Creigh Scores During ML Season!

 Creigh got it done this weekend after this buck had teased a number of us all season.

We've been watching him on camera all year. Here's a shot from him in velvet.

He's got two forked tines on the right side that look like crab claws so we've been calling him "Crab" or "Crabbie".

During archery season, I frequently saw a large buck in the brassica but I was usually looking at him thru binos from 400 yards.

During gun season, he took a spin in front of Creigh's stand at about 50 yards - caught him off guard and he never got a shot at him.  He proceeded over to Eric's stand and walked right out underneath him.  He spooked a bit and went to the edge of the field when another buck, Speed Racer, showed up.  The two bucks were squaring off for a fight when Eric shot the closer one and Crab got to walk.

So after a photogenic season and several close encounters, Crab was still on the loose when muzzleloader season rolled around.  We had some snow and frigid weather leading into ML weekend.  Here I am checking cameras on Friday in 15F weather.

For the Saturday morning opener, I was in the driveway stand wearing my new electric heated vest (Christmas present).  It was needed.  

But during the day on Saturday it got above freezing and the food plots started to emerge from the snow. I spent Saturday evening in the main field stand overlooking the brassica.  At one point I had seven does on the edge of the field but they didn't stay long.  I was expecting them to feed out and I didn't get a shot.

Meanwhile Creigh was over in the pond stand.  He started getting some traffic from a small buck and several does at about the same time as I was seeing does in the main.

Creigh on stand before the moment of truth.

He had a long sit that afternoon and amused himself with photos of a hawk in a tree.

So he texted me and told me he had some traffic out in the field. Then he texted me and said "Crab is in front of me, 75 yards quartering to".  So I braced myself for the boom and I waited.  And I waited.  And I waited.  Going thru my mind is "did he let him walk - again?".  Light was starting to fade and finally - BOOM!  It was actually only 11 minutes but it seemed like forever.

He thought the shot was good and it looked like he was hit - but he wasn't sure.  Crab bolted out of the field into the woods.  We gave him some time, went to the barn, got lights and returned to the scene.  At first we didn't pick up any blood but we found the tracks in the field.

We started to track and the blood got heavier and heavier.  About 30 yards into the woods we found this.

I could hear the exhale of relief.

No ground shrinkage on this one - he's a beauty.

I got the tractor and we dragged him out of the woods and into the bucket

We got him up to the barn, took a few photos, and then went to work.  It wasn't easy with ice frozen in the hose.

Of course we recorded all of the vital statistics.

He has a 10 point rack but he also has two 1" or so stickers on the right base.

Creigh noticed a "war-wound" in his neck.  He had some missing fur and a puncture wound apparently from sparring with another buck.

We used the string-him-up method for gutting and Creigh did most of the dirty work.

Sometime during that process, the rain started and that continued thru the night and for most of Sunday.

But we had a celebratory dinner with the backstrap off my buck from a couple weeks earlier.

This is a photo from the morning showing our tracking trail.

I was looking for a doe for the freezer and this is as close as I got on Sunday morning - poop of the week.  It poured and we had about 2" of rain.

The bobcat is still showing up on trailcams.

And this is the load out as we took Crab to the processor and taxidermist.

Anyway, Crab tempted us one too many times - Congrats Creigh on a great buck!