My Ozark buck.

[hobiecat]

A couple of buddies and I went down to Taney county for deer camp this weekend (I don?t want to get into why we went there, just suffice it to say I was out voted). So, we get down there Friday afternoon with just enough time to set-up camp and do a little scouting. Our camp is on top of the ridgeline we will be hunting. Now keep in mind, when I say ridgeline I mean a good ol? Ozark Mountain ridgeline. I?m talking steep and high.



Saturday was pretty uneventful, few deer seen? none taken. The weather was not real cooperative, 60?s mostly sunny with 20-30 mph winds gusting into the 40s. Saturday night we had a big thunderstorm come in that dumped buckets of water on us and gave us quite the light show, not what you want when you?re sleeping in a tent.



Since Saturday was so slow on the stand, I decided to change location for Sunday. I went to a nice draw that I had found Friday. This draw had a bowl shaped top that was probably 150 yds across and 200 yards deep, then at the bottom dropped off sharply to a nice 10 yard wide shelf. Under the shelf was a 12 foot cliff to another bowl and down steeply from there. About 5:15 Sun. morning, I got setup in a blowdown where I could watch the upper bowl, the shelf, and parts of the lower bowl. I saw a doe circle the top of the upper bowl at about 6:00am. Then about 8:30, my buck appeared. He was walking right to left across the shelf about 50 yards away. I could see his rack was tall and thick and because of the tiny shooting window I had, I had to make a split second decision whether to shoot him. I did. He ran out of view along the top of the lower bowl, then I heard him crash? and crash? and crash? and crash?. I gave him about 30 mins, then got up and started tracking him. Luckily he was bleeding everywhere, so the bloodtrail was easy to follow. He went along the shelf, fell of a 10 foot cliff, slide down through the steep lower bowl and was wrapped around a tree just over the edge of another little 6 foot shale cliff. In the end, I drug that deer over a ? mile back up a slope that was anywhere from 45 to 60 degrees. And since I couldn?t get a hold of either of my ?buddies?, I had to do it by myself. It took me just over 2 hours to get that deer back to the top of the ridge. Then, I had another ? mile to get back to camp.



The deer ended up being a six pointer, telechecked as an 8 because of two 1-inch kickers, but a six nonetheless... sammich buck, but a cool rack. I'll post pics later.

[Rafe Hollister]

That drag would've been easier if you weren't such a lardass.

[Great White Hunter]

or bald

[hobiecat]

My donkey!

Now I ain't sayin I ain't a lardass, but that drag would've been rough on anyone.

[hobiecat]

I ain't bald dammit!

[Triton X2]

Iffin you had stayed home it wouldnt have been that hard to drag him out...That is why I dont hunt down here anymore and instead go up into your neck of the woods...By the way, I waved at you when we met..

[Rafe Hollister]

I didn't say it would have been easy; just easier.

[Great White Hunter]

Why didn't you just cut the loins out, cut the rack off and leave the rest?

[Tigerhaze]

Just asking the question....but did you field dress the buck before you dragged it?

[hobiecat]

Tigerhaze, yes I dressed it.

Mo, I never said I weren't fat.

Snowy, next time I'll do that.

[lonepine]

oh by the way congratulation on the buck.

[JimDog]

Congrats, hobie.

I am tellin ya - I have had some monumental deer drags in my lifetime. My plan this year was to telecheck my monster buck out in the field, quarter it out and pack it out in pieces. Unfortunately, I was unable to connect on the big boy, so it's all moot.

[BornBad]

Congrats of the deer, Hobbs. Yes, I love them ozark ridges. Here is a topo of my stompin grounds:







X marks my spot

[Triton X2]

Used to hunt in the MT forest and when climbing up hill you had to grab a tree or put your back on it to keep from sliding back down and having to start all over again...Having to drag a deer out of there would have been a heart attack waiting to happen...It is much easier to drive a 4 wheeler up to the deer and load it....

[hobiecat]

Triton, that was exactly the case. I went up that hill literally crawling from tree to tree. Whenever I wanted to stop and rest, I would have to grab on to a tree to keep the deer from dragging me back down. I had an extra piece of rope so I got to where I would tie the deer to a tree while I took a breather. It sucked!