Some of you may remember the buck I shot back on October 11th. I can't remember if I posted about it or not but in case I didn't here's a recap...

Hunting a stand that evening and had a nice 8 pointer come down the trail directly towards my stand. He started munching on acorns about 6 steps from the base of my tree and gave me a shot. At the shot, the deer stumbles and staggers about 35 yards, stands around for a second to gather his composure, and then runs back into the thicket. I felt that I hit him okay and would find the deer. After finding no deer, no blood, no arrow in about 7 hours of searching I give up and hope to maybe encounter him again to know he survived.

Saturday AM I found out he was alive and well until he met his demise at the hands of my friend Ken's muzzleloader. I didn't even realize that it was the same deer because his rack seemed to have a lighter color and I honestly didn't think the deer I shot was that nice. He shot him about 200 yards from where I stuck him almost exactly a month earlier.

While Ken was taking out the tenderloins he said "That's interesting!" and I knew immediately what it was... my broadhead buried in his backbone, only millitmeters in almost any direction away from severing the spine or entering his chest cavity. The deer was fine and the wound channel had basically just grissled over.

I'm glad to know what happened to the buck and glad Ken was able to kill him. His luck finally ran out.

Anyway, this story is just to remind everyone how tough and resiliant they can be.

Here are a couple pics of the arrow in his back and the deer in some beautiful scenery...







Here's a picture of his backbone after boiling... how did the deer survive!?!?

Freddy - I'm glad to see you guys were able to harvest him... you sure do shoot some nice deer. By the way, is that the type of terrain we'll be hunting in the spring? I hope you realize you're torturing me with all the pictures you're posting....

Shaggy... Yep, that might be a little more rocky than what's typical, but that could be a common shot of some of my hunting areas.

Passing up those small bucks for 10+ years has paid off...

A little more rocky... lol. You should see the mountain I hunt... it's called Stony Mountain for a reason... lol