It was a long and sweaty 1.5-mile walk to the public spot that Josh Amundson wanted to hunt on Nov. 5. But he’d seen plenty of recent fresh rubs and scraps in the rolling hardwood hills and alder bottoms in that part of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, and wasn’t deterred.
“No vehicles are allowed on that public spot, so I had to hike to the place I wanted to hunt,” Amundson, a union operating engineer, tells Outdoor Life. “It was a pretty good ways, and I had to stop and rest to hike that far in with my gear.”
The 43-year-old Stevens Point resident had hunted deer and other game on that area since he was 10. He had learned woodsmanship while hunting it with his father, Brian. That place has produced good deer for Amundson in years past and he’d missed a good buck there Halloween weekend.
Amundson reached his spot around noon and settled into his spot with a climbing stand. It was lightly raining, which he prefers. He says the cooler weather seems to spark deer activity. He rattled periodically, and soon spotted a couple does walking a trail. At about 2:30 p.m., a big deer showed up.
“I was smashing my rattling horns and had just hung them up on my tree,” Amundson said. “I noticed some movement about 40 yards away in some very thick woods. I could only see just big deer legs moving along the same trail where I’d spotted the does. Then I saw it was a good buck headed my way.”
Amundson set his cell phone in a bracket attached to the tree and began recording. The video isn’t long, but it shows a buck easing along through open woods. As the deer nears a shooting lane just 26 yards from Amundson’s tree, it stops broadside.
“But there was a single small sapling that blocked the vitals spot behind his shoulder,” said Amundson. “I had to lean a little to the side to make the shot, then I released.”
The video shows the whole sequence of Amundson drawing his bow, the sound of his bow releasing as the arrow sails, and the smack of the broadhead hitting the buck.
“He took off running, and I could see blood pouring out his side,” said the bowman. “I heard a pop at arrow impact and thought I might have hit some bone, likely a rib. I thought it was perhaps a liver shot, or just the back part of the lungs.”
He climbed down and checked the spot where the buck stood. There was plenty of blood on the ground.
He next phoned his father and a buddy, and they decided to wait before taking up the trail of the buck, even though the rain had become a downpour.
“I knew the blood would be washed away,” he explained. “But I wanted to give the deer plenty of time to die before looking for him.”
Photo courtesy Josh Amundson
Photo courtesy Josh Amundson
Three hours later the hunters returned to the spot, and the blood trail had indeed washed away in the rain. But the deer had run off on a well-used trail; they followed it only 100 yards before finding the deer.
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The buck had been dead a long time, Amundson says, because it was stiff when they found it. He’ll have a shoulder mount made of the 14-point buck and may ask an official scorer to measure the rack. Regardless of its score, Amundson is thrilled.
“It was a great hunt and a superb day,” says Amundson. “I guess my only regret is Nov. 5 was election day, and I got so caught up in my bowhunting and getting my buck that I didn’t have time to vote.”