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Wade Nolan's Writers Camp And Whitetail Bowhunt!

Robert Hoague - "The Big Day"

At daylight Mark Collins dropped Chip and I off near my Double Bull blind. Surprisingly we didn't see any deer for an hour. When we did they came from the pond and from behind us. 

A buck with a really big rack, that we had seen on the first hunt, followed a doe and I got some close up pics of them.  (Here are the photos taken this morning of the big racked buck below and some others. GO...)

Soon two wide racked bucks walked up and smelled and stood around by the scent trail Mark Weiser had made with 24 Seven. Chip raised his index finger to catch my attention and pointed behind them. Back in the woods was the 8-point that was the 6 1/2 year old management buck.

The 8-point stepped into the open and watched the other two bucks. Then he came toward them ... and me. I took my last picture (below) sat my camera down. 

As before the 8-point was aggressive and postured near the two bucks. They were all close to my Double Bull's shooting window, but the 8-point was at a bad angle. Another buck approached the three and the 8-point turned to face him. Now he was broadside. (My favorite side!)

I drew, aimed and touched the trigger on my release. The hit was in the ribs but lower than I wanted. All the deer scattered and my buck ran behind a downed tree. Chip whispered that he saw him go down. We saw the buck laying flat on its side in knee high grass but as we slipped toward it the antlers move slightly. I snuck up to 25 yards and shot again. The buck surprised us and ran into the nearby thick trees. I walked to where it lay and saw a good blood trail. 

But we needed to wait a while longer.

While we waited we talked. Chip lives to deerhunt and hunts them in South Texas and Mexico. He is a family man and proud to be an american. We sat there in the blind, talking, and solved some of the world's problems.

Mark Collins drove up and he wanted to take up the track after lunch. When we returned we went to the blood trail. Mark described it as "a blood trail a blind men could follow" and it took us through a creek bottom and to my buck. 

My Bar None 8-point buck. 

Today was the first time he came out of brush and the 24 Seven (MDR Outdoor Group) played a part in that. The broadhead was the Grim Reaper Razor Tip (GRIM REAPER Broadheads) with a 1 3/4" cut. My shot was low but the big cut of the broadhead put the buck down quickly. Because the buck was laying flat on its side the second shot entered in the ribs near the spine and exited through the sternum. This laid down a road map blood trail right to the buck. The bow was a 60 pound Fred Bear SQ32 from Bear Archery (BEAR/Jennings Archery). Arrows were Gold Tip Ultralights 400 (GOLD TIP). And once again the Double Bull Matrix ground blind proved to be an effective tool for bowhunting deer. 

IT'S A WRAP: Bar None ranch manager and partner Mark Collins, me (Robert Hoague) and Chip after we loaded my buck in the 4-wheeler.

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