# Grip 'n Grin: My Son and My 2013 Archery Buck



## Sako (Oct 30, 2007)

OK so it's not much of a "grin", it's more of a scowl, but it's still a great pic!


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## solocam (Jul 26, 2013)

Nice deer 8)


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

Great buck! How about the story?


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

...another nice buck. You must be one sneaky dude! 

For those of you who don't know, Sako hunts the most publicly hunted places around and shoots monster bucks on them. It's crazy. 

Love the pic.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Holly tine length!!!!


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## Sako (Oct 30, 2007)

OK, Here's the Story:

I hunted a new area this year. As BirdDogger said - it's very public. In fact, opening day was about the worst day in the field I've ever had on an archery hunt! It reminded me of public land rifle deer hunts in Washington state - a guy on every stump. I saw dozens of guys! I watched the deer I had been scouting get run out of the zip code. I had planned on staying up there for a few days, but after the opening day I just packed it up and came home.

Frustrated!

I got to work Monday, looked at my Calendar, and Tuesday the 20th was the only day I'd be able to hunt in the month of August - so I took it off.

Tuesday morning I got to the trailhead at 4:30 and was up to my glassing spot a little late. There were no other trucks at the trailhead, and I was seeing bucks.

I saw probably 20 little bucks, like this guy:


But that wasn't what I was there for. So I took my time and enjoyed the day. There were high clouds rolling overhead, and some thunder in the distance, and I just took my time working along the tops of the ridges glassing for that one buck bedded behind a tree.

I went from about 11 am to 4 pm without seeing a deer, and then I spotted this guy:


Now, he WAS what I was after. I hadn't seen him before that moment. I was looking into new country, didn't know the lay of the land well, but I found him and I made a plan.

He was about 500 yards below me feeding across the bottom of a big slope. There was one string of pine trees in a ravine that went down the middle of that slope, and he was feeding towards the bottom of that. I figured if I could get to those pines, sneak down through them, and then wait patiently - he'd feed right out in front of me! Perfect! Now, if things just went according to plan...

So I scurried a few hundred yards around the ridge top to get to the pines, then snuck down through them as best as I could. Slipped and fell a few times, since it was steep and had been raining, but at least the ground was soft and not as noisy as it could have been.

As I was getting down through the last part of the timber, and was glassing out in the openings for any sign of the feeding buck, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. Through a small window in the trees, I saw the flicker of an ear. I put the glasses up, and found the top right fork, ear, and part of the back of my buck. Bedded. In the trees. He had beat me into the pines, and had bedded down.

At that point he was 150 yards below me. I stripped off my pack, and closed the distance as far as I could. At 77 yards, I re-emerged in a spot I could see him, and snapped this pic:


See him down in there?  Resting peacefully.

So, I've been practicing with my new LimbSaver Proton DT bow a lot this summer. Its at 70 lbs with a 30" draw length. I have the LS stabilizer, 7-pin site, quiver, a ripcord rest, and I'm shooting some heavy GoldTip Kinetic arrows with Trophy Taker Terminal-T broadheads. I have pins for 20-80 yards. I have found that practicing at 80 makes 40 seem like a chip shot! Well, as the practice sessions went on, I found myself able to make great broadhead groups at 80 yards. Talk about a confidence boost! I couldn't' do that a year ago. Here's my bow:


At 77 yards I had a narrow window to view him. The left/right was narrow, but up/down was totally clear. He was down a 33 degree slope from me. His body was in line with me, but his head was turned 90 degrees to the side - a perfect setup. His head and antlers were totally clear, and his body was in a vertical line with my pins. I ranged him again at 77 yards. My rangefinder won't tell me the horizontal distance for archery at that range, so I ranged some things at 30 and 40 yards and determined it was subtracting 20% for the angle. So, that's 62 yards. I slow stood up. There was no wind. I came to full draw, checked my hand to make sure I wasn't torqueing the bow, checked the bubble level, checked my anchor point, and checked my pins. When I put the pins on him, and checked to see if I was sturdy, everything looked great. I put the 60 right where I wanted it, and before I knew it the arrow was on its way!

TOO HIGH! I watched the arrow on its way into the shadows where he was bedded, and the last I saw of it in the sunlight it looked like it was arcing too high. I couldn't believe it - it felt like such a good shot!

The buck heard the arrow zip by, stood up, and started tearing off through the timber down the hillside below me. I ran backwards a few steps to an opening that would allow me to see him emerge from the timber. He emerged at full speed, and there was a bright orange thing sticking out above his shoulder blade! My jaw dropped. When I saw the arrow flying towards him, I must have saw it at the top of its arc, and then as it fell towards him in the shadows I couldn't see it again - so though it appeared high it was just on its normal trajectory and it dropped right in where I wanted it!

The buck ran another 10 yards, and tipped over. Lights out. From the time the arrow hit him to when he fell only took 5 seconds, and he maybe went 100 yards. I had done it! I was elated, to say the least. In fact, here's a silly goofy picture of myself immediately after he tipped over:


I hiked back up the hill to gather my gear, and then descended to the buck. Here's how he looked on the ground. You can see about 4" of my 30" arrow sticking out of him. The arrow went from top to bottom, and from left to right, through his vitals. It made very quick work of the job. 


I got things setup and put my camera on a tripod to take some pictures, and the battery died!! I couldn't believe it! I had the best buck of my life, and my good camera was dead! Luckily I had a backup cam, but it doesn't take the best pics. I did what I could with it:







By the time I got it boned out and the pack loaded, darkness had fallen. My good friend Jasen was hunting elk a few miles away from me, and luckily had cell service. He offered to help pack, and he brought me some much-needed water. Thank goodness for good friends! I was able to pack it out the 4-miles to the truck, but the water and company was greatly appreciated!

I got the meat to the butcher and antlers to the taxidermist the next morning. I took out a tape and measured him at 27 3/4" inches wide on the outside, and roughly estimated him at 178". I'm planning on getting him officially scored, just for the fun of it!

Here's both my boys with him, and then another cheesy one of me:




I couldn't be happier! The only sad part is that it's August, and my hunting season is done for 355 days!!! At least there's elk...


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## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

Awesome story. Congrats on the great buck!


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

Congrats on a great buck! Loved the story as well.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Sweet buck. Persistence is everything.


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## CurrentCreekHunter (May 4, 2013)

Great story and great buck... congrats!


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Great buck! Nicely done.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Pretty nice buck congrats


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## muleymadness (Jan 23, 2008)

Cool story and buck, congrats!


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## DeadI (Sep 12, 2007)

Congrats on a awsome buck. Love the pic of the buck and the kidos.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Nice buck! Congrats.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Cool! Congrats on a great buck. I'm wishing I had an archery tag, I still have a month to wait...


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## BradN (Sep 25, 2007)

Great buck. Great story. Thanks for sharing.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Don't you just love spot and stalk? Great story! Fantastic buck! Congrats!


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## manysteps (Sep 28, 2009)

Great story, and AWESOME BUCK!


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

Awesome buck and awesome story! In country you can't cheat on top of it! You earned that buck!


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

good work! way to get it done in a limited window of time!


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Congrats man! Awesome buck!


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## JDub17 (Jun 25, 2013)

awesome story and great buck! Congratulations!


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

nice buck and congrats.


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## TopofUtahArcher (Sep 9, 2009)

Great buck DD!! Nice shooting! Hopefully my Wyo hunt ends that way too.

Thanks for sharing your story too.


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## Sako (Oct 30, 2007)

Thanks guys for the great feedback! 

I'm already scouting for next year!


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## buckley_354 (Sep 2, 2013)

congrats on a good buck!


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## Mountain Time (Sep 24, 2007)

Hats off to you for getting in on a bedded buck all DIY. Nice buck and great story. Congrats!


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