1st Bow Buck

Everything pertaining to deer.
Post Reply
User avatar
HunterGKS
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 5555
Joined: January 2nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
Location: North Central Ohio

1st Bow Buck

Post by HunterGKS »

I was looking around on my PC for something & ran across this story from 1991. It was published in the Buckmasters magazine.

Burglar Leads to Good Buck

By George Swartzfager

It was Nov. 1, 1991, and my hunting partner, Jack Scott, and I were searching the stubble field for sign. My heart sank. We had been tracking the buck for three hours and had lost the blood trail about 10 feet into the field from the edge of the woods. I just knew we had lost the first deer I had ever shot with a bow.

The week-long October hunt in the Birch River area of West Virginia had started on a less-than-auspicious note the prior Friday. I had left my home in Florida at 10 a.m. on Thursday, and after spending the night in South Carolina, I arrived at camp at 1 p.m. the next day to find that our cabin had been burglarized.

We had been at the camp the previous May for spring gobbler season. Normally, we take all of our hunting gear with us. But this particular trip we decided to leave quite a bit of it along with the usual cooking utensils, beds, heater, tools and such. What hadn't been stolen was smashed beyond repair. What a great way to start a hunting trip!

Thanks to the good hearts and generosity of Abb and Clint Bragg, a couple of retired West Virginia natives, we were able to continue our hunt. The Braggs own a house at the confluence of four valleys, which they allowed us to use for the week.

Since Jack prefers turkey hunting rather than bowhunting for whitetails, he spent the week turkey hunting and saw deer all around his blinds. Naturally, I didn't even see a tail let alone be able to get a shot at a whitetail.

By the last day of our hunt, I was pretty discouraged. I took a ground stand at the base of an earthen dam built years earlier by a mining company. I sat there contemplating my bad luck, snapping a few scenic photos, whittling a stick, and basically feeling sorry for myself, never expecting to see a deer let alone a buck.

At about 7:40 a.m., I heard something coming up the mountain to my left. I picked up my bow and stood facing in the direction of the noise. A few moments later, a deer crested the dam and appeared to be a 6-pointer. I came to full draw and followed the deer until it was broadside before I released. The deer disappeared. I thought I heard the arrow hit, the deer fall, get up, and fall again, then silence. I gathered my equipment and walked about 9 yards to the top of the dam, fully expecting to find the buck. There was no buck and no visible blood sign.

As I continued to look for sign and berate myself for missing such a close shot, I noticed the fletching of my arrow protruding from the grass about 10 feet behind where the buck had been standing. How could I have missed so badly? There were no obstructions to deflect the arrow. I pulled the arrow from the grass, and discovered that the broadhead and 4 inches of the shaft were broken off and the shaft was covered with blood for about 15 inches. The buck must have fallen and broken off the shaft. When it got back up, I guess the arrow flipped around behind.

I still had not found any sign and spent the next hour circle-searching the field below the dam before I found the blood trail. Jack appeared on the ridge 100 yards below me and asked if I had shot a buck. I yelled back that I had and had just found the blood trail. He had been turkey hunting several hundred yards down the mountainside and had almost been run over by the buck. It had left a good blood trail, which we picked up from his blind.

We spent the next three hours trailing the buck down the mountain toward our temporary camp. We jumped him three times, but I couldn't get a clear shot.

The field where we lost the trail is bordered on one side by a small stream. On the other side of the stream are an abandoned trailer and a small country cemetery. We felt that the deer might have crossed the stream and bedded in a laurel patch on the other side.
Jack stayed in the field to make sure the buck didn't sneak out undetected. I walked through it to the logging road at the base of the mountain and worked my way up about 50 yards to the cemetery. I carefully peeked over a small ridge to the flat on which the trailer stood. There was my buck! He was lying at the steps of the trailer within 150 yards of camp.

It was a beautiful 8-pointer that grossed 117 7/8 inches and netted 116 6/8, almost perfect. After giving thanks for finding the deer and to the buck for giving himself to me, I called out to Jack and let him know we had been successful. This deer will always be the most special to me no matter the size or number of deer I harvest in my lifetime. I can't think of a better way to end a hunt, especially one that had started out as badly as this one had.

George K. Swartzfager
Bloomville, Ohio

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
George

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BODY STILL. YOUR HEART JUST HASN'T CAUGHT ON.

.17 = NITRO OF THE RIMFIRE WORLD USAF 1969-1973


Image
User avatar
ole5beards
Posts: 687
Joined: September 23rd, 2012, 1:33 am
Location: Alabama

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by ole5beards »

That's pretty damn cool! Love the pics and the old tree bark and real tree camo, great story and great first bow buck! Buckmasters is right here in Montgomery, Al where I live. Their office is only about 5-7 mins from my house.
Pass the biscuits!!
User avatar
HunterGKS
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 5555
Joined: January 2nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
Location: North Central Ohio

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by HunterGKS »

Thx. I'm looking at him right now & the old feelings are still there. I still have all that camo stashed someplace.
George

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BODY STILL. YOUR HEART JUST HASN'T CAUGHT ON.

.17 = NITRO OF THE RIMFIRE WORLD USAF 1969-1973


Image
User avatar
OLE RASPY
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 2959
Joined: July 8th, 2011, 10:06 pm
Location: KENTUCKY

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by OLE RASPY »

Good buck. Great story. :thumbup:
My wife is kin to some braggs but they are in ky.
TURKEYS
COYOTES
DEER
SQUIRRELS
(all in this order)
User avatar
HunterGKS
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 5555
Joined: January 2nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
Location: North Central Ohio

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by HunterGKS »

OLE RASPY wrote: July 24th, 2017, 8:21 pm Good buck. Great story. :thumbup:
My wife is kin to some braggs but they are in ky.
Thx. There are a passel of Braggs. The 2 brothers in the last pic have passed as has brother Carl. I believe he lived in Mississippi.
And there may be some in KY.
George

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BODY STILL. YOUR HEART JUST HASN'T CAUGHT ON.

.17 = NITRO OF THE RIMFIRE WORLD USAF 1969-1973


Image
User avatar
OLE RASPY
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 2959
Joined: July 8th, 2011, 10:06 pm
Location: KENTUCKY

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by OLE RASPY »

👍🏻
TURKEYS
COYOTES
DEER
SQUIRRELS
(all in this order)
User avatar
Gobbler
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 7278
Joined: June 27th, 2011, 2:01 pm

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by Gobbler »

Great Buck George
User avatar
HunterGKS
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 5555
Joined: January 2nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
Location: North Central Ohio

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by HunterGKS »

OLE RASPY wrote: July 24th, 2017, 10:22 pm👍🏻
:thumbup:
George

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BODY STILL. YOUR HEART JUST HASN'T CAUGHT ON.

.17 = NITRO OF THE RIMFIRE WORLD USAF 1969-1973


Image
User avatar
HunterGKS
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 5555
Joined: January 2nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
Location: North Central Ohio

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by HunterGKS »

Gobbler wrote: July 25th, 2017, 6:23 am Great Buck George
Thx Doug.
George

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BODY STILL. YOUR HEART JUST HASN'T CAUGHT ON.

.17 = NITRO OF THE RIMFIRE WORLD USAF 1969-1973


Image
User avatar
soiltester
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 3708
Joined: March 31st, 2015, 8:04 am
Location: Gaffney SC

Re: 1st Bow Buck

Post by soiltester »

MMMMMMMMMM .. Who is that young good lookin' rascal...posing with your buck in those pictures???? :shock:

Nice pics & read .. and as usual, a great job well done :thumbup:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
Post Reply

Return to “Deer Hunting”