I'll begin by saying that I've had a long trying season for a couple of different reasons. I lost my mom who had late stage Alzheimer's on 12/9/15 after being her 24/7 caregiver for almost 3 full years. A lot of emotion from that along with other sibling/estate issues hasn't exactly kept me focused on hunting this year. Combine that with the unusually warm weather and the lack of deer sightings for me and that I read about on here almost daily hasn't exactly kept me motivated either. First lesson of the story...Don't give up! This will be a common theme.

Coming into Saturday January 30, I had only seen one racked buck all season. A 3 yr old 8 pt that I managed to kill on the family 40 acres. Pictures to come at the end. Since that kill my deer sightings had gone almost to ZERO. I was as frustrated as I have ever been, especially considering the time of year and the timing of the rut for this area. I should be seeing some deer but I wasn't. But I knew from past experience that persistence often has a good ending.

So back to this past Saturday. I'm in my lock on watching over a 3 yr old planted pine clear cut. It was a beautiful frosty clear morning. As the day begin to break I eagerly anticipated what the morning might bring. First hour of daylight--nothing. Second hour--nothing. Third hour--nothing. At this point I had pretty much given up on the morning. It was warming up rapidly with a good south breeze. About 9 AM I decide to climb down and walk a couple hundred yards into the woods to the east of the clear cut to check a scrape line that has been there for 3 straight years. I took off my big jacket and an extra cap and left them at the base of the tree. Off I go to do a little scouting so the morning won't be a total loss. As I suspected the scrapes hadn't been touched--so I made a big circle and nothing. No deer seen or heard. Sure there was plenty of sign just like usual but it's really hard to eat tracks or rubs or scat or old scrapes.

As I complete my circle I come back to the old log road that divides the clear cut and head back to my stand to get my gear I left. About 100 yards from there a lone doe hops up maybe 10 yards from me. She bounces around and stops maybe 70 yards out and presents an easy off-hand shot. I put her in the scope and almost pull the trigger due to such a frustrating season. But I quickly decide not to mainly because I'm a firm believer in not shooting does if you have infrequent deer sightings. I haven't killed a doe in 10+ years. This decision not to shoot the doe would be huge!

Second lesson to the story--stick with your goals/plan! I watch the doe bound off back into a draw in the clear cut. I continue on to retrieve my gear. I get to my stand and put my jacket, the extra cap and my scent drag in my right hand. My gun is in my left hand. I begin the 500 yard walk back to the truck and almost immediately my little voice says 'hey dummy shouldn't you swap hands with the gun since you are right handed--just in case'. I don't listen. I get no more than 40 yards up the road and I hear a deer walking to my right. And close--within 10 yards. As I freeze in the road trying to make out what this deer is in the thicket to my right, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye coming out of the woods maybe 20 yards up the road. All of a sudden a huge buck just casually strolls out. I mean on the ground at no more than 20 yards he looked so big. He saw me a split second after I saw him. I've never seen a deer's eyes get so big. I immediately drop my gear in the road and try to transition my gun to my right hand--where it should have been all along. I shoulder my .308 Tikka as quick as I can as the huge buck begins to spin away from me. As I get the Minox Ze5i 3x15x56 to my eye the scope is full of deer. I pop off a round and I think the crosshairs are on the far back end of the deer--far back guts or maybe hind quarters area. I thought I noticed him hunch as I shot.

And just that fast he's gone. Immediately I listen to try to get a direction of travel. A couple of seconds of him hitting the leaves and then silence. I ease up to where he ran off to look for blood. Nothing. I ease into the woods and down the trail noticing where his hooves tore the ground up. No blood. My heart begins to sink. I go back out to the general area where I shot at him and pretty quickly find hair. But not the kind of hair I wanted to see. Instead of 1 inch dark grey/brown hair I find mostly long 2 inch long white hair. Not good. Most likely a grazing shot off the lower abdomen somewhere.

I play back the rapid succession of events in my mind to where I thought the crosshairs were when the gun went off. Am I wrong about the placement being up on the deer's hind area? Well I decide to call my friend Jody who is also a member of the club who has a young(1 1/2). mountain cur dog named Ginger. We can get her to trail the buck a distance to see if maybe he starts bleeding further out. I shot around 10:00--call Jody around 10:10--he arrives around 10:30 with Ginger. He puts a leash on her and off we go. Around 200 yards on the track we find the first blood. Not a lot but once it starts it's enough to track.

And here is where I need to pause to emphasize the second lesson of the story. Clearly had I shot that doe in the clear cut I never would have even seen this buck. Sticking to my plan of not shooting does and not giving into frustration had paid off. Or had it?

Back to the track. And what a track job it would be. Like I said there was blood but not a lot. Sometimes every step--sometimes not. Sometimes several drops or a clump and sometimes only a few specks. But it was enough that between me and Jody and Ginger we managed to follow it. And follow it we did--across creeks--up and down hills--through some of the thickest parts of our club. The strange thing was never once did we find a place where the buck had laid down. Not a good sign in my experience. Also a lot of the blood would be in his track which more than likely would mean a leg shot. That would explain the long white hair I found. But also every now and again we would find a very small amount of what appeared to be gut contents. Within a couple of hours we had covered an estimated 1/2 mile. I also called the president of the club Joey who is a good friend of mine to help us. He joined in after the half mile point and we continued on. Another half mile and still spotty blood in places and decent blood in others. The buck starts walking in creeks now making it very difficult to track. This is where Ginger really helped. Still not one place where the buck laid down unless it was in the creek. By now it's around 3:00 and we are all hot, tired, thirsty and hungry. I decide to call a break and get another club member Richard to come give us a ride as we are a mile from our vehicles. We decide to meet back up around 4:30 to continue on until dark.

Where we left off the buck had gotten in the biggest creek on the club but we couldn't find where he came out. So now it's me and Jody and Ginger and Richard. I was almost ready to give up. We circled around trying to determine if the buck had gone up or down the creek. No luck. On a hunch that Joey had I headed towards a beaver pond area that we both suspected was where he might be headed. About 200 hundred yards from where I last saw his track going into the creek I found blood heading into this beaver pond area. The track continues! I call up Richard and Jody and Ginger and we let Ginger lead us. It's starting to get late and light is fading fast. The blood is getting harder and harder to see and the buck crosses the creek twice more. I finally decide to call it for the day. Ginger was wanting to go back across the creek so the other side was where I would start the next morning.

We were all exhausted and scratched up. It would be a very restless night for me. I had a cramp hit me in my right leg during the night that had me squealing like a 12 yr old girl. It still is tight as I'm typing this! The shot sequence kept replaying in my mind over and over. Where had I hit this buck where he would bleed this far but not lay down or die? I was determined to find this deer if he indeed was dead. Joey and I decided to meet up around 8 the next morning and continue the track. He would come in from one side of the creek and me the other. I decided to ride my atv as far down towards the beaver pond as possible as I was still tired from the day before. I still can't believe it but as soon as I switch off the atv Joey starts hollering I found your deer! Unreal!

I was so excited to get to him! Sure enough there he lay probably no more than 150 yards from where we stopped the night before and on the side of the creek Ginger was trying to go to. By no means is he the biggest deer ever nor is he the biggest on our club. He is the thickest antlered buck I've ever taken by far. I'm estimating 190lbs. What an awesome will to live these creatures have! The total track was at least 1 1/2 miles and I'm not exaggerating. And I have witnesses to back it up!

I'm so thankful we found him! I'm sure a lot of you know what it feels like to not recover a deer you are almost certain you've mortally wounded. Thank God above I don't have to experience that feeling with this one! Many thanks to Joey, Jody, Ginger and Richard for all the help.

And now in conclusion I want to emphasize the moral of the story as it relates to me. Caring 24/7 for my Mom given her condition was really draining on me. Many many days I was ready to throw in the towel and put her in a nursing home. But I couldn't do it. I kept thinking of my father's last request to not put her in a nursing home and my promise to him to honor that. It parallels this track in my mind to not give up, to be persistent and to finish what you start. Through the good days and the bad--whether it's caregiving or deer hunting--persevere to the conclusion and good things will happen! Sorry for the long post.

Sorry about your mother and glad you found him. Hopefully many more in the future!

Awesome story!

What a fantastic story! So glad you didn't give up and pushed forward. Sorry for the loss of your mother as well.

Awesome post thanks for sharing.

Great post

that store is right down the road from a piece I have hunting rights too, that's a good deer for that area

Great ending to the story. Where was the deer hit is my question?

Congrats and God bless you on an awesome story and deer.

Great job on both counts, Sorry for your loss and congrats on a great finish!

Thanks for sharing, that is an awesome ending to a great story. One question looms large however, where did you hit the deer?

You would think with all that typing that I wouldn't have left out where I hit him. Anyway the bullet entered the left hind qtr maybe 4 inches from the anus sort of where the long white hair meets the shorter grey hair. No exit hole.

good job finding him. Congrats! Also, my condolences on your mother. Sorry to hear

Enjoyed the story.Congrats on finding him,it's awesome when hard work and persistence pays off.

Good story and even better message - thanks for sharing!

Great story and nice buck!

Big Congratulations! Sure was glad to see that picture yesterday morning.

Sorry to hear about your mother passing and congrats on your bucks. My two biggest bow kill bucks came with interesting tracking jobs.

Great story about the buck - thanks for sharing. Very sorry to hear about your mom.