1st archery kill

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Bishup

New Member
Aug 30, 2015
12
0
This is a dream come true hunt. 1St time i killed anything with my bow. 1st time hunting in Kaibab. About 3 years ago I got a old Pse bow from my uncle Ray. I didn't want to go out and buy a new bow inks i didn't like it. So i took it out on a hunt for the rut. i was able to take a shot at a spike. (it was like those ol western movies were the Natives shoot the arrows in the air). I miss. So i knew i had to buy a new bow cause i was hooked. So I went out and bought a Pse Full Throttle down at Ross outfitters. The guys there where so super helpful after i explained Im new at this. So now i got a good bow. So im off. i hunted a couple of times last year and was on some really nice bucks. But i was not able to seal the deal. But i learned a lot. Which leads me to the Kaibab hunt. So my good buddy Gil asked if i wanted to put in for Kaibab this year? I said YES!!!!! So we planned on it. for some reason or another Gil put in with some other buddy's. So I put in by myself. So when my credit card got hit i knew 100% i got drawn for . (i guess gut feeling) So days went by and the AZGFD posted them up and my gut was right i got drawn for Kaibab. I was so super excited. i talked to Gil and told him (he got drawn for another unit). So we will meet at the park to shoot every saturday and sunday at 5am and he will give me advise about where to hunt and how many deer i was going to see. At this point i was planning on going by myself. (kind of a lot to ask someone to take off all these days of work to go hunting with me) Since this was my 1st time going i was a little bit freak out. i went out got maps and would look at them all night it seemed. I would look at google maps and study them. So one day my brother in law Andy said ill go with you. (he hunted there like 10 years ago with his buddy's) So i felt a better someone will be there. Then my girlfriend Yvette was able to go and so was my sister in law Vanessa (Andy's girl Yvettes sister)I was very happy they where coming on the hunt with me but i was a little sad my dad or my son could make it. My got me into hunting and tought me everything his dad taught him. And my son was at my boot heels since he was like 8 years old. So it was hard cause we all use to sit around the camp fire and dreamed about hunting Kaibab. I was asking everyone i can for advise on where i should hunt. So we left on Thursday morning at 230am. We figured we will get there set up camp and go scouting. As we scouted Thursday we seen one buck 2x3 and so many doe and fawns. We all where a little bummed out cause we thought we will see tons of buck this is Kaibab. So opening day we went to a spot and hiked in for a couple of miles and only seen a couple of doe and fawns. So we moved on to another spot and did the same hiked back and didn't see much. So now we are all tired bummed out so we headed back to camp, the sun was still out and i knew if i didn't hunt till the sun went down i was going to regret it. So i walked from camp and they all stayed behind i walked about 1/2 mile from camp and sat this small water hole till the sun went down.. NOTHING still That night i pulled out my maps and started to look at places i was told to check out from some people i asked advise from. We had a game plan for morning. We got up and got dress and headed out. That morning we spotted two 2x2 right next to each other and tons of doe and fawns. Now im getting excited. We moved on. We stopped at the road and hiked in about a mile or so. I was excited cause the area seemed promising. But nothing a couple of doe and more fawns. We where close to Jacob Lake so with my team spirit and mine going down i said lets go eat. So Andy said well lets go down to DeMotte and lets check that area out. So i said ok sounds good. We all ate our food and spoke to a couple of hunters and to our surprise they reported they have been seeing bucks back there and one even said i shot at a couple of them. So we knew we where on the right path hunting down in DeMotte area. We stop at camp. (some of us needed the restroom) Then we where off to DeMotte area. We stop at the store there and i picked up some snacks for us and we moved on. We found a place to stop and we walked to the tree line. My girlfriend and I sat under one tree and Andy and Vanessa went down about 150 or 200 yards to another point in to sit on the tree line. They where going to glass that side and we will glass this side. And if they seen anything they will call us on the radios to go over. It was about 3pm and we sat around. My girlfriend was reading a book on her Iphone and I started to carve out a deer shed i just found. We waited and waited. We where all getting restless just sitting there. So as the sun started to go down and 430 came around the highway got busy with hunters trying to find a spot. I had a good feeling about the spots we picked. As the sun is going down we started to see deer come out of the woods on to the grass. My girlfriend goes look and across the street about 600 yards she spotted a group of doe and fawns. Then our radio started going off. Andy was telling us that they where seeing does and fawns popping out everywhere, even a turkey and her baby's walked by them. All we seen where those deer. So my girlfriend decided she wanted to eat the snack i got her. (her favorite candy Twizzlers) And her being tired of sitting she got up and started walking around. So i told her to sit down and she did. Now the sun id going down and she is getting cold so i told her put your jacket on. As she got up and put her jacket on she went straight down and was stiff as a log. and looked at me and said very quietly look! So i looked over her and here was this doe about 20 yards from us. As the doe is eating the grass not even knowing we are sitting there. (my poor girlfriend was sitting on her toes like a back catcher) We both sat there not making a sound. Just then i heard a sound coming from behind us on the other side of the tree we have been sitting at. As the doe keeps moving to us my radio goes off and its Andy saying for us to move by them. I turned off the radio as fast as i can. But it was to late the doe popped her head up and started to look at us. At this point she is about 15 yards from us and still couldn't figure us out. She stuck her noise in the air to try to smell us. She started to walk closer to us to get a better look. But we both sat there like a rock. As she walked right infront of us moving from the north of us to the south i heard something behind us again move. She looked at us and got a little spooked and started to walk away. That gave me enough time to look thru the trees to see what was behind me. As i turned around me and this buck 4x4 locked eyes. So i turned around and looked at Yvette i thru up my fingers and said under my breath 4x4 and she was like what? I grabbed my bow and the buck got spooked and ran about 10yards from me. So i drew back put my 20 pin on his chest and let that arrow go. The buck kicked like a mule and let off this loud grunt. He went running into the woods and braking trees. I thought ok at any moment he is going to fall. I ran in after him and turned around and my girlfriend was right on my boot hills. So i told her go gather our stuff and call Andy and Vanessa. So you will think the story will end here? It just starts. I was so excited i ran after the buck, later to find out thats a no no. I was thinking i was going to find him dead but to my surprise i didn't. I went back to where i shot him at to find my arrow. Once i found my arrow there was blood on it. So i showed it to Andy and we started looking for a blood trial. As we found blood we started looking. Right then it was getting dark (we where using the lights from our cell phones) Andy said let me go back to the truck and get more flashlights. As he went back me and the girls kept looking for blood. When Andy got back to the truck he was aproached by a guy and was asked "did your buddy get him?" I say the whole thing go down that buck was behind him for like 15 mins. Andy said yes we are trying to track him. So Phil Graham said let me go pick up me buddy and we will come help you find the blood trail. So Andy comes backs and tell us what they told him we where all happy for the help cause we needed it. So Phil and his buddy Brain Steves showed up we all thank them for helping us out. And now we are in the dark. And these guys where like deer CSI they where finding super small specks of blood on logs,rocks and on leafs. So the rest of us pick up and what to look for. So then the girls got the hang of it and where finding blood like crazy. The bucks blood trial started to head deeper into the woods. As we all kept looking for blood trail. Phil was telling me how he seen the whole thing go down. And even showed me a picture of a deer and asked is this the deer you shot? When i looked at the picture he got from a trail camera I said no the one on the picture is a monster. The one i shot was not that big. And Phil looked at me and said the one you shot was a monster. We have been scouting this deer out for a bit and we have him on our trail camera. We also named him Peckerhead. So we moved and kept looking for the blood trail till about 12am where we lost.
 
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Bishup

New Member
Aug 30, 2015
12
0
So we marked it down on the GPS and placed a candy wrapper on a stick so we can find it in the morning. All of us tired we headed back to the trucks we all knew we had a long hike back to the trucks. As we are walking back to our trucks we all had small talk. Everytime we spotted blood we will put a small piece of toilet paper down. So on the way back we all had a laugh at how much their was. Also in the back of my mind i knew these guys needed to get up early to hunt. I felt bad that it was so late. So i told Phil and Brian i owe you guys big time. Come over tomorrow night for dinner i want to cook you two a steak dinner. They said ok and they said after our morning hunt we will comeback and help you find the blood trail. So we where on our ways back to our camp. On the way back to camp Andy yells out "holy crap did you see that monster". as i looked over it was a big buck. Then we drove up like 50 yards and we seen a group of all nice 4x4. Then we seen another monster of a buck. At that moment we all in the truck said "this is how we thought Kaibab will be". So the next morning my alarm went off at 4am thinking i hit snooze i hit dismiss by mistake. The i was awaken by the sun hitting my face. And was like darn it. And my girlfriend said the sun is out lets get get up. And i said no i dont want to mess up someone else hunt cause i screwed up and got up late. So we all slept in, we all got up got dress ate breakfast and headed out on the search for the blood trail. At this point it was like 930am. As we where driving to the last place we seen blood Andy said if we dont find him let hunt the area where we seen all those buck listened. i said ok sounds good to me but lets go find the buck i shot. We get back to the last place we seen blood and found more about 15 yards where we last seen blood. And it was back on we where on a roll finding blood here finding blood there. The blood seemed to get clear and clear as the buck seemed to bleed more. About 45 mins of tracking the blood that was going up hill it just stop. So we all looked around and didn't find any more blood. I was bummed out. We looked and looked and about 30 mins later Andy went on top of this hill and yelled out "i got blood"! Me and the girls ran up the hill and to our surprise there was tons of fresh blood an did was back on. we followed the blood and we all heard thumping on the ground as if a deer was running off. So Andy says Gil you go hunt him and we will stick to the blood trail. I walked down the side of this hill and started to glass in the trees and didn't see nothing. As i started walking around the hill i was about half way down. I seen my girlfriend on top so i knew i was going the right way. I walked about 15 yards and seen him bedded down and he had a big rack on him. So i drew back my bow again and i let that arrow fly. He jump up and ran about 30 yards and drop to the ground this time i was not going to make the same mistake i did and chase him. As i seen him at the bottom of the hill i knew i got him. He was not getting up. I looked at him thru my binos and seen he was done. Right before that i heard my girlfriend Yvette says i think he shot. Then I yelled out " I GOT HIM!" he is down. They said NO WAY and ran down the hill and where so in shocked how big he was. I just killed PECKERHEAD! Then the worked started gutting and tacking all the way back to the truck that was now at lease 2miles back thru some rough country. As we struggled to get him back to the truck its now 430. I look over and i see Brian's truck parked down about 25 miles away. we get him in back of the truck and we are all as dead as the Peckerhead was. We stop and drank a water Andy and i had a beer. We started to write a letter to Brian and Phil to come by our camp to have dinner. There truck pulled up and Brain said you got him? And being so tired he asked if he can take a picture of him. He said you got Peckerhead. Shook my hand and said good job. We will be there tonight for dinner. At this point i only had one thing on my mind "i have to tell my dad and my son. As we headed to the place where we get phone serves I felt the tears started coming down my face. Cause i couldn't wait to tell them two. They both have been with me everytime i killed a deer. And this was one special and Peckerhead was the biggest i have ever killed. As we get to Jacobs Lake I text my dad and my son. People from all around wanted to take picture of him. Just then my phones rings it my son Gilly. Yelling into the phone saying you did it pops you did it. as i heard the excitement in his voice i started to cry. There was so many people wanting to talk to me but i didn't care cause i had my little boy on the phone. We hung up then my phone rings again its my dad. Im 40years old and i still look for approval from my dad. As he goes no way son no way. I knew you had it you son. Thats my boy. ( the last time i heard them works was when i was 15 and i killed my 1st buck) So as you guys can all guess i started to cry again.. I gathered myself together all i kept hear this hunters telling me you killed a buck of a life time. but in my mind im thinking this is Kaibab doesnt everyone kill bucks like this. I think i was still shocked and really didn't know what i just killed. So we head back to camp so i can start to skin the buck and cool him down and wash him up. As the night fell Brian and Phil showed up. The poor girls where so tired and beat from helping us drag this deer out. So i told them not to make the steak dinner. So they whipped up something quick and feed all of us guys. Andy told Brian and Phil sorry guys the girls are so tired it not a steak dinner but its food. They where ok with it. And i told them to make sure to come back tomorrow and we will make them the steak dinner/shrimp. So we all hung (except the girls they past out)out by the fire drinking beer and swapping out old hunting story's. Phil express to me that he was so glad i was the one who killed Peckerhead and he will send me the picture of him on the trail cam. After i explained my story to him from the started. they both said to me that no other hunter in Kaibab was meant to kill Peckerhead but me. I was in shock that these two guys that have been scouting him out for awhile now was happy it was me that killed him. they said he never ever came out where me and my girlfriend where sitting. The next day i get up and start to cut him up to put him on icechest. Everyone was helping me clean the meat off and pack it in ice. So we had to go up to jacobs lake to buy something and i asked should i take the head with us incase someone steals it. My girlfriends no way they will not take it you have left your other deer behind before. Her sister says there have been a lot of people driving by just looking at it. So i took it with just in case. As we are heading back to camp we pull in and about 15 mins behind me a group of 3 guys pull into camp. and asked if they can see the deer i killed? I said sure come off take a look. So they looked and asked if they can shoot some photos of it and score it. I said sure that will be cool. As i offered them something to drink. The girls came out cause they wanted to see what they where doing measuring the horns. As im telling them how it all went down I must have said something cause the guy doing the scoring stop and turned around and said Gil im not sure if you know what you just killed here. As i looked at him still thinking doesnt everyone kill big bucks like this in kaibab. He said this is a once in a life time buck you just killed. As of this point you killed the biggest buck this year in Kaibab. At that moment i got he chills and im sure had a smile ear to ear. At that moment i knew what i just did. So thank to Hunter from A3 trophy hunting guild for letting me know what i had. He explained if i tell the story like i told him I might make one of the magazines. An i was like NO WAY!! So he gathered all his measurement and said ok guess what size your die is. (i have never had killed anything to be scored) SO i said i dont know 185 and they looked at me and said you really think its 185? I said i dont know. So they threw out their guess 205, 200 and Andy said 198. he cam in at 197 and a quarter. so they took picture with him cause they too had picture of him on there game cam of old peckerhead. So you can say we drank that night and Brian and Phil came over and ate dinner with us (steak and shrimp). I told those guys i was very sorry that i didn't know what i killed. At the end of the night we swap number and we all said let keep in touch and next year lets hunt together. Im so grateful i was able to kill Peckerhead but even more for meeting 2 of the coolest guy in Kaibab. I will forever owe these group of people for helping me get Peckerhead.
On my way back home i got a text from my son Gilly saying Dad since i was a little boy i use to see these guys with big bucks and now i can say thats my dad who killed that big buck. Im so proud to call you my dad. That meant more to me then killing Peckerhead

P.S i got a text from Wes at Westerntaxidermy that he scored my buck at 203 and 3/8
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RICMIC

RICMIC

Veteran member
Feb 21, 2012
2,014
1,793
Two Harbors, Minnesota
Great job Bishup. I can see why you were so pumped to tell your story. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, but it appears you were good where you had to be. It's fortunate that you had the help that you did. Not only did you recover the buck, but you learned a lot, and shared the experience with some new friends.
 
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Bishup

New Member
Aug 30, 2015
12
0
Thanks everyone I'm still so excited and still living the rush of this buck. I'm just glad I was able to get this big we called Peckerhead
 
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