bowhunting | Whitetail Hunting

Bowhunter Bags 190 Inch Illinois Whitetail

When it comes to whitetail hunting and big bucks, the state of Illinois is about as good as it gets. One lucky hunter bagged a 190 inch Boone and Crockett monster while bowhunting, but it did not happen by accident. The well thought hunter tracked the big whitetail using his game camera as his antlers developed, then he found out where the big boy was spending his time. When the time was right, the bowhunter moved in for a successful harvest.

Source: This spring as the bucks started showing their racks in June and July once again the buck showed up on my trail cameras, this time a little bit more consistently. It appeared that he had moved his core area into the heart of my hunting spot and was living there for good. Now I had to come up with a plan to finally harvest him.

When the 2008 bow season opened I did my best to hold off hunting this spot until the time was right, and last week I decided that it was. With the pre-rut just starting these big bucks are up on their feet during daylight more often now, so I figured I might be able to catch up with him. After several close encounters with this giant I was finally able to pinpoint his bedding area and on the evening of Ocotber 28th he presented me with a 10 yard shot as he walked along a trail from his core area headed towards a doe bedding area.

Minnesota Bowhunter Bags 16 Point Buck

Minnesota Public Land Monster

Minnesota has big deer and big time deer hunters, so it’s not surprise that another nice buck was harvested this year on public land through some smart hunting. Minnesota’s tough winters make for large bodied deer, and large bodied deer tend to produce outstanding antler mass. But not only does the 16 point buck harvested by Chris Wenisch have mass, the buck has tine length, to0.

Source: Chris Wenisch, an environmental health specialist with the Kandiyohi County Public Health Department in Minnesota, tagged this 16-point public land prize one week after missing a tough shot on the buck at 30 yards. View the slideshow to learn how a smart move put Wenisch in perfect position to make the most of his second chance.

Whitetail Hunting: First Bow Buck Kill

Reader Submitted on October 19, 2009

I’ve been bow hunting white-tailed deer ever since I started shooting archery in 4-H Shooting Sports (almost 12 years ago now). However I’ve never taken a deer, buck or doe, with a bow. Now that I’ve been out of college for a while, I have had more time to dedicate to deer hunting. The property I hunt is located in Colorado County, not far from Speaks, Texas. I’ve been trying to make it out all all month, but with the bad weather and college football games my time has been limited.

So, I finally make it out this middle of October Saturday morning. I’m sitting in my tree enjoying the cool air and watching the geese fly over. My deer stand backs up to a rice field. From out on the prairie field comes 2 does on a dead run and they stop about 40 yards from the tree I’m set up in. Then seconds later, a whitetail buck comes trotting up behind, nose to ground, neck swollen, and on their trail. I grab my bow and nock an arrow. Unfortunately, he never stops despite my yelling at him.

That evening, I return to my tree to wait. After being on stand for an hour and a half, the same buck comes walking up from behind me and proceeds to start munching on some fallen oak leaves. I manage to twist my body and nock an arrow without being detected. As he stands broadside, I pull back and my arrow falls to the ground! The young buck turns, but does not know what’s going on. In what seem like seconds, I nock a second arrow, pull back, and release. The next thing I see is the orange fletching on my arrow sticking out his side.

Nervous and shaking, I call my dad off his stand where he was hog hunting an open field. He arrives about 15 minutes later and I crawl out of the tree. We go search for my buck. Following what seemed to be a text book blood trail, there he lay only 50 steps from where I shot him. My first buck with a bow was not a big one, but one I will never forget.

The experience has taken me to a whole new level of whitetail hunting enthusiasm. The white-tailed buck, taken in an one of Texas’ antler restriction counties, is a spike with a 12 inch beam one side and a 3.5 inch antler on the other.

Whitetail Hunting: The Buck That Got Away

Reader Submitted on 10/3/09

I headed out bowhunting thinking that the cool weather might make for some great whitetail hunting. I had a 2.5 year old spike buck come in Saturday morning walking down a cross-fence on our property. He walked within bow range and shot at him at 18 yards. As luck would have it, I hit a wire on the fence and the arrow went straight up into the air!

At this point, I’m thinking, “Man, what’s the chances of that?” Well, the young buck calms back down and starting feeding on some protein pellets I had thrown out. He then gives me another shot, this time slightly quartering away and 30 yards out. The shot looked good, so I let one fly! Just before the arrow gets there, the spike jumps and it sticks him about half way back and high on the boy.

I watched him run across the pasture and into the woods along the creek, with my arrow sticking out of him. I knew it was not a great shot, so I gave him 2 hours and then me and my hunting buddies went looking. We found my arrow where the buck went into the creek and followed a blood trail for about 75 yards. The blood trail was pretty steady, but then it just stopped at the creek bed where he crossed.

We looked most of the day Saturday for that spike and never found anything. I have felt like crap the rest of the weekend just wondering whether he is still alive or not. I assumed it would happen sooner or later while whitetail hunting with a bow, but it sucks losing a buck. I just wonder if he will be able to shake it off or what.