# 10th Bowkill -- A Kansas Bruiser



## rjcruiser (Nov 22, 2016)

Well...finally home and back at my pc...so I figured I'd do a little write up on the story of this bruiser.  I know that some of y'all followed our live from the tree thread, but here's some added details.

We (Curtis-UGA and Huntinfool) started hunting Monday and I'd seen some deer in this corner of the field...but most had been traveling the opposite side of the creek that is in the picture below.  Walking the far field edge and then dipping down to my left and behind me into a wooded bottom that is a bedding area for them.

Tuesday evening, I had several does come out from my right along my side of the creek/field edge and started snacking on the cut beans.  They saw my decoy and came inside the woods line with me and tried to figure out what this freshman buck was all about.  This happened right at dark and for 30 minutes, I was pinned in my stand watching does and a small 8 walk around my decoy and within 20 yards of my stand.  Just before getting down, I saw a buck enter the field and all of the does scattered.  I then saw one doe being chased through the field, through the creek, out the field ahead and to my left and then back into the bedding area behind and to my left.  After things went quiet, I finally eased out of the stand and called it a night.

Wednesday morning...went back to the same stand hoping I'd see some more action.  Well, around 7:45, a yearling doe came out along the field edge to my right, tried to sniff my decoy, and then proceeded to walk right under my stand and cross the creek to my left.  Watched her for about 5 minutes and got some great video of her.  After that...nothing for a while...and then at 8:42, a doe comes around a bend in the field edge almost straight ahead, walking almost directly to my decoy.  Then, about 10 yards behind her, a buck.

I see he's a nice 8...but has some shorter tines...hard to get a read on him at 75 yards, but he looks mature.  As the doe gets to about 30 yards from my decoy, she eases off of the field edge and into the woods with me.  As she dips into the woods, the buck sees the decoy as well and decides, she's more attractive than the decoy.  As he turns into the woods, I see a little trash off of his left G2 and realize he's a definite shooter.  I stand with them lost behind trees about 50 yards ahead of me.

She weaves in and out of trees...making her way to the creek crossing to my left.  He continues...caught in her trance...following about 10 yards behind.  He is perfectly broadside at 35 yards straight ahead....but I wait...knowing that I'll have a 10 yard shot to my left if they continue.

When the doe gets to about 20 yards, she senses something is up.  She continues to about 15 yards to my left, but stops in some tall grass trying to wind me, but she can't as the wind is in my favor.  The buck freezes behind a group of trees about 25 yards...watching her every move.  I realize, she's a little nervous and if she bolts, he bolts.  She drops down into the creek bottom and I draw.  He takes about 3 steps forward and looks up at me, frozen for a half a second at 22 yards....with that deer in the headlights look.  He's slightly quartering to me, but I realize it is now or never.  Within a split second, I find him through my peep and release the arrow.

Thwump.  

The arrow hits and next thing I know, he's laying on the ground on his side, and I see half of the arrow sticking out of his stomach.  He struggles for a second on the ground, trying to find his footing.  I think to myself...please be a spine shot...don't get up.  To my dismay, he gets up...turns back where he came from and calmly walks off....disappearing behind some trees....inside the woods from the field...alongside the creek.  As he disappears, I can see the fletching of the arrow sticking up out of the offside of his stomach.


I sit down...thinking to myself...what have I done.  I text the guys I'm hunting with....fudge, just gut shot a bruiser (and yes, I did say fudge ).  From the time the doe came into view to the time I texted...4 minutes.  4 minutes you dream about....4 minutes you sit countless hours in a stand...4 minutes you practice shooting...all for those 4 minutes and I screwed it up.  I go through the shot....replay the images in my mind...try to figure where the shot was...question how I could miss sooo badly from 20 yards.  I go through the scenario via text with both my hunting partners...and mention that I must have hit the off hip for the arrow not to exit.  I'm shooting over 80lbs of KE with my set up and it should go through just about anything.  I start googling hitting a deer back...how long to wait...all the things you do while sitting for hours waiting.  

After sitting for 2 hours, I ease out as quietly as possible and walk far out into the field to keep from bumping up that buck.  We go to lunch and then decide at 1PM, after a little more than 4 hours, it is time to see what happened.  With Curtis on one side of the creek, my cousin on the other side of the creek and Huntinfool at the end of this creek bottom where it hits the road, I go to where I saw this buck fall.  I see the deer highway in the tall grass where he trotted off...and start walking it.  About 20 yards into my track, I spot blood....not something I was expecting with a no exit gut shot deer.  It looks dark and I think liver.  10 more yards...more blood...10 more yards...even more blood....and then...I look up and see him laying there.  

4 hours of waiting and he was dead within 50 yards of the shot.  He had gotten behind just a few trees and I couldn't see him go down.  I had hit his femoral artery and the arrow was still sticking out of his side.  A lot of prayers from that 4 hour period where answered and this Kansas bruiser was down.

Blessed beyond measure to be able to harvest a deer like this.  We weighed him at 250 lbs.  Green scored him at 152 1/2....and I'm going to have the jawbone pulled so I can try and age him.  Curiousity is getting me as he's just super heavy and his neck is huge.  The processor I took him to said it was the largest neck they'd seen so far this year.

Thanks Curtis and Huntinfool....had a blast getting to enjoy this time in the woods with y'all.


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## rjcruiser (Nov 22, 2016)

Here's the view to my right (with my decoy).  The view straight away and the path the buck took.  And the view to my left showing the creek and crossing at the bottom left of the pic.


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## Huntinfool (Nov 22, 2016)

Nice man!  I never saw him where you found him.  Cool to see that pic.

Congrats again man.  Those pictures are great...but they don't do him justice.  Folks, I'm here to tell you, that deer was a HUGE eight point.  The mass was unreal.


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## 01Foreman400 (Nov 22, 2016)

Great write-up.  Thanks for sharing it with us.  Congrats!


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## Kris87 (Nov 22, 2016)

Congrats.


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## GAGE (Nov 22, 2016)

Just a massive old heavy whitetail, congrats!


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## Brewskis (Nov 22, 2016)

Great buck, congrats! Glad it worked out for you. Do you think it was a rushed shot, equipment issue, or something else that accounted for hitting him so far back?


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## bowhunterdavid (Nov 22, 2016)

There is no place like Kansas, Congrats


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## Beagler282 (Nov 22, 2016)

Very nice.Congrats on a beast!


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## Curtis-UGA (Nov 22, 2016)

Congrats again Ryan! An absolute beast of a buck. I rough scored him and I usually get it pretty close. This buck will fool you by the pics but there is over 40 inches of mass! 

Thanks for letting me tag along again! That little creek bottom has been pretty good to us!


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## Kris87 (Nov 22, 2016)

What's the spread and beam lengths?


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## mark-7mag (Nov 22, 2016)

Nice deer man! Love the wright up


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## Curtis-UGA (Nov 22, 2016)

Kris87 said:


> What's the spread and beam lengths?



If I remember correct he was 16.5" inside and both beams were around 23".


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## Lukikus2 (Nov 22, 2016)

Man those are some heavy horns all the way thru from the bases. Good for letting him lay. I shot one in the ham with a 06' and hit the femoral artery and he went 600 yards after I pushed him. 

Beast. Congrats


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## rjcruiser (Nov 22, 2016)

Brewskis said:


> Great buck, congrats! Glad it worked out for you. Do you think it was a rushed shot, equipment issue, or something else that accounted for hitting him so far back?



I've replayed it a ton in my mind.  I even replayed it in the stand.  Drawing with another arrow nocked and looking through the peep.  You can see I missed by about 12-14" right....you can see the arrow sticking out of his back in some of the pics.  The shot at 22 yards...that far off...it's embarrassing.  

But...here's what I think.  I believe it was several factors.  First, he was quartering to me slightly....so with the angle I shot him, the miss to the right was exaggerated.  So that accounts for maybe half of the distance (if I'm generous to myself)  Second, since he was quartering to me, I didn't want to hit shoulder bone.  Been there, done that...didn't want to do that again.  Third, I rushed the shot....big time.  I knew when he came around that tree, I had a split second, and I took a split second.  Fourth, he may have jumped the shot just a bit.  Hard to know at that range if he could move much on the shot, but he did look up at me when I touched the trigger on my release.  Fifth, I have been practicing shooting with both eyes open and it takes just an extra bit to focus on the target with my right eye and not with my left.  I'm wondering if I was catching the pin with my left eye rather than my right...pushing the shot right (I need to test this out in the backyard to see if it misses right or left when I do this).

I've yet to shoot my bow since that shot....but I don't believe it was equipment failure.  I shot it right before the trip and it was dead on from 50 yards out....but...maybe it got bumped by some luggage.  It's possible.

At the end of the day, I got away with one.  I prayed hard for that 4 hours I was unsure...and somehow, the Lord thought it would be best to answer my prayers with a recovered deer.



Kris87 said:


> What's the spread and beam lengths?



He's already at the taxidermist, but I'll probably get him scored when I get back.  He's very deceiving.  

When I first saw him, I was kinda on the fence with shooter/not shooter.  I was focused on his left side (my right as he was facing me) because that was to the field side and was more open for me.  He lacks a little more tine length on that side and his mass makes his tines look even shorter.  When he turned into the woods and I saw the trash on his left G2, I knew he was mature as those stickers seem to only come with age.  After shooting him, the guys were asking me what I thought he scored and I said in our texts...125-135....A heavy 8 with not a whole lot of tine length.  I never thought he'd eclipse 140...let alone 150 green.


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## rjcruiser (Nov 22, 2016)

Thanks again, y'all, it was really amazing....humbling and a learning experience.  Every deer with the bow seems to be a learning experience.

And Curtis...Huntinfool....appreciate y'all coming along for the ride.  Hunting by yourself just isn't the same as hunting with friends.


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## jaymax (Nov 22, 2016)

Good story.. congrats on a Toad!


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## uturn (Nov 23, 2016)

Great read and one heck of a buck!!  The emotions you speak of I have felt quite often!!

Congratulations!

PS..thought I was the only one still in love with the 350! I'd like to find a black riser myself!

Congrats again on a fine buck!!


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## Blisterapine (Nov 23, 2016)

dang at the mass!


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## Dowis1974 (Nov 24, 2016)

That's a studd for sure! Congrats


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## bukhuntr (Nov 24, 2016)

Congrats buddy!  Great deer and outcome.  I know exactly how you feel, but you had a better ending.  I hit one back on public land in Nebraska and never found him.  I keep replaying it over and over and over.   Congrats again!


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## Jim Boyd (Nov 24, 2016)

Man, what a wonderful story, great outcome and a BEAST of a deer.


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## Jim Boyd (Nov 24, 2016)

Many, many congratulations!

Awesome, all the way around.....


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## rjcruiser (Nov 24, 2016)

Thanks y'all. I was fortunate for sure.


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## BowChilling (Nov 24, 2016)

Great story Ryan, thanks for sharing. Mass will fool you. A heavy horned buck is every bit as impressive as a long tined one. That is a old heavy warrior!


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## mattech (Nov 24, 2016)

Congrats on a great buck


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## GillCommander (Nov 25, 2016)

Ill take the first crack and age him at 7. Great deer buddy.


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## killabig1 (Nov 25, 2016)

Congrats! Great experience, Kansas is a different world.
Hunting with an outfitter? Public land?


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## rjcruiser (Nov 25, 2016)

killabig1 said:


> Congrats! Great experience, Kansas is a different world.
> Hunting with an outfitter? Public land?



I'm fortunate enough to have extended family living in Kansas that farm.  Now...if only Kansas would allow grandkids to get lifetime licenses of residents...I'd be set.    Until then, I have to keep buying out of state tags.


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## Pilgrim (Nov 28, 2016)

WoW! Congrats!!!


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## Tmpr111 (Nov 28, 2016)

Do you guys bring this meat back from Kansas or donate it?  Nice deer.


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## rjcruiser (Nov 28, 2016)

Tmpr111 said:


> Do you guys bring this meat back from Kansas or donate it?  Nice deer.



Ended up paying for the processing and giving it to my family where we hunt.  The processor wasn't going to be able to get the processing done in time before we left.


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## Triggerfinger_4 (Nov 28, 2016)

Awesome deer!! Just curious what is your set up?


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## rjcruiser (Nov 28, 2016)

Triggerfinger_4 said:


> Awesome deer!! Just curious what is your set up?



Bowtech D350. Easton St Axis arrows. Bipolar 125 gr broadheads. The arrow is something like 465 grains flying at about 280 fps. The broadhead has so far taken down 4 deer and two of them were midwest giants. This head was ground up in the off hip and was in pretty good shape after I pulled it out. The main blade was bent slightly and one of the fold out blades was bent, but it could be straightened and used again. It did everything it was advertised to do and I've been pleased with the head so far.


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## Sundays Money (Nov 29, 2016)

Congrats 
Great buck


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## Broken Tine (Nov 29, 2016)

Great story!  Heck of a buck!  Thanks for sharing.


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## South Man (Dec 1, 2016)

Thanks for sharing! congrats


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## Jim Thompson (Dec 10, 2016)

Thata boy! Great story and gorgeous beast


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