Deerhuntingbigbucks.com » Whitetail Bow Hunting http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com Deer Hunting Big Bucks Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:17:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Archery & Bow Hunting A Mature Whitetail My 2 Favorite Hobbies http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/12/12/archery-bow-hunting-a-mature-whitetail-my-2-favorite-hobbies/ http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/12/12/archery-bow-hunting-a-mature-whitetail-my-2-favorite-hobbies/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:01:03 +0000 admin http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/?p=1132

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"Mathews Z7" compound bow

A great way to get kids interested in the great outdoors is by getting them involved in archery.

My favorite hobby is archery. I started bow hunting when I  was in my teens and have been in love with archery and bow hunting since. There is nothing like bow hunting and matching wits with a mature whitetail. Up until a few years ago I bow hunted until rifle season came in and then I would trade my bow in for a rifle. But I went to Illinois on a bow hunt and was lucky enough to get my first mature whitetail with a bow and I haven’t hunted with a gun since then. And my love for bow hunting has grown even more since taking my first mature whitetail buck with a bow.

"My Illinois 10 Point archery buck"

I killed this mature whitetail bow hunting in Illinois.

The thing I love about archery is you have to practice quite often to be able to consistently make accurate shots, kind of like golf which I am not very good at by the way. Practicing with my bow is so much fun and now my two boys are getting big enough to want to shoot their bows with me when I am out shooting. I love seeing my boys get interested in a hobby that I love so much and I bet they are going to be really good at it. If you get a chance to introduce a kid or a friend to a bow and arrow and the great outdoors do it. The earlier that they are introduced to it the more likely they are to stay interested  in it as they grow older. It is our duty to introduce kids and friends to the great outdoors so they can carry on our great hunting heritage for generations to come and you will make memories that will last a lifetime. I recently had shoulder surgery and I won’t be able to shoot my bow for some time and I am already looking forward to doing my physical therapy and getting better so I can get back out and start shooting again. I was lucky enough to be able to rattle in and film myself shooting a nice 11 pointer this year and it is a memory that I won’t soon forget.

Hows every one’s deer season been so far this year? Have you gotten that big buck yet? If not don’t give up, it can happen at any time. If you killed a trophy buck and would like to have some photos and maybe even a story featured on DeerHuntingBigBucks.com you can click here.Or click on the contact form link at the top right of the page. Let’s see those big bucks guys and gals.The late season can be the toughest time of the year to hunt and can become a grind, but it only takes one hunt to change your whole season from bad to good. Good luck everyone!

]]> http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/12/12/archery-bow-hunting-a-mature-whitetail-my-2-favorite-hobbies/feed/ 2 Deer Hunting “The Legend of Horn Donkey” http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/11/28/deer-hunting-the-legend-of-horn-donkey/ http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/11/28/deer-hunting-the-legend-of-horn-donkey/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:43:32 +0000 admin http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/?p=1103

Continue reading »]]> It has been a great deer hunting season for me so far. I harvested a nice 11 pointer back in October with my bow and got to film my good friend and fellow DHBB Pro-staff member Troy for a week here in Kansas. I have seen a lot of whitetails and some really nice bucks. As a matter of fact I saw the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life while in the woods (filming)deer hunting.

The world class whitetail we call "Horn Donkey"

It is a challenge deer hunting mature bucks like this one.

Troy arrived in Kansas on November the 8th and a cold front was moving in the day he arrived, and with the recent activity you could just tell this cold front was going to have the big boys up and on their feet during daylight hours. I had been seeing a really nice buck that we appropriately named “Horn Donkey” .He started showing up in late October on my trail camera pictures. To my surprise he was living right behind my house. He started showing up only at night on October 26th and the a few days before Troy arrived he started getting bolder and showing up right at daylight and right at dark. Then the day before Troy was to arrive he showed up on our trail camera pictures later in the morning hours and earlier in the afternoon and was there all hours of the day. Troy and I knew if we played it smart we just might get a shot at this once in a lifetime buck. Just the possibility of getting a Boone and Crockett buck with a bow on film had Troy and me so excited we couldn’t think straight.

I picked Troy up at the airport and it was raining and cold. We made a quick visit to Cabellas and then arrived at my house around lunch time. Troy got unpacked and we had some venison stew for lunch and then Troy shot his bow. We decided to hunt a different location than where we were getting the trail camera pictures of “Horn Donkey” because the wind was unfavorable.

"Horn Donkey"

We started getting trail camera pictures of "Horn Donkey" on October 26.

This is Horn Donkey eating a little corn.

The first evening hunt was uneventful and cold and wet. But the next morning the conditions were perfect for deer hunting and we had an awesome hunt. We got settled in the 2 loc-ons well before daylight and the excitement was in the air. The rut was on and we had a Booner on trail camera right where our stands were. The wind was out of the northwest and perfect. We saw four bucks and two coyotes that morning and 2 of the bucks were nice but they weren’t what we were after. We were after “Horn Donkey”. We hunted until about 11am and then slipped out and had some lunch and got back in the stand around 2:00pm. The wind was blowing pretty hard in our face as we made our way to the stand and we walked up on about 25 turkeys as we got to the stand. We got up in the stand and got situated and I decided to do a little calling.  A few minutes after I did the calling I looked up and bam there is the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life standing about 35 yards away and it I can tell immediately it is “Horn Donkey” and he looks much bigger in the flesh than he does in photos! His mass was much bigger than I ever imagined.I lean over and Tell Troy to get his bow and to be still that our boy was here. He said I had a fire in my eyes and he could tell I was serious.  Then I turn and get my Canon XHA1s turned on and get on him. The buck slowly walks out from behind some brush from the opposite direction of where we were expecting him to come from. A world class buck is now standing 30-35 yards away and in my viewfinder and my heart is pounding like never before. I can feel my legs start to tremble. But I was not going to make a wrong move. He walks a few yards but since he came from the opposite direction of where we were expecting my Motion Camera arm is now in a little bit of an awkward position and as I try to slowly follow him it makes a slight noise and the big brute which is now about 23 yards stops and stares me down for what seemed like forever. I’ve got the camera in between my face and him and my heart is thumping. Finally he flips his tale and licks his lips and starts slowly walking. This whole time I thinking shoot him Troy, not able to see what he’s doing or when he might be able to draw. I don’t even want to breathe because I’m afraid he might see me. We film this world class buck at 23 yards for almost 6 minutes and it is by far the most intense 6 minutes of my entire life. The whole time the monster whitetail knows something is not quite right but he just can’t figure it out. The wind was in our favor and he is rutted up and hungry. Finally the buck let’s Troy get drawn back and turns broadside at about 28-30 yards and I hear the release and a whack and the buck does an unbelievable back leg kick and falls as he lands and scoots into the brush and I swing the camera to follow him and you can hear him crashing through the brush and then silence. I swing the camera to Troy and say “did you get him?” There was a limb between the camera and the spot of impact. After reviewing the footage we figured Troy’s arrow just nicked a small limb causing it to deflect right and hit the buck back. We have reviewed the footage hundreds of times and because of the limb you just can’t tell the point of impact. We believe it was a gut shot just in front of the ham about midway up the ham quartering to and into the right ham hitting the leg bone in the ham. We believe he is fatally shot it is just a matter of how far he ran and where he died. We only found a small speck of blood on a sapling and that was it.  We sat in the tree for about 40 minutes and then we backed out and went back to the house to review the footage. We waited a while and then decided to go to the spot he was standing a look for blood. We couldn’t find anything no blood no guts no nothing. We backed out for the night and waited over 24 hours until we went in looking for him.We got permission from the neighbors and we searched every creek, ditch, thicket for about 5 days straight going over the same spots 4 and 5 times. Troy was devastated and we couldn’t sleep at night. I went to most of the neighbors and introduced myself and asked the to be on the lookout for buzzards, crows, smell any clue and they all said they would let me know if they see anything. I still look daily for any sign. It is heartbreaking to get so close to getting a world class whitetail on camera, but if you hunt you know these things can happen and do happen sometimes. I consider myself blessed to be able to encounter such a beautiful animal out in the great outdoors. I won’t give up looking for him. We believe he will score in the 180′s but if we are guessing wrong just a little on our circumference measurements he could possibly challenge the Kansas state record typical with a bow on film. It is an experience that I will never forget and I’m sure Troy wont either.

We documented the entire series of events of the whole week from me picking Troy up at the airport to the hunt to us searching for the buck on film all in high definition. It is some awesome footage and now we are in the process of editing the footage and deciding what to do with it. Hopefully we will be able to share it with you soon.

I hope everyone is having a great season so far. Good luck everyone.

]]> http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/11/28/deer-hunting-the-legend-of-horn-donkey/feed/ 3 Bow Hunting Tips From Deer Videos http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/07/22/bow-hunting-tips-from-deer-videos/ http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/2011/07/22/bow-hunting-tips-from-deer-videos/#comments Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:26:12 +0000 admin http://www.deerhuntingbigbucks.com/?p=951

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I love watching and learning from whitetail deer videos. I was watching some deer videos this morning and saw this one I thought I would share with you. Notice how this hunter doesn’t draw his bow back until the buck turns his head away from him. It is critical to draw your bow when the whitetail goes behind a tree or brush or looks away. This is a lesson I think that all bow hunters learn the hard way at least once when bow hunting. I like to watch bow hunting deer videos and see when the hunter chooses to draw his bow. If you draw to soon you could end up holding the bow at full draw to long and have to let off on it while the whitetail can see you. If you wait to late you might not have a chance to draw your bow while the whitetail is in range and presenting a shot. So I like to imagine different scenarios where a big buck might approach and when would be the best time to draw my bow. Sometimes encounters with a big boy can happen fast and that window of opportunity can be small and if you have thought about it before hand you can make a quick smart decision that just might pay off when the moment of truth arrives. Almost nothing is more frustrating than getting that big boy within range only to have him bust you pulling your bow back. People who don’t hunt whitetails just don’t understand the preparation and hard work that goes into it. The opportunities at  big bucks are so hard to come by and just don’t come around that often when bow hunting.

Knowing when to draw can be the difference between successful and unsuccessful bow hunting.

I remember a few years ago I was bow hunting in Georgia and I did a mohican sneak on what just might have been one of the biggest bucks I have ever seen in the wild. I stalked up to about 20 yards of him feeding in a food plot and I had an easy shot. He was quartering away from me and had no clue I was there. The wind was in my face and it was a text-book stalk, all but one little detail. When I went to draw my bow back I didn’t realize there was a spike ten yards away from me in the corner of the food plot and when I went to draw my bow the spike snorted at me and the game was over. Needless to say I felt sick. Always pay attention to your surroundings and make sure there are not other whitetails nearby that can bust you drawing your bow back. Drawing your bow at the right time can be tricky but with a little patience and common sense you just might get that buck of a lifetime.

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