A Buck Named ‘Pin Cushion’

By Coltin Gresser

In early October Whitetail archery season had just begun in the state of Indiana. My hopes and dreams of shooting a Boone and Crockett buck danced around in my head. At the beginning of the season you are eager to get out there, ready for a challenge in the field, and have the full drive to hunt your ass off. Fast-forward through the season and you look like you work 60-70 hours a week. You barely want to go out because you have been mentally beaten down from missed shots or opportunities at a shooter buck or heck even a doe. This deer season was a rough one for us, however, this once-in-a-lifetime event took place.

Bernard, Carter, and I hunted one of our parcels of property in my hometown. We hunted in the morning and saw nothing but two plump Fox Squirrels fighting over a stache of white oak acorns, with Bernard and Carter choosing their spot. I planned to pick whatever place was open to sit. The wind was coming out of the south, so of course like any hunter, I wanted the wind in my face. I climbed up my stand and sat. As the hours went by, I grunted, estrus bleated, and even rattled a tad. As I looked out towards the west past the oaks, cottonwoods, and maples. I saw the sun setting and I knew I had about 20 minutes left of shooting light. Not even 5 minutes after I acknowledged my time for this hunt was coming to an end soon. I hear what sounds like two elephants running behind me. I turned to look over my left shoulder and BOOM! Here comes this doe running her ass off. I was confused, maybe chased by a buck, coyote, or someone's loose dog. After 30 seconds of trying to figure out what pushed her, here comes a decent 9-pointer. I looked at him for a minute, he was breathing hard trying to catch his breath. I decided I'd try for this buck if he gave me a chance. So, he did exactly that, walked around 20-24 yards, and stopped perfectly broadside. I drew back and let the arrow fly.

This is where the confusion starts lol. After I shot, he ran about 15-20 yards and stopped. Looked around, licked his back, and started sniffing the ground trying to get back on that doe. So, with what I saw of his actions, I thought I missed clear as day and misjudged my distance (if misjudging distance was a job I would be rich). I went down and started to go track. No blood, arrow, or hair is anywhere to be found. Carter, Bernard, and I walked up to where he stood before he started tracking the doe again and PLOOP pools of blood! We went back out and tracked for 4 hours that night, we lost the blood trail as it got smaller, so we called it. Came back the next morning and put in another 3 hours and nothing. So, I called it quits on trying to find him. There were many sleepless nights hoping that Buck would make it, and it wouldn't die a slow death. After playing it over and over in my head where I could have possibly hit that buck it finally came to me. I hit that buck in a forbidden place, a place on a deer that no hunter ever wants to find. It goes by many names, but I call it the VOID.

Picture a deer standing broadside, you are aiming at the front right shoulder of the deer. Now take your crosshairs and go to the dead center of the front shoulder, now travel up about 5- 6 inches, you will pass the upper shoulder and get into a spot that is under the spine and above the shoulder. This is the place of no return and the place where there are no vitals. If you hit a deer here it will bleed good for a little while, and then it will start to clot up and start healing and the doe or buck you shot will live.

Fast forward to December 19th. It's been a long rough season for us. I have only harvested two does and missed some chances at some real shooter bucks. As I was sitting inside my room nice and warm, I said to myself you know what I need to get out and hunt and not be a quitter. I got my gear ready and drove out to the field. As I got to sit in that same stand, I just got done telling y'all about, I looked on the ground, and low and behold the damn squirrels had chewed off the ratchet strap to the ladder. I took a few steps on the rungs of the ladder and said "Oh hell no …. Not today".

I quickly started to think about where else to sit. I really like this spot, but now I must ground hunt without all my gear. I made the choice to tuck up next to this tree sit on my knees and see what would happen. My dad sends me a picture of him with four does out in front of him. I started to get into my mind that I wasn’t going to see a single deer. As I was texting my friend that I strongly believed the whitetail deer was extinct, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

OMG, there was the mythical deer and for a bonus, it was a decent 9-pointer. I clicked the safety off my muzzleloader, He was now 30 yards away from me. I slowly turned to get ready, and a leaf crunched so slightly underneath my knee. He looks at me and then jogs off to 70 yards and stops. I had to twist my body and perform a free-handed shot. He is quartering heavily away from me, so I put it farther behind his shoulder and let him have it! I shot and he dropped like a bag of bricks. I had to put another shot into him because my first one was a spine shot.

Now watching this buck, he did not act hurt or in any way out of the ordinary. He moved just fine and fed just fine before I shot him. I had finally tagged out for the season within a minute and a half of hunting. We got him field dressed and hung up in the barn where we process deer. We hung him for a few days to bleed out, so the meat was of a higher quality. Then we started butchering him up along with a few others that our group shot. I skin him out, take the front shoulders off, and get ready to take the backstraps out when my knife blade hits something metal in the meat. So, I cut away at it to expose what the foreign object is and plop……. A BROAD HEAD COMES OUT.

(Here was the broadhead found in Pincushion)

 I examined the broad head and came to the quick realization that it was my Rage Expandable broadhead. Now this makes sense because where I hit the buck earlier in the season would have been this area on the deer. What doesn't make sense is that the arrow was perfectly threaded off the broadhead. That part is still a mystery! Where the arrow had entered the body of the buck there was no more trauma, plus the broadhead was covered in puss. The buck's body was already starting to self-heal.

I have heard stories of hunters harvesting a buck with broad heads and bullets in it. I have heard archery hunters harvesting the same buck they shot and hit. I never thought I would have the chance to do this and to be able to tell the story. Knowing that Buck was going to live just fine made me feel better, but what makes me feel even better is that I got him after all. I was truly blessed to be able to end the season like I did and I'm super grateful for that opportunity.  If that's not fate, then I don't know what is!

Remember you can’t kill them from the couch, so get out and HUNT!