While following the deer path out of the woods, Paul suddenly heard the crunching of leaves. This was followed by several distinct grunts. Paul stopped and stood close to a large tree in order to hide himself if the deer decided to come his way. Paul then let out his own grunt. He heard the deer weaving back and forth through the woods as it came toward him, grunting the entire time.
Paul's heart started pounding and the deer kept coming closer. Paul was astounded that the deer was actually coming toward the sound of his voice grunt. When the massive buck came into view, Paul could see a huge set of antlers. He tried to keep his composure and wait for the deer to get perfectly broadside. As luck would have it, the monster buck got within a mere 10 yards and turned broadside. With his tree stand still on his back, Paul aimed and drew back his bow.
The enormous buck turned slightly toward Paul as the hunter let the arrow fly toward the base of the deer's neck. The arrow penetrated the buck's vitals as it came out the opposite shoulder. The surprised buck bolted with his tail tucked tightly down. Paul watched as the buck ran about 30 yards with his tail now waving up and down. The deer ran out of sight, and then Paul heard a loud thud. The leaves rustled for a moment, and then there was total silence. Silence, that is, except for the sound of Paul's pounding heart!
AN UNEASY RECOVERY
Paul collected himself. He knew he had made a good hit, but he also felt that he should vacate the area and let the buck expire. With his heart pounding and his mind racing, Paul headed for his truck with the intention of getting some help. Unfortunately, none of his friends were immediately available. Too anxious to wait, Paul headed back to the woods alone. He knew that if he could just locate his buck, he could get help later with dragging the buck out.
He went back to the spot where the deer had been standing and started looking for a blood trail. By now it was totally dark. Paul searched for an hour and found nothing. He decided to start looking in the area where the buck had been headed. Paul's roller-coaster emotions went from low to high as he picked up a blood trail. Then, 60 yards from where the buck had been hit, Paul found his once-in a-lifetime trophy on the ground.
The elated hunter could not believe the size of this deer. It was truly a monster. Full of excitement and awe, he could not bring himself to leave the animal alone again. So he decided to make use of the adrenaline flowing through his body and drag the big buck out by himself. There was no way he was going to leave it there in the dark! After manhandling the buck out of the woods and into his truck, Paul drove home to show his girlfriend and her mother. He then made phone calls to all of his friends to tell them the news.
TWO-WAY B&C QUALIFIER
As a typical 5x5 with 2 abnormal sticker points on each side, Paul's buck grossed 185 7/8 and netted 172 1/8 typical B&C points. It's a new state-record typical archery buck for Massachusetts, replacing the Mark Thomas buck, taken in Norfolk County in 2005. (Mark's buck grossed 175 6/8 and netted 163 7/8.) Interestingly enough, with a gross non-typical score of 194 1/8 and a net score of 188 5/8, Paul's buck could have been entered as a non-typical, and it would have been a Massachusetts state record in that category instead of the typical category.
However, 180-class typical bucks are very rare in the Northeast. In fact, only three archery deer are listed in the NBBC records that gross over 180 inches as typical bucks. When you consider all hunter-harvested bucks by both firearms and bows, fewer than 10 gross over 185 inches. Paul's buck is actually the largest archery typical ever taken anywhere in New England. Semper fi, Paul!
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
The Northeast Big Buck Club recently published its fifth record book -- Northeast Trophy Whitetails V. This 336-page hard-cover collector's item includes nearly 6,000 whitetail entries with hundreds of photos from across New England and New York. To order your copy, contact the NBBC at (508) 752-8762 or visit www.bigbucksclub.com.
North American Whitetall North American Whitetail is designed for the serious trophy hunter. It provides authoritative coverage of world-class whitetails, the latest approaches to deer management and advanced hunting techniques.
