Alabama bow season opened Wednesday and I had a bit of luck. After work, I took the five minute walk from my house back to one of my treestands for an afternoon hunt. I had trail camera photos of three good bucks, a decent eight point, a really wide ten point, and a really nice nontypical with a droptine. I had made up my mind I was only going to target the nontypical, not wanting to mess up the area by shooting one of the lesser bucks.
I was hunting in a strip of timber next to a large soybean field and two half acre clover/chicory food plots. This strip of woods serves as a funnel and a staging area between the bedding area and these food sources. At 6:15 I spotted a deer moving toward me and through my binoculars identified it as the nontypical buck with the droptine. I grabbed my bow and readied for the shot. He came by me at about 20 yards, but before he crossed a shooting lane the buck turned and came right beneath the tree. When he stopped at 11 yards quartering away, I drew my bow, settled the pin on him, and released death from above. The 125 grain unvented VPA broadhead entered exactly where I was aiming and passed through the buck, exiting the off side "armpit".

The buck ran back the way he had come and I saw him crash and turn a flip out about 60 yards. I only gave him a few minutes and eased over to him with another arrow nocked, just in case. It was not needed. I could not believe the mass when a grabbed his antlers, but the drop tine was gone! When he crashed, the droptine was snapped off, damn the luck. I looked for it a few minutes, but in the fading light and tall grass where he fell just outside the strip of timber, I gave up. I snapped a few photos with the self timer on my camera and walked back to the house to get a recovery vehicle.

The next morning I went back and searched the area and eventually found the broken drop tine. I will reattach it once I get the deer officially scored... don't think that I can score the broken tine, but I'm not really sure. I rough scored him at 172 without the broken 7 inch droptine... my best buck!

Thats a damn fine Whitetail anywhere!!Congrats.

WOW! I'm not sure there is anything better than a big archery whitetail. Congrats. You neglected to post your address.

Andy - That is absolutely incredible!! You are killing me my friend. This will be the first time in 20+ years I will not be bowhunting for Whitetail in Kansas. I have been thinking of trying to put something together last minute, but it's only a couple of weeks now to the Rut.

That buck is simply awesome and am very happy for your sucess. We talked at the AR Antelope hunt about some deer you had on trail cam, but didn't realize this monster was one of them. I think we even talked about neither of us had a Whitetail with a droptine? Now you have one!!.

Congrats again.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

Awesome! Can't complain about that opening day!

very nice!!!!!!

That's a SMOKING buck!!!!
Congrats on a lifetime best!!

Incredible Buck.


.

Wow! Very nice!

Thats a great buck anywhere!

Andy

Congrats, one hell of a deer!

What a brute!

awesome buck andy

That's a giant there ghost!

Damn fine buck buddy......congratulations

A real beauty!!!

That's a great buck anywhere, but very impressive for Alabama. What county?

Congrats!!

Now that is a great Bama buck!!!

Gorgeous deer!

Dam fine buck.

Why are you so hung up on the SCORE.

Sounds like a great hunt ending up with a very nice buck.

Very nice Buck!
Glad you were able to go back and find that droptine

Nice!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys!

I am in north Alabama, Madison County, north of Huntsville.

I am not that "hung up" on the score. It is just a way to measure the size in comparison to other deer.

Great buck man!

pd - As Andy posted, "not hung up on score". I know he is not. Most of us when taking a real exceptional animal are interested in it's score merely to see "just" how exceptional it might be in regards to others out there. Always has to be someone to throw sh$t on the parade it seems. You get the award this time!!

Andy, PM me the "score" would like to know and will not post it here for the raggers.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Dam fine buck.

Why are you so hung up on the SCORE.

Sounds like a great hunt ending up with a very nice buck.

GREAT buck for anywhere Andy!

Boone and Crockett just recently changed the rule that if you find the original piece you can add it into the score, so make sure you bring it when getting him officially scored! Not sure about P&Y, but Boone will let you do it.

Greg

quote:

Originally posted by OLBIKER:
Thats a damn fine Whitetail anywhere!!Congrats.

I agree Waidmannsheil!

Good-looking BUCK!!!
Well done!!!

Thanks guys,

Larry, I put the score at the end of my post... I think that is why someone took it I was "hung up" on the score. Score or no score, I am very proud of this buck.

I roughed scored him at 179, counting the 7 inch broken droptine. I will get the rack officialy scored after the 60 day drying period.

That's an amazing buck. Congratulations!

They don't get any more character than that one. It's really neat you found the dropper too.

Thanks Andy - Guess I was toooooo busy looking at the pics and missed that part? Would be interested in knowing how your buck compares to the likes in the State records there in Alabama.
Later and have a great day.

Larry Sellers

quote:

Originally posted by ghostbird:
Thanks guys,

Larry, I put the score at the end of my post... I think that is why someone took it I was "hung up" on the score. Score or no score, I am very proud of this buck.

I roughed scored him at 179, counting the 7 inch broken droptine. I will get the rack officialy scored after the 60 day drying period.

Outstanding!!

There is an article about this buck on realtree.com.

That's a buck we dream about. Congratulations

Great buck!! Congrats

Congrats Andy. That is a MAJOR deer for NE AL, or anywhere for that matter.

Come see us in Jackson Co. I'll buy you another cheeseburger.