Michigan Halloween Buck

[DeerAddict]

I saw this buck the day before I shot him, but he was on the other side of the fence. I thought i'd never see him again. The next morning he came over following a doe. He was grunting like crazy, and I saw him make a scrape (first time for me). This was my first year bowhunting; definitaly not my last. My dad usually comes with me when we gun hunt, but he didn't for bowhunting. When he came to my side of the fence I tried to range him- guess what happened? dead battery in the rangefinder. I just used it about ten minutes earlier so i'm not sure why it died then. I guessed about twenty yards, but apparently it was further. I shot and barely grazed him. He ran about twenty yards and stopped (lucky me) at a place I ranged when my rangefinder was still alive. I took a 40 yard shot and got him. I slipped out and waited a couple hours to track him because I saw him bed and he was looking around. I called my dad and told him I got "a doe" and he came up. We've never tracked a deer because we've never bow hunted and every deer we've shot with a gun has dropped in sight. We found the blood and the first arrow with hair on it. We followed the trail and eventually saw a buck laying at the end. My dad thought that wasn't my deer cause I told him I got a doe. I surprised him and told him I actually shot a buck.

I shot him with my Martin Saber 29 in. draw length, #55, and used RAGE 3 blades. I think my setup performed pretty good. Considering I had to hunt without my dad, and i'm only 14 years old, I think I did pretty well.

[Gulfcapt]

Very nice DeerAddict!
Is that your biggest so far? Its a dandy and one to be proud of..

[DeerAddict]

Thanks Gulfcapt!
Yes, it's my biggest so far. I was expecting to get a smaller buck since I was hunting with a bow, and for my first year ever. I can't decide for sure if I want to get it mounted because I recently saw an even bigger buck.

[MoDeer]

Cogratulations that is a great buck and story . You know you can always put the head and cape in the freezer and decide later about mounting it or not .

[CoG]

Great looking deer and congratulations!  If you can afford to mount two deer do him.  If you can afford only one and will chase that bigger one hard, then put this one in the freezer and wait it out.  If you get the bigger one, mount him, if not then mount this one.

I can tell you from my experience and others that you will never regret getting a quality deer mount done of any deer you kill.  You will only regret ones you didn't pull the trigger on getting mounted.  If I had the coin I'd get at least a shoulder mount of almost every deer I take including some does.  Do it!

[Sailfish]

Indeed a real nice deer!

[CONLEY14]

FOR BEING YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH BOW AND YOUR BIGGEST YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD GET HIM MOUNTED, MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME. CONGRATS!

[Osty]

Congratulations on a great deer!

I'm impressed that you are 14 and took a very great looking buck. Get him mounted because you never know when success will happen again like this.

[DeerAddict]

Thanks Everyone!
I went back to the butcher about two weeks after we dropped it off and guess what? They didn't have the head in the freezer. We knew we wouldn't be able to pick it up for awhile, so we called and asked if they could put it in the freezer, they said they would. We went to pick it up, and it smelled horrible. So now I can't get it mounted. I might be able to do a euro. mount, but I really wanted to get him mounted. I guess that's just life.

[droptine300]

deeraddict, that is a very nice first bow deer.  One thing you might want to consider is still having it mounted with a different cape.  I know a taxidermist and have donated capes from 2 different 3 1/2 year old bucks that didn't have great racks.  It might be worth talking to some taxidermists.  Tell them how much your bucked weighed and he might be able to find a comparable cape.

Again Congrats.

Droptine300