Pennsylvania Game News - September 2008 - 29

Bill Shetler’s buck scored approximately 120 Boone & Crockett Club points, which would have surpassed the minimum score of 115 for bow-killed bucks to make the Pennsylvania “record book” if he had taken his deer with a conventional bow. Big game trophies taken with crossbows are recognized in the firearms category. For more information on Pennsylvania’s Big Game Scoring Program, visit the agency website at www.pgc.state.pa.us and click on “Hunting” and then “Big Game Records Program.” racket I thought I’d probably never even see a deer. I got to my stand, pulled up the bow and hung it on the tree and decided to eat an apple before pulling my face mask down. Five minutes later I thought I heard a deer walking. I turned to my right and, sure enough, a deer was coming up over a dip straight toward me at 60 yards. After determining that it was a good buck I concentrated on getting a shot. My bow was hanging on the tree. I didn’t have my face mask on, and there was little cover on that side of the treestand. About 40 yards away he turned and stopped in an opening and gave me a shot. How I got the bow off the hook and into shooting position I’ll never know. After I shot I knew I hit the buck, but I didn’t get a good hit. It was about 4:10 so I waited until 5:30. I then got down and made a few circles, but I could not find any hair or blood. It was getting dark, so I figured I might as well go home. When SEPTEMBER 2008 With two misses already during the season I thought I’d never harvest a buck with a bow, but that all changed on November 3, 2007. I got home I called Andy Marcinko, who owned the land the deer ran onto after I hit it. He said he’d help me find it the next morning. A few minutes later my son, Bryan, who is an excellent hunter and tracker, stopped at the house to make final plans for the next day’s turkey hunt in Fulton County. After telling him about my deer he said, “I know what we’re going to do tomorrow.” He also said we’d find it, which really gave me hope. But, I’ll tell you, sleep was hard to come by that night. The next morning, soon after daylight, Bryan and I were at my treestand. We found where the buck had been standing when I shot at it, but we didn’t find a trace of hair or blood. We headed in the direction the buck had gone, and after 45 minutes Bryan hollered, “Dad, come here,” About 120 yards from where I had hit the buck Bryan found a drop of blood and then I found two more drops and then we were able to establish a blood trail. The blood trail took us into a large patch of briars with a 2-foot round hole forming the entrance to a tunnel. Bryan followed the blood trail as it went on through and out the other side of the big patch of briars, but then for some distance the trail went to the next patch of briars. Bryan followed the trail into it, the buck back-tracked on its own trail and went around to the other side of the patch and lay down. Bryan said, “Dad, I saw a flash of 29

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Pennsylvania Game News - September 2008

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