LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
After taking a week off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, Bowhunt or Die! returned for Episode 8 of its inaugural season. While our team spent Thanksgiving being thankful for friends, family and good food, the whitetails across the country were thankful our hunters weren’t out hunting them! With the type of season our team has had this far who could blame them? Still, Episode 8 chronicles 4 more exciting hunts in Illinois and Wisconsin and 2 more bucks and 2 does were harvested. Let’s take a look at how things went down!
To watch the footage of Episode 8 of Bowhunt or Die! follow this link!
Justin Zarr kicks Episode 8 off on his lease in West Central Illinois. Justin spent three days on his lease in Pike and Brown Counties hunting those famed whitetails hard, but wasn’t able to get it done. Despite his rough luck down south Justin kept at it the following Monday on his hunting property in Lake County, Illinois. If you have followed Bowhunt or Die! this season, you know how much time and effort Justin has put into this piece of property hoping to harvest a nice whitetail. Finally, his patience was rewarded when a buck Justin has over 50 trail camera pictures made an appearance. It looked like this buck, better known as Little Mac, was going to cross a creek and present a 10 yard chip shot; however, when he crossed the creek Justin attempted to stop him with his mouth call. The results were not what any hunter would expect as the buck apparently was alarmed by the call and took off in the opposite direction! After going back across the creek he stopped and gave Justin a small window of opportunity and Justin capitalized on it big time! He put a Nitron tipped arrow right behind Little Mac’s shoulder and the buck was dead within seconds! Just like that Justin had accomplished his biggest goal of the 2010 season, harvesting a buck in Lake County, Illinois. Click here to read about the sentimental value this particular buck holds to Justin by reading his own recap of this hunt. Way to go, Justin!
Justin’s immediate reaction after the shot was priceless. When you work as hard for a buck as Justin did for Little Mac, emotions can quickly run high after a successful shot.
Here is Justin after he recovered his buck, Little Mac. Congrats again to Justin for working extremely hard for this buck and making it happen.
We then head to Wisconsin with John Hermann as he attempts to harvest a couple does. If you remember, John got his 2010 season off to an incredible start by harvesting a giant 150” 8 pointer in early October. Unfortunately, that was the only buck John could harvest in Wisconsin (I am sure he is not complaining) and he was limited to shooting does the rest of the year. He set out a goal to harvest two does off a certain piece of property and was able to accomplish that goal in one weekend. John was also able to get some great footage of a mature buck over the course of the weekend as well. While he wasn’t able to shoot that big buck, simply being able to watch him interact with the other deer was enjoyable I am sure. Congrats on a productive weekend, John!
John Hermann had a successful weekend hunt in Northern Wisconsin as he achieved his goal of harvesting a couple does. Nice work, John!
While John Hermann was having excellent luck in Wisconsin, Bowhunt or Die! front man Todd Graf was not. Todd has worked extremely hard in Wisconsin this year hoping to harvest a nice buck and was presented with a shot opportunity on a mid-November hunt, but unfortunately he missed. The particular tree Todd was hunting out of is a perfect tree for killing big bucks, but it makes for difficult shot angles and Todd just wasn’t able to pull it off. To make matters worse, the same buck strolled back by later that day at 39 yards, but Todd just wasn’t comfortable with the shot. Despite his tough luck, Todd deserves a lot of credit for passing up on shot at redemption by passing on a shot he wasn’t 100% comfortable with.
A shot of the buck Todd missed on his quest for a Wisconsin bruiser. Don’t you just hate it when they look back at you out range as if to say, “You can’t shoot me now!” Don’t worry about it Todd, we all miss and I am sure you will get one during the late season!
If you remember Episode 5, staff member Josh Fletcher harvested a giant Wisconsin buck on the first day of his planned two week vacation. Since he quickly tagged out, he offered to run the camera for his brother Clint, hoping to film him harvesting a nice buck. At very first light on the morning of November 13th, a nice buck came in and Clint was fortunate enough to harvest him. I personally know how much fun it is to be able to hunt and film with your brother, so I am sure Josh and Clint had a great time in the tree together. Good jobs guys!
Staff member Josh Fletcher took time out of his vacation to film his brother, Clint, harvesting this nice buck. There is no time better spent than sharing a hunt with your brother and congratulations to Clint for harvesting a nice buck!
Another exciting and successful episode has come and gone for the Bowhunting.com team. Wow, it’s hard to believe that we are already one week into December! Time sure does fly in the deer woods. The late season is officially upon us which means snow and super cold temperatures which can make for incredibly fun hunts. Stay tuned to Bowhunt or Die! to see how the team performs during December.
