Bonfire Buck

I’ve been hunting my uncle’s land in Buffalo County for about five years. He has 40 acres that he has developed into some very nice hunting land. Within the last few years he has put in several food plots, dug two small ponds and has been quite successful in persuading the deer to spend more time on his small piece of land, which is surrounded by 80-acre and larger properties. His 40-acre piece wraps around the end of a bluff in a beautiful two-mile long valley. We agree that you could spend all day sitting around doing nothing but enjoying the view of the valley and not feel bad about it.

My uncle has a concrete and masonry business. I was slow with work where I live, three hours southwest of him, and he was short handed and asked me if I could help him for a couple of weeks. It was the beginning of October. I quickly agreed because of the work and of the timing. Not a bad time of year to spend time in the buck capitol with 40 acres of private land to hunt on with the house right on the property.

We were working long days and hunting when we could; we had a couple of big jobs to finish before we could start hunting a lot more. We started seeing some nice bucks in the middle of October and the closer we got to November the more exciting things got. We had to pour a huge stamped and colored driveway the week of November 3rd so we worked Saturday and Sunday to get the job ready, and Tuesday we started pouring the concrete. We poured 62 yards of concrete and stamped it in two 13-hour days. That’s quite a bit for four guys, but there was a cold front moving in on Thursday and we really wanted to get the job done so we could hunt that weekend. I should mention that my girlfriend was expecting me to come home after that job was done. Being the supportive and enthusiastic person that she is, she understood why I wanted to stay. Thanks to her, things worked out the way they did.

We got done stripping the forms off the driveway at noon Thursday and hurried back to the forty (that’s what we call his house and land) to get in our treestands. I was changed and in my stand by 1:30. I had hung this stand Sunday and hadn’t been in it yet. It was set up on a major trail the deer use to go from the neighbor’s property onto my uncle’s. I had been hunting the same general area and had a close call with a real nice ten-pointer that came in but never quite gave me a clear shot five days before. So I set up on the previously mentioned trail.

I was in the stand about 45 minutes and a nice 8-pointer came down the hill and was eating acorns under me for ten minutes. He gave me several great shot opportunities, but I held back. It was real hard for me to pass up a 17 inch wide 2 1/2 year old but I knew there were bigger ones around. Uncle Jeff told me that I could shoot whatever I wanted to, but should try to pass up the 2-½ year olds. After browsing the deer picked his head up, sniffed the wind and took off toward the neighbor’s with the wind in his face and disappeared. Nothing happened for another hour. The temperature was steadily dropping and I was expecting to start seeing more deer moving. Shortly after thinking that, I heard a bunch of crashing to the west of me up the hill. A doe was running through the woods and 20 yards behind her was a large buck and behind him was the 8-pointer that had left earlier. They ran by at 60 yards or so. Needless to say, this got me very excited. I was hoping the doe would circle around in her efforts to shake her pursuers.

Not two minutes later, from the same general direction, I heard more deer running. I couldn’t see them because of the terrain but they were getting closer. I started to hear buck grunts when a doe came flying out of some thicker brush 35 yards away running right at me with her eyes looking like they were about to pop out of her head. She ran right down the trail I was set up on and I could hear the buck coming closer. The doe was already past me when he came running out on the same trail, running right at me 35 yards away. He covered that ground in about 2 1/2 seconds. When he ran by me at nine yards, I was already timing his gait and had a spot picked out in the middle of his ribs. I swung with him, hit my anchor point and released when he was about ten feet past broadside. My arrow went exactly where I wanted it to go. It was by far the best shot I’ve ever made on any animal.

I knew I made a perfect shot on him and heard a crack when the arrow hit. He never broke stride. After going about 40 yards, I saw the arrow fall out of the side I hit him and he stopped shortly after that. The doe kept going for the next county. I could see blood draining from him at this distance. He turned and started walking uphill on wobbly legs. Right then I heard more grunting and running coming from the same spot that he and his “almost” mating partner came from. All this noise was coming from a different 8-pointer that came running up and stopped right under me while I was looking at the deer I just shot. While he was standing under me, I thought I heard my buck fall over about 50 yards away.

As soon as I this happened the 8-pointer took off after the doe, grunting as he went. He didn’t even look up at me and say thanks or anything. All of this took place in about five seconds from the time I saw the doe come out to the time my deer went down. Okay, maybe six, but either way it was quick. And it was a lot for me to comprehend and sort out when it happened so quickly. I was a little worried that my arrow came out. I figured it hit the opposite shoulder blade and broke.

I started realizing what had just happened about a minute later and I think every leaf came off the tree I was sitting in because I started shaking so bad. I turned around and just held on to it for about five minutes until I was stable again. It was 4:15. I waited 20 minutes and got down, hit my knees and offered up a prayer of thanks to my Buddy up there for this experience and what was still to come.

I waited for my uncle on the path we both had walked to our spots. When I saw him coming I started running towards him and apparently tackled him. I really can’t remember but that’s what he claims. He also says I covered the 30 uphill yards between us looking like I was on a magic carpet ride because he didn’t see my feet touch the ground once. Then I explained what had happened. We both ran down to the house to get rid of some clothes before hiking back up the hill.

We got two lights from the house and went to where I shot him. About five feet from where I hit him, there was a paper plate size pool of blood, then another one, and another one. Every ten feet up to where he turned there was a large puddle of blood. The blood trail got thinner after he turned, but it was an open area in the woods without a lot of underbrush, making for an easy tracking job. We went another 20 yards up the hill shining or lights ahead every so often. I can’t explain the feeling I had when I saw him in the beam of my flashlight. Completely surreal. I’ve never shot any buck close to this size, and some heavy emotions swept over me.

The Bear Razorhead had sliced clean through the heart. The broadhead and eight inches of arrow was stuck in the brisket a half-inch on the opposite side that I hit him. The broadhead had done its job already, and the part of the arrow I saw fall out was the fletched end. I have to say that I’m glad that I didn’t have to watch this deer for any amount of time before the shot. I probably would have shot in between his antlers, because that’s what I would have been staring at. My dad and I practice shooting disks out of the air and rolling on the ground a lot in the spring and summer. I have to credit all of that practice to being able to make the shot that I did.

The 21-point rack has seven and a half inch bases, a 20 ½ spread, an eight and three quarter measurement around the main beam in front of his left G2, palmation, and character that goes on for days. Truly a gift. A few people have asked me if I’m going to quit hunting now… and miss watching my arrows bury into rib cages? I don’t think so.

“Big racks are like bonfires; you can stare at one for hours and not get bored.” John Reich Sr.

Jake Reich shot this awesome deer with a 60 lb Viper longbow, cedar shafts and a Bear Razorhead.