puts his light on the head and rack from a distance and hollers, "its Patchy!" We both turn into children on Christmas morning! Hug, tear up and celebrate the moment that we have both dreamt about since last year at the first image of Patchy. Of course, this very moment is why we hunt together, and travel to Illinois in the first place. Deer hunting has brought us very close, but that's another story.
It is now a race to get him gutted and get us out of the woods as the weather continues to turn for the worse. About an hour later we are out of the woods, out of flashlight battery and exhausted. We get to cabin, greeted by the rest of the group. Soon after, the storm causes us to lose power. We celebrate the deer and the group as we count up inches in the dark (that may have added a couple.)
The way this hunt unfolded led to the most intense moments I have ever experienced hunting, and only adds to the addiction. It goes to show it can and will happen when you least expect it sometimes. I don't know if I will ever kill a bigger one,(I am certainly going to try) but that is OK because the experience and memories will last forever. Blessed to have these opportunities to hunt and have the support from family and friends.
Credit to Chris at Fortner Taxidermy. He has brought Patchy back to life, amazing work!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the story!
I almost fell out of my chair when I scrolled down to the picture. Congrats on a monster of a deer and beautiful mount.
