Perseverance pays off on a giant Alberta whitetail

bonedogg · Nov 28, 2017

My brother in law has had some tough times over the year with a major eye injury last year. The story to come is a great example of keeping at it and how things can work out. I will bring this on a little at a time for some excitement!! The buck at the end is a true northern boreal forest monarch!!
More to come...

bonedogg · Nov 28, 2017

graphic image warning*******

Sorry everyone, back to the story. In December of 2016 my brother in law was doing some renovations and ran into some bad luck. He was taking a break and went back to work not thinking and with his safety glasses on his head he bounced a nail of a pre-existing nail that he did not see under the drywall and his nail boom arranged right into his eye. The nail tapped his eye socket and he was airlifted to the Edmonton hospital. Seven hrs later the nail was still in his eye as the medical team determined what they should do. The picture attached is graphic and tough to look at but it brings some reality and a lesson to be learned by all regarding not letting your guard down.

ewludwig · Nov 28, 2017

Helluva way to start a story. Damn....that's gotta sting.

bonedogg · Nov 28, 2017

After a bunch of lens replacements and some oil injections his eye was back to what he says is about 50 %. He said his shooting was pretty good and kept practising but considered making the switch to his left eye. Down in the dumps and ready to rumble he stumbled into an area he had overlooked previously. It was big timber with some recent oil and gas activity that had the area quite busy but the deer were still abundant. In just a few days he was seeing lots of bucks and several shooters but just couldn't close the distance on these boreal forest deer. He had been to the area several times and had put his eyes on what he thought was the biggest 6x6 wt he had ever seen. He says this deer had it all, wide, tall, heavy and dark antlers that reached for the sky! All i could say was go get get him and send me the pics when you do, thinking to myself......how good can he see anyways?........

Well, last friday I got the call, he says, " I shot what I think is a good buck, but i didn't really get a great look at him, he just looked good!" his only concern was that the buck did not look hit in the lungs or vitals as the blood did not have much oxygen in it, but still looked arterial. This was the spot of impact. Some bone fragments are also evident in the picture as well. This was Friday morning.

bonedogg · Nov 28, 2017

After he called me, we talked and of course took the route of backing off and giving him a ton of time to expire. He waited three hours and headed back in to track his buck. He was seeing good pools of blood and a constant trail of dot here, dot there with signs of him dragging his left front leg. Within 1/2 hr. and about 1/4 mile his heart sank big time when he bumped the buck from its bed and watched him crash through the timber with no chance of a follow-up shot. He was sick to his stomach and thought to himself, damn i should have given him more time!!!!!

this was friday afternoon.

bonedogg · Nov 28, 2017

After a long sleep less night and many conversations we said either he will be dead in the morning or he'll be bedded down, so sneak in like a church mouse and see if you can catch up to him. His track was easy to find the next day and again he bumped him out of his bed early in the am but still had blood and was on him again.

Any simple fix to these pics turning?

kansasdad · Nov 29, 2017

On my iPad I save the image, "edit" in pictures and rotate. On Windows 10 desktop to rotate images I have to "edit" picture, rotate AND SAVE image (I think many are rotating the image as they see it on the screen, but not SAVING the newly rotated image?)

PS: I'm never gonna not wear safety glasses again!! Yikes!! Amazing that there is any vision saved after trauma like that.

vanish · Nov 29, 2017

Didn't need to see that over breakfast

MT_elk · Nov 29, 2017

So sorry to hear about the accident. Looking forward to the ending of the hunt!

bobbydean · Nov 29, 2017

I really truly admire his composure. I do not think there are many nerve ending in the eye. Pain may have been small. You have to admit the man had big huevos!

Muleys32 · Nov 29, 2017

Crazy!

bonedogg · Nov 29, 2017

the chase is not over but as a treat for all I will throw out a measurement that will make some sick with anticipation...... not one of his G1-3 on either side is under 10"!!!!!!

shootbrownelk · Nov 29, 2017

What's the hold-up?

tjones · Nov 29, 2017

Someone needs to take Oak's class on internet story telling. I did years ago and it works well.

bonedogg · Nov 29, 2017

He bumped the buck several times Saturday and could not catch up to him for a shot. Every time he would bump him the deer was in the thick deadfall and willow swamps that no shot was ever available. He was getting deterred but stayed on him, at this point it was getting close to 10 miles of this same game. Ten miles through the thickest muskeg and pushing willows just to get to the other side. He left his track Saturday night knowing that a snow storm was coming and that this might be the last spot he could confirm. So he left him again Saturday night to see what he could pick up on Sunday.

bonedogg · Nov 29, 2017

Sunday morning.....no snow yet. So he was off. He found the track again and was hoping for the best. He traveled about another mile and again bumped the deer from its bed and watched it bound over a hill into another deep swamp. This time he went home for lunch and decided to give it one last go in the afternoon. He went back to the same spot he entered the swamp and instantly could here Ravens squawking and making a fuss. No more than 20 yrds from where he last watched the deer disappear into the forest is where the monarch passed on. To say he was elated was an understatement! In less than 3 hours, the Ravens had punched a large hole in his side and had eaten most of the innards and one hind quarter. To this date his largest wt deer would go maybe 150, and a couple in the 140's with no real understanding of scoring, just happy to get out. When he sent the first pic I was sooo happy for him but had to ask , "was it the big 6x6?" He said no but he was pretty happy with him. I asked what he figured he scored and said it's a nice 5x5 with short front tines. He had a buddy help him drag it out of the bush and his buddy said its a nice 170ish deer. The first few pics didn't do him justice and I was unsure of what they said they had. The next pic changed that......oh my god!!!!!!!! what a buck!!!!!!

u1299 · Nov 29, 2017

Wake me up when this is over, pictures?

bonedogg · Nov 29, 2017

I just about puked and said to him........"he's wayyyyyy bigggger than 170!!!"

bonedogg · Nov 29, 2017

I was really intrigued as to where he had hit him with his shot? in the end he had shot his leg just below the sternum and there was only trauma there. The constant bumping of the animal was probably a good thing in this case as every time he was forced to move this would cause more aggravation of the injury, eventually leading to its death some 11 miles and two days later. In the end the buck green scores somewhere around 190, with 25" mainbeams and longest tines being the G2's which were bothe 11 1/2 " long. The "short" front tines(G4s are both over 5 so not bad, but short in comparison with the rest. The one brow tine measures over 11 " as well!!! Great buck and ending to a story where most would have given up. I have given him Kudos for his efforts and not giving up!!!

Deleted member 20812 · Nov 29, 2017

bonedogg said:
I was really intrigued as to where he had hit him with his shot? in the end he had shot his leg just below the sternum and there was only trauma there.

That was my guess from your initial pictures.

Great job to him on his determination, and WOW what a hell of a whitey!

Perseverance pays off on a giant Alberta whitetail

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