Yesterday morning was a fun one.  I hunt a great spot in western IN and have a stand right in the middle of the action during the rut.  The tree I sit has a neighboring cedar tree that is always rubbed and inevitably has a scrape under it somewhere.

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As I settled in, the sun was rising behind me and the woods looked like they lit up.  A good south wind blew my scent over the marsh and lake to my right.  About 9:30, 2 does walked over the ridge in front of me and off to my left on a trail about 40 yards away offering no shots.  I imagined a buck would soon be following.  Less than 5 minutes later a small buck did just that.  And 2 minutes later, another larger one followed.  I decided I was watching the wrong trail 😊

I got down and stood/knelt by the largest tree (maybe 8"), near the trail in my leafy suit.  2 minutes later the does worked back the way they had come originally. The bigger one sort of saw me and veered off but then calmed down and gave me a 20-yard broadside shot; but an unperceived rose bush swallowed up my shot.  Tunnel vision! Just no actual tunnel.  The does ran off snorting the whole way.  I am sure there was no damage done to them.

I was smart enough to think that a buck would be following, and no sooner had I thought that, a buck grunt came from down the trail.  I knelt and became as small as I could with almost no cover.  He worked his way right at me and 5 yards away decided this bush looked weird and he about-faced.  But he came across that luscious doe smell and continued dogging her.  He got to the one window I had at 15 yards and I bleated him to stop.  The shot looked great, a bit high but in the goodies.  I heard what sounded like a crash not 50 yards away.

I gave it 30 minutes and quickly came upon my arrow.  It had blown through him and was painted red. 

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I started trailing and found no blood the first 10 yards or so.  A large log laid across the trail and I stood on it to get a higher vantage point and see this lovely site where I thought I heard the crash. 

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He ran maybe 50 yards total with blood starting at 20 yards due to the high hit.  The hit got the back of both lungs and a bit of the liver.

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It was the second buck I saw dogging the does in the first place.  He is my first buck from the ground with a recurve.  I am very happy with him and so impressed with the efficiency of a heavy arrow out of a trad bow.  I shot him with my Sierra Blanca bow from the 2012 TradGang Swap that Jess Stuart made for me.  It's 47# @ 27" shooting a GoldTip blem and a Ribtek 190.

Awesome, John..

Congrats..

Well done!  Congratulations!

Great job John!!  Congrats and on the ground too.

Congratulations, what an accomplishment!

NICE!!  Shooting them from the ground is definitely more difficult, way to get it done

 

Great job. Way to make it happen.   

Sweet!  Congratulations!

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Way to go John! 

Way to go...Congrats!

Congrats!

Good stuff! I too am giving the ground game a try this year a little!

Congrats John! well done...

  well done

Very cool - Congratulations !! - Looks like IN boys are gettin after it
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Great job!! 

Congratulations!

that's cool when you get eyeball to eyeball with them. congratts! 

Way to go John.  Thanks for sharing and pics.