Today’s guest blog from bowhunter Eddie Roberts:
Hi Mike: I would like to share a story of the whitetail hunt I went on in Chestertown, MD November 10-15, 2014. I booked the hunt with Kirby Bryan, outfitter for Chesapeake Hunting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
The first 3 days of the hunt were warm, and the deer were moving during the early morning and late evening hours. I saw plenty of deer that were 2 ½ to 3 ½ years old, but I was hunting for a mature buck.
On November 14th I was in a stand positioned between a bedding area and a feeding area. I finally had a good NW wind. It was cold and windy, but I saw a good number of deer. As I was finishing lunch in the stand, I looked up and saw a 7 point coming in at about 30 yards. The buck was very nervous, but I knew he had no idea I was there. He was nervous about something else.
The buck ducked into a thicket and I saw another set of antlers coming through the same brush. I threw up my binoculars and sized this buck to be at least a 10 point, about 80 yards from me. He chased the 7 point down a little green patch of road. My heart dropped as I watched this big shooter disappear.
I grabbed my Extinguisher grunt call and bleated to him 3 times, softly. Before I knew it 7 does appeared out of the thicket and came right in front of my stand. I looked back toward the thicket and saw a doe just standing there. Then I saw more movement… the shooter buck had returned!
The doe eventually moved to mingle with the other does. The big buck stepped out, made a scrape, rubbed a tree, licked his nose and went right for the doe. I readied my Matthews Z 7 Extreme Bow. I drew back when he was at 32 yards. I needed him to take 3 more steps and he would be completely broadside at 30 yards.
The buck stopped, and I let down the bow, waiting for him to make his move. Then I noticed that the doe had made me. I said to myself, “Now or never.” I had a good view of the vital area, and I let my Gold Tip Arrow rip.
I hit the buck a little back from where I intended, but I saw the arrow hit and there instantly was blood. The buck took off and ran back into the thicket. I called Kirby and told him what had happened. He told me to stay put until dark so as not to bump the buck and push him further. I sat there all afternoon, thinking over and over that this would be my trophy of a lifetime if my shot was a good one.
We decided to let the buck lay overnight. Needless to say I had a very sleepless night. The next day we found him 120 yards from where I shot him. I was in shock just looking at the 15-point non-typical antlers. Kirby had called this buck “Freak Nasty, Jr.” and figured he was at least 6½ years old. The rack scored 158¼ inches. I couldn’t be more proud as a bowhunter to harvest such a deer of this caliber. Thanks so much for reading my story.–Eddie
Love the look of that buck, way to go Eddie!
He’s a SuperFreak, a SuperFreak, he’s SuperFreaky! haha that song immediately comes to mind when ya see a freak nasty like this ole buck. Very cool buck and many congrats to you Eddie!
Great buck Eddie. Nice to see Maryland turning up some good bonies too. Congratulations and great story!