Hunter: Justin Clack
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Walton
Season: 2017-2018
Hunt Story
Earlier in the week, I went to a stand location to sit and scout. I was fortunate to see and locate this deer. He was using a hardwood ridge bordering an overgrown field, eating white oak acorns. I had my sights on this buck the entire week until I could get back in the stand. The next available day I had to hunt was Thursday afternoon. I had a good wind, but it was 90 degrees. I had a fawn come in early, around 530 p.m., which made me a little more optimistic. A short time later, I had another doe and two buttonheads come in. They had been feeding in the white oaks for about an hour when I started to hear another deer coming up toward me. The first was a small 8-pointer, then a really nice 8-pointer with good tine length. As the larger 8-pointer made his way in, I decided that if he presented me with a shot, I was going to take it. Just then, I could hear another deer coming up the hardwood draw... There he was, the 9-pointer I had seen the previous Sunday. They slowly fed toward my stand. The larger 8-pointer came within 2 yards to the base of my tree and started to become hesitant. At that time, the 9-pointer made it within a range at 35 yards. I drew back and let the arrow fly. "Smoked him" I thought to myself. The deer ran 30 yards, stood there, and started to buckle. He laid down and I watched him for about 30 minutes, and just as I was loosing light in my binoculars, I saw him stand up. I gave him a couple hours before my Dad and I went to locate him. We found the arrow covered in blood. However, we presume his wound clotted while the laid there for 30 minutes as his blood trail diminished to a single (half penny size) drop every 5 yards or so. We trailed the deer until 12:30 a.m. and only gained about 100 yards due to the lack of blood. We decided to call it quits for the night and returned the following morning. We recovered the deer about 100 yards from where we found the last bit of blood the night prior. My best bow buck to date!
