Matt's 6 Point Buck

I received a call from my Field Guide (Mark) that our honey hole also known as Cuiver Island had finally been brush hogged. Our last visit to this island ended about a half hour in after fighting the killer mosquitoes and weeds over our heads. My field guide informed me that he had a cancellation for Thursday afternoon if I was available to try Cuiver again. After changing my work schedule we where off to "The Woods" about 3pm. Upon pulling into Dalbo, someone else had our same idea and was already at our spot. So with a slight change of plans we motored up Cuiver and onto the Old Miss. My guide then told me that he had left his camera at home that morning, which I then knew that it was going to be a good night. We docked at the Pavilion and made our way back on the island towards Cuiver River. The island weeds had definitely been knocked down with a brush hog, which made our trek much easier. About 800ft in we came to a field that not only had been mowed but also slightly disked. On the back side of this field was a levy.

As we walked upon it we looked around trying to find a good spot. Mark said that he was going to go ahead and cross the levy and sit on the other side. I decided to walk the levy to the right about 100ft where the corner of the field was. Upon reaching the corner I again made a right and went 30 ft to bury myself in the weeds at the edge of the woods. Sitting about 5ft into the tree line, I sat (4:30pm) and listened to the squirrels and birds chatter back and forth. About 5:30 I started to hear some turkeys back over my right shoulder. They carried on for about 5 minutes and then where gone.

About 5:50 I started to here a group of geese overhead which turn into about 30 that flew right over the north tip (my left) of the Island. It would have been nice to seen them two weekends ago. It is now a little after six and I was about to get my guide on the walkie to tell him that he had failed me again when across the way I seen a flash of light. Being inquisitive I wondered if it was a hunter in a tree that was trying to signal me or a light of some sort. After pulling out the nocks to get a better look I realized that it was a lamp on some sort of post (which later we discovered was a river marker). As I sat there and made sure that the light continued to blink on the same 5 second schedule I heard a noise over my right shoulder. While looking in that direction (the corner of the field by the levy) I could not see anything continued to hear something.

It is almost 6:30 now. I was figuring that it was just another squirrel when I spotted the tips of antlers. Then slowly out walks into my view a 4 point buck. At this time Mark decided to check up on me with the walkies which I ignored and turned off. The buck turns to the left and started walking toward my spot. As he slowly walked down the tree line, my heart started pounding. He was walking right into me. As he came to a 45 degree angle from my position I was covered by a bush. I drew back and the buck continued the trek my way. The buck would take a step and the stop and look up at me, he did this several time and then I realized that the knee I had raised to help brace the bow until I could shoot was twitching. This in turn was moving my bow as well as the leaves. As the buck stepped into my shooting zone I was putting my 20 yd pin on him He took a quick jump and subconsciously I stood up. The buck stopped and was dead eyeing me at a perfect broadside shot. The only problem was the tree I was under had low branches so I could only stand up 3/4 of the way.

As I quickly tried to line up the shot I was in a terrible position to line up naturally. With my best to line up I new it was this or nothing. The shot landed in the spine and he was down. His hind quarter was paralyzed so he was going know where. After the shot he out a big bellow that tweaked Marks ears. I got the walkie back on and told him that I just harvested a buck and he then asked if that was the noise he heard. It took about 45 minutes for him to finally concede and the fun to begin.

As we walked up there was actually two more points but only one over an inch to count under MO Conservation rules which made a total of 5 points. I was definitely glad that

Mark was there as this was my first deer and first attempt at field dressing. After dressing the deer we had the lovely task of dragging this deer the 800ft back to the boat. A half hour later and both feeling as thou we ran a marathon it was on the boat. We headed back to Marks to skin and quarter it up. I must be special because Mark was informed by Jess that since it was me that we could hang it in the garage to cut it up. We finished a little before midnight with my first successful hunt.

There is definitely no other feeling like that adrenaline rush. As for all on the 1st annual bow hunter’s weekend, CrookedTine is no longer eligible for me as I have one buck already before rifle season.