Let Uncle Sharpie tell ya' all how it was...

 

Wild Bill's Big Buck Adventure

I have given much thought to the happenings on November 7, 2005 at approximately 7:10 - 7:15 in the morning.
My cell phone vibrated as I sat vigilantly in my tree stand waiting to practice "brown is down." My hunting partner
Wild Bill Grieco, informed me that he had just shot a 6 or 8 pointer as it passed by his stand.
This guy always makes me leave my stand early. He likes to "GIT ER DONE" early on so he can
goof off the rest of the day. Little did he know what was about to transpire.

As I was letting my bow down from the tree stand my cell phone vibrated again and I was informed
by Wild Bill that he had come to the end of the blood trail and it was a 9-pointer. As I made my way
down through the cedar tree covered hillside, I was thinking to myself "geez, neither one of us brought our 4-
wheelers today. Oops, there's a mistake!"

I could see movement below me and realized it was Wild Bill looking at his deer. As I approached the bottom
it became very obvious that this was no average size deer.

Now, folks, the aveage size deer around these parts is 125 - 130 pounds. If you shoot something around 150 - 160 lbs,
you're doing pretty good. This critter well surpassed that weight. As I stood there in awe looking at this beast,
I was thinking, "how the heck are we gonna git this big boy outa here?"

After the high 5's and hugs (yes I said hugs), I don't usually practice that maneuver, but this was the buck of a lifetime,
so it was warranted! It was then time for pictures and then the good ole' gut job. I took 17 pictures of Wild Bill
and his buck. As we rolled "Triple B" (Bill's Big Buck) around, we started to realize just how massive he really was.
After the gutting job was done, Bill decided to go get his 4-wheeler.
I decided to hang around and get some measurements.

Inside spread: 15-1/2, G1 and G2 6". Length of mains were around 22-23". Brow lines were 3". These measurements
aren't exact. I have a tape measure which was designed by a deer biologist. It tells you HW - hoof weight; FW - field
dressed weight; and PW - processed weight. As I put the tape measure aroud the deer's chest, it came out to 46-47 inches!
As I looked at the HW it said 220 pounds. I thought, "is that possible?" I knew he was a real big deer for our area.

Once Bill returned with his 4-wheeler, we started to realize just how big this deer was. Now my back isn't real good,
and neither is Bill's. As we tried to get "Triple B" pn the front rack, we came to the conclusion that we weren't gonna just
throw him on like we've done with other deer in the past. After some serious thought we decided to pull him up into a tree
and drive under him. That, too, was a big adventure. Finally, we had him hanging from the tree and we figured I could pull
away from the tree and Bill could drive under him with the 4-wheeler. That worked out just fine.
Now, all we had to dowas get him out of the valley.

We picked our way up the hill with a few exciting moments now and then, and finally reached the field.
While all of this was going on I was thinking to myself, "can you imagine if we had to drag that sucker all the way out!?!"
Bill wanted to show his wife the deer so he went home and we were supposed to meet at our friend Butch's house
where they were going to butcher "Triple B". Once we got that rascal hung up I decided to head to Chatham
to get the pictures developed.

Now, any of you folks who know me, know there is no such thing as "good luck" for old Sharpie.
I went home, had dinner, hit the shower, and then ran back to pick up the pictures.
As I excitedly strolled up to the counter to retrieve those pictures, the nice lady said to me,
"Are you the guy who dropped off the deer pictures?" And I said, "Yes. How did they come out?"
Her response was not what I wanted to hear. She said, and I quote, "None of them came out.
Your camera has a light leak and it exposed every picture." Talk about a kick to the lower extremeties....

As I was walking to my truck, I was thinking, "how am I gonna tell Wild Bill there are no pictures!?!"
To be quite honest I didn't even want to stop and tell him. For us, this was the deer of a lifetime.
Yes, I was shattered. Now just so you know, I carry three cameras with me: a disposable, a digital, and a 35mm.
When I climbed down out of my tree stand after Bill called, I had my 35mm in my pocket, so I figured
I was all set. That was a lesson learned! As I sheepishly entered Bill's house, he asked me how the pictures came out.
I could see the disappointment in his face when I told him what happened.

However, folks, there is good news. It seems that Bill decided to call a local taxidermist/butcher that we know,
Allen Briggs, and Al said to bring him down to his shop and he'll skin him out for Bill's mount.
"Triple B" had not yet gone under the knife, so Bill was able to get more pictures of his buck.
Al happened to have a scale, so after the pictures were taken, they decided to weigh him: 209 lbs.
That was after he had been hanging for five days. Now, if you look at my tape for deer, and look for
209 lbs. dressed, it shows around 260 lbs. hoof weight! No wonder we couldn't pick up his big butt
and put him on the 4-wheeler. I can't wait to find out how old he was. I'm gonna guess and say 4-5 years old.

The good news is that he was running with another nice 8-pointer. Hey, maybe Wild Bill will shoot him
during rifle or black powder season. Time will tell I guess. One thing's for sure, with my luck that 8-pointer
won't appear in my cross hairs.

Oh, and just so you know, I strategically placed that 35mm camera in the garbase. It is now
Waste Management's problem. Carry on kids.

Sharpie