2019 Crossbow Buck.

I woke up at 4 AM to excited to sleep. While watching ESPN I wrote this story in my brain. Around 7 AM I started to put it on the computer screen.

October 20 was going to be the first day I was going to sit in the blind with my crossbow for deer season. I guess there have been quite a few reasons why this was the first day. Usually I sit a couple times a week, throughout the season. But this year the bugs were just horrible during the early season. The last couple years I have waited for a frost to get out just to get rid of the annoying real North Dakota state bird, the mosquito. My apologies to any meadowlarks reading this. Of course this year when we got our first real good frost it came with 10+ inches of snow. That was nice. My blind where I wanted to go hunting was a complete mess. The snow, mud and trees that were down made it impossible for me to get to the blind for at least a week. Another excuse was my trip out west chasing speed goats.

So anyway, this Sunday was going to be the first day of my bow season. The wind had been out of the east or southeast for the last handful of days. The wind finally switched to the north around noon on the 20th. I got in the chair around 3:30 PM and got all my stuff ready for the hunt. That includes my crossbow, arrows, lubricant for crossbow rail, Mossy Oak camouflage clothing and deer tag. Around 4:30 PM I started to get dressed and got my crossbow attached to my chair. My Dad cocked my Carbon Express Intercept crossbow and I headed out to my blind which is 80 yards from my bedroom.

I forgot to mention earlier that it started raining about noon on this day. It was a light rain but it was steady. When I got outside I knew how steady the rain was. It was going to be a soaker. I could feel my tires sinking in on the gravel as I was making my way to the shop. As I got onto the lawn north of the shop the ground was greasy. My path through the trees was slime. But I was hunting and I didn't care. I was excited.

I had my dad place the arrow in my crossbow, then he lifted the pop-up blind up on the front end and I backed in to get situated making sure I could see what I needed to see in front of me. I had him take the safety off and told him everything was good. As he took off I looked around and wondered why I hadn't done this earlier this year. I love this stuff. It makes me happy in the facial region.

My blind is situated between two shelter belts. The old shelter belt that was planted around the farmstead is to my back. In front of me is the newer belt. There is about 10 yards in between the two belts and I sit on the south side of this gap aiming north, northwest. By the time I got everything situated I think it was around 5 PM. Sunset on this day was 6:35 PM. So it was going to be a short sit but I knew most of the deer that come through here show up within that last golden hour of light.

For the first 45 minutes I was entertained by a handful of protective blue jays and a couple of mad squirrels. They were all making noise. The blue jays were squawking and the squirrels were barking. It was entertaining. The only thing besides them that was constant was the noise was the rain on the roof of my pop-up blind. I thought to myself if I shoot a deer tonight I hope it is a quick tracking job because this rain is going to wash all of the evidence away.

At 5:45 PM I looked to my west, where the deer usually come from and noticed some movement. It was a doe. She was alone. As she got closer I recognized her. She is an older doe. Probably four or five years old. She is on my trail camera a lot. Pretty much daily and yearly. The trail camera is 15 feet to my west and it is aiming north. This is the first year that she has not had a fawn with her. I imagine the stinking coyotes must've taken her offspring. She was in front of me no more than 10 yards away for at least 15 minutes. I just love bow hunting. This is my addiction. Not many people get that close to a wild animal. She had no clue I was there. Her ears would perk up every once in a while but that was for the squawking blue jays for the barking squirrels. The wind was in my face and I knew if I could pass detection from this old doe, I would pass detection from every other deer that came by.

As she turned around she walked back to the west, angled into the old shelter belt and went to her regular bedding spot. I wonder how many times I have gone past her without noticing her or without her busting out. As she disappeared into the trees the rain started to come down harder. It was almost deafening inside the blind. But I was nice and toasty wrapped in my Mossy Oak apparel. The 45° temperature and wind wasn't bothering me at all.

The rain started to let up around 6:35 PM, right at sunset. I knew if I was going to see a buck it was going to be in the next half-hour. They are pretty much like clockwork around this area, at this time of day. They don't show up until that last golden half-hour.

Wouldn't you know it, less than 5 minutes later as I was looking around I noticed some antlers coming from over the top of the cottonwood saplings to my left. It was a doozy of a buck. I could tell it was big. He was coming from the west in between the two shelter belts headed right towards me. He was coming straight east and I knew he was one of the doozies I had on camera. My mind was racing. It was shocking to me that this was actually happening the first night I sat. I just needed him to stop. And he did. He stood right where I wanted him to. He put his head down for a while and then brought it up. He was comfortable. He had no clue I was there. He put his head down one more time and then brought it up looking to the east. By this time I had my crossbow scope lined up on his vitals just waiting for him to give me the right opportunity for the perfect shot. He was less than 10 yards away. As I looked through my scope, I raised my right hand and pulled back on the trigger. I heard a big crack. He jumped high. He went directly northeast into the new belt which was north of us. He actually crashed and broke branches making a new path through the jungle of branches. He made so much noise I actually thought that he expired and crashed in that little belt. I couldn't believe what just happened. I had to collect myself. I waited like a total of one minute and I called Don B. He says, "Hello?" In a quizzical, questioning voice. He usually knows if I call at this time when I am hunting it is for a tracking job. He said he would be right out and I told him that our friend T-rav said he was available to help track if needed. Don B said he would give him a call and they would head out. The next call I made was to the house. My Mom answered and I asked her to bring out some water and a flashlight. She says, "Why?" I said, "Because I think I just killed Mr. Big!"

When she got out to the blind she raised the front end of it and I drove out. I had her set the mug of water on my tray and I slurped it down. We went to the kill spot and looked for blood but didn't find any. I decided to head back to the shop to try and stay dry while we waited for my tracking crew. As we were waiting we could hear the rain coming down harder on the metal roof. I thought to myself this isn't good, this hard rain is going to wash away all of the blood that we need to track. Tracking is a skill. Some are good at it and some say they are. Don B and T-rav are about the best there is. They have helped in other situations. I met them outside the shop and I brought them to the kill site. They asked which way he was facing and I re-created the scene as the rain was drenching us. There was no blood where he was standing. But I looked to where he crashed through the trees and you could see fresh broken limbs. Right below some of the broken limbs T-rav found some blood. Not very much, just a couple drops he said as we could hear a pack of coyotes howling to the east. They were both searching and every once in a while I would hear them say, "Found some, found some more, here's a good spot of blood." But it was still pretty sporadic. I was getting nervous as I couldn't hear them anymore because of the pounding rain. I decided to go back to the shop and wait for their call. As I was headed back I could hear the coyotes again. Them jerks. I knew if we didn't find this deer tonight they would have him eaten up in a heartbeat.

When I got in the shop I tilted back in my chair as I listened to the rain on the metal roof. My guts were in a knot. I kept thinking to myself, I thought I made a perfect shot. I can't believe he could have gone that far. I was probably tilted back for about 8 minutes when I noticed my phone had a text message on it. I clicked on the message and a picture of a dead buck in a soybean field was on the screen. The message said from Don B, "Is this the one?" I replied back, "Probably!"

I couldn't believe it. This whole thing just happened. I got out of the shop and made my way the 30 or 40 yards north of the building to the kill spot to meet them. When I got out there I didn't see any flashlights or anything. I just heard a lot of grunting and giggling as they were pulling him through the still standing soybean field. I thought to myself, man he must've went along ways. A lot longer than I thought he could have. It was pretty much a broadside shot. His backside was a little farther away than his front but you can't ask for perfect every time. A little quartering away. As they were trying to find a way through the belt my mom showed them my path I use when I am checking for sign throughout the year. Once they got to that it was easier going. When they dropped him in front of me I was in awe. Holy Shinto. 

I shoot 20 inch arrows.

Don B said, "Congrats!" T-rav said excitedly, "What a pig!" We all couldn't believe how big his body was. His neck was just swollen. He was in pre-rut, hard. I couldn't believe how old he looked. He is an old bruiser. I recognized him as soon as they laid him in front of me. He has been on my cameras numerous times throughout the year. The sight of this beast lying in front of me was just awesome. It did not suck.

As we were admiring Mr. Big we looked at the shot placement. The shot wasn't too high, it wasn't too low and I wasn't too far back. It was a perfect double lung pass through. I then said, "I can't believe he went that far. How far do you think he went?" Don B said that he almost made it to the other belt to the north. I couldn't believe it. I thought that had to at least be 120 yards. But they explained once they got out of the little belt the blood trail was easy in the soybeans. It was shooting on both sides. Then T-rav looks down at his phone and says, "I have the blood spots mapped out on my on-X app on my phone." From kill site to where he laid it was 146 yards. Holy shinto that is a long ways to go with a complete pass through. The will to survive is strong with deer.

Use the code "mossyoak" to get 20% off your OnX membership.

Before we drug him to the pickup, Don B explained we should look for the arrow. I thought to myself we are never going to find that arrow. It is dark, it is wet and I would have a lot better chance finding it in the morning with some daylight. Right when I was about to turn around and leave Don B says, "Here it is!" It wasn't 3 yards from the kill site. Neat.

We then took a bunch of pictures, loaded it in the back of Don B's pickup and we headed to Maple Valley Meats. We used his pickup because mine still has a bunch of crap in it from my West River goat hunting trip. That reminds me I should clean that out sometime. After we got everything settled in the locker we went to the Spare Time for a couple stiff ones. We were all wore out and decided to make it an early night. I was home in bed by 10:15 PM. What a night it was though. I will never forget it.

I can't thank Don B and T-rav enough for the tracking and gut job. Better friends a guy could not ask for. Within 20 minutes from my call they were at the farmstead from town ready and willing to track in the rain. I later learned that they walked through water up to their knees. They were pretty much on their hands and knees looking for blood in the beginning. They were both drenched and full of mud. Thanks my friends. I am indebted. The Miller Lite is on me.

I want to thank Dad for helping and Mom for putting up with me and my hunting obsession. The tires on my chair are always full of mud and debris in the fall. It's a full-time job cleaning up after me. I suck.

I also want to thank Tito for coming out about a week ago after the snow melted to clear my path which was inundated by fallen trees and limbs. He brought out his chainsaw and went to work. He also took off 20 or 30 pounds of snow from my collapsed roof on my pop-up blind. I still can't believe that thing didn't get destroyed in the storm.

Tonight we will eat deer heart to honor the fallen. Thanks everybody who does what they do to let me do what I do. You all don't suck.

Thanks for reading, Clint.