# "Jason" the Friday the 13th Buck



## Texhorns (Sep 24, 2013)

Not sure that this is bragging, it's more about what not to do and being lucky.

Hunted in KY for the first time ever.  This 10 Pt was the best seen on camera on our lease so far this year.  Conditions were very good on Friday the 13th as it had cooled off and the wind shifted.  I had a good scout in the setup that evening, a fork horn buck was settled in and took over lookout duties for me.  At 7:05pm the young buck snapped his head around, looking up the trail at the Big 10 (see trail cam pic).  The youngster cleared out and Big10 came in with about 20 minutes of shooting time left.  I drew my Z7Extreme back at the final opportunity as the buck's head went behind the last tree and there he stopped.  The deer's pump room was covered by the tree, and he was staring right at me.  I held for an eternity and as he began to move forward, I sent the G5 Striker on its way.  SHWACK!  He surged and took off down the hill into a deep drain.  Then the shaking began.  Ever try texting your hunting buds as soon as you just shot the best archery buck of your life???  Harder than I thought it would be.

It soon became dark and I climbed down to start what I thought would be a simple and swift recovery.  Man was I wrong.  It was now Friday the 13th in darkness and my world was about to flip.

30 yds from impact I found my blood soaked arrow.  Found plenty of blood and figured he'd be piled up at the bottom.  More blood easily followed, 50yds covered.  Got to the drain and the blood trail continued.  Now my phone is blowing up with txt messages and calls from excited friends wanting to see a pic of Big10 with the air let out of him.  ***Important lesson learned*** I should have backed out right then and there and waited for daylight.  I was by myself.  It was pitch dark.  I was hit with a large adrenalin push - not thinking too dang clearly.  

What unfolded over the next couple of hours was something I hope never happens again.  

I pushed ahead, and most likely pushed the buck ahead too, though I never heard any movement in the bush.  The trail of blood began to thin out and my emotion changed to doubt.  Did I hit him too far back?  Too high?  In the shoulder?

By now I had covered about 125yds from the shot and the last 50yds was on hands and knees with the Z7E through thick briars - you know the kind -- places where animals, not people go.  I got to a place where I could stand, took a call from a hunting bud who said "get out and stop pushing."  So that was my new course of action.  As I reluctantly began my retreat, rechargeable flashlight died.  No worries, I have an app for that on my smart phone.  Literally 2 minutes later smartphone dies.  

I did check moon phase before heading into the woods that evening.  Overhead at 6pm.  Last time hack off now dead cellphone was almost 9:30.  2 plus hours afters the shot.  I figured I had a couple of hours of moonlight to use and road noise from the highway to the south would help, and it did.  But before I made my way out of the devil's hole I found a darker and deeper spot.  I stepped up onto a blown down tree that was blocking my path.  Figuring I would step off onto firm ground on the other side, I stepped off and down I went.  Not sure how far, positive my Matthews bow helped stop my fall.  I love that bow.  Killed some awesome critters with it.  But now it is busted - sight broken off, quiver is gone, and who knows what else is damaged.  

I managed to use my pocketknife to cut my way through the briars and advance my position about 4-6 inches at a time.  Almost out of moonlight in this - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - hole I began to think about just waiting until sunrise to proceed as I was completely sweat down and exhausted and coming down off the adrenalin push.  Just enough moonlight and an occasional car passing were key to me finding my way back to my set up where I left my backpack which held extra lights, compass, water, etc.  I won't make that mistake again either.  Heck, the deer was just gonna be piled up down the hill a bit.

After a sleepless night with full body muscle cramps and a lot of pacing, I headed back to the lease after breakfast to finish the recovery.  Picked up the blood trail right where I left it.  Followed it up out of the bottom and onto old logging trail where it soon became very sparse.  As it diminished, so did my hope for finding the buck.  It is an area that was logged several years ago and had not been maintained, burned or otherwise and was very thick.  I searched for 3 hours from last blood found.  Nothing.

Hunting buddies are special folk.  One of mine grabbed his dog and jumped in his truck and drove to KY to help me find this magnificent deer.  He brought along more help and the three of us and the dog picked up the trail.  A couple hours later, still no buck.  We could have walked right by it.  

So we decide to clear the woods as darkness was coming and I wasn't ready for Saturday night the 14th rooting around in the briars.

I returned to KY on the following Wednesday hoping for a sign.  Buzzards, crows, trail cam pics . . . anything that would lead me to a conclusion that the buck is recoverable, or still walking.  5 cameras yielded no picture of the deer.  So I set out down the last known trail of the animal and about 70 yds from last blood I caught a whiff of him.  Crossed the line of smell back and forth down a drain into a deep hole caused by another blown down tree and there he lay.  Entrance wound was a little high but still in the cage.  Velvet had partially come off.  Smell was too bad for words.

I recovered what I could and called it in (mandatory game check in KY).  Truly hate that it unfolded as it did.  At least I got some closure to go along with the broken Z7Extreme, torn clothing, shredded hands and a million holes from briars.  I'll take all the luck I can get - no doubt I just used up a good bit.

Good hunting and STAY SAFE Y'all!!!


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## walkinboss01 (Sep 24, 2013)

Good story, and a really nice buck!!


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## Gadestroyer74 (Sep 24, 2013)

Man that sounds like my luck for sure except you found him.. You did a good job telling the story that buck was expensive for sure. New reason to buy a new bow now. Congrats


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 24, 2013)

great story...congrats on going back and back and back till you found him.


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## Redbone4 (Sep 24, 2013)

*13th*

Good story and great Buck


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## Texhorns (Sep 24, 2013)

Z7Extreme on its way to Matthews for full examination.  New Creed in the soft case ready to go.  Yes, that was an expensive Buck.


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## ChickInATree (Sep 24, 2013)

So glad you found him after all that!


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## dwhee87 (Sep 24, 2013)

Lots of lessons learned. Wait. Back out. Extra light. Take your pack...thanks for sharing. Congrats on recovering the rack.


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## Pilgrim (Sep 26, 2013)

WoW!  So glad you found him.   Way to persevere!  Great story.


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## kevincox (Sep 29, 2013)

Great buck!


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## MFOSTER (Dec 25, 2013)

Nice buck


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