Pennsylvania Bruiser - Pennsylvania
Jeremy and his Pennsylvania bruiser.
Hunter: Jeremy Lengle
Cameraman: Adam Spittler
The 2008 Pennsylvania deer season had been extraordinarily slow up until the first week of November. The corn was still standing and the deer sightings were down. Patience and persistence turned it into the best archery season I’ve ever had.
My buddy, Adam, killed an awesome buck the evening before and I was pumped to get into the woods the next day. We were scheduled to leave for Connecticut early the next morning. Upon returning, I was leaving for Illinois the following Monday, so this would essentially be my last hunt of the season. What a great hunt it turned out to be!
After a lot of contemplating, I decided to sit in a stand that we had seen this buck from before. Although we hadn’t seen him in a few days, it was the last place that we saw him. The afternoon was very uneventful. I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that I probably wouldn’t be filling my archery tag for the second year in a row.
This all changed with about half an hour of shooting light left. I was dosing in and out of sleep, when I looked up and saw a buck chasing a doe around 200 yards away in the neighbor’s field. One look through the bino’s told me all I needed to know. It was the big 10-pointer I was after. I immediately scrambled for my grunt tube and began trying to lure him my way. He didn’t hear me at first, but once I got loud and aggressive I got his attention. Now is about the time I started to get excited. All my grunting told him there was an intruder on his turf and he was coming to investigate. He quickly put his ears back and began walking with a purpose in my direction. He followed the wood line until he was about 150 yards away. At this point, the buck cut into a narrow strip of woods and was now on the farm I was hunting. After a few minutes, I was unsure of where he would exit the brush and started to wonder if I would see him again.
It all happened very quickly from this point. As I looked to my 2 o’clock, there he was. He came directly into the food plot that Adam had put in a few months earlier. He began to circle downwind of me. I ranged him at 80 yards and closing at this point. I aggressively hit the grunt call again. When he stopped to look around, he caught sight of the two doe decoys that had been placed near the stand. It was as if someone put a rope around his neck and pulled him toward me. He came with a purpose to within 25 yards. I tried to compose myself as much as I could, because I was about to draw on the biggest buck I’ve ever had in range. As he sniffed the air, I drew back my Hoyt and settled my pin on him. Whack!! He let out a loud groan and went down in a heap! I’ve never had a deer drop in his tracks using a bow and arrow before. No tracking necessary!
What an experience, I immediately knew he was down. I had my biggest buck to date with the bow! I think I called almost everyone who is close to me to tell them the news. I was so excited I could barely breathe so speaking on the phone was difficult. I got down from the stand and didn’t even realize I left my bow and other belongings in the tree! It was a dream come true. It took a lot of luck, but what an accomplishment for Adam and I to put down two PA bruisers in two consecutive evenings. I’m very grateful I got to share it with my friends and family. It’s a memory I’ll never forget!