Early Season Bow Hunting Success | Nick Kravitz
By: Nick Kravitz of Flatline Whitetails
Photos by: Darton Harwick, Tyler Kravitz, & Nick Kravitz
“Finally I can say that I’ve wrapped my hands around the antlers of a Mature Pennsylvania Whitetail Buck!”
Tyler and I had photos of this deer as a 2.5-year-old buck 3 years ago on a trail camera. After the bear destroyed two of our cameras this year, we didn’t have many photos of deer on this property. However, we knew the potential that the property had just from summer scouting, so I was actually after a different “Shooter Buck”.
A cold front was pushing through on October 16th and I knew it was going to be a good night for deer activity in the tree stand. It was a beautiful October evening.. I remember thinking to myself, “This is the perfect day for hunting”, and sure enough, at around 4:30 I already had eyes on a young buck up on his feet and again, at 5:30, two more young bucks walked by at 20 yards.
As the sun began to set, I was admiring the view with my camera and snapping photos. As I set my camera back in my Sitka Gear tool bucket, I peered over my left shoulder and caught a slight glimpse of antlers through the corn stalks, swaying in the wind. All that I could see were Big G2’s and Big G3’s so I immediately knew this was a shooter buck. Slowly I started reaching for my bow.. My first thought was that he was going to walk away and I was going to have to shoot him where I first saw him. I drew back my Mathews Archery, Inc. Halon 32 and watched him walk right out of my shooting lane but towards another. I held my bow back for what seemed like an eternity, which in reality was about 3 minutes. I thought about letting down twice but I knew that I needed to be ready when the opportunity presented itself.
As I began to see his rack appear through the corn stalks and branches, I knew this was the moment of truth. He stopped walking and turned toward me slightly. This was it, now or never. It was not a shot that I particularly like taking but I knew this was my only opportunity to try. So with a slight squeeze of the TRU Ball Archery and Axcel Sights Glory Release, the last thing that I witnessed was my Nock Out Lighted Nocks disappear directly behind his front shoulder.
Luckily I had my safety harness on or I surely would have fallen out of the tree! With plenty of daylight left, I ran all the way to the truck and called Tyler and Darton to tell them the news! We met up and reviewed the footage and decided it was best to just let him lay for a few hours given the cool temperatures would keep him through the evening. After we got done tracking and finding Brooke Williams and Tyler Kravitz bucks, it was about midnight. We decided to go in and look at the blood and see if we could locate my buck.
After 75 yards we started seeing blood. Tyler looked up and said “there he is!” As we ran up to him, we couldn’t believe it. The emotion and feeling that I felt right then was something I will never be able to put into words. It was an absolutely amazing moment in my life that I will carry with me forever! Thanks for all the help and knowledge you have passed on to me Tyler Kravitz and Darton Harwick and thank you for being there to share the moment with me.
One of the reasons that the Nock Out Lighted Nocks really helped me out with this hunt was after I made the shot on film, I was able to go home and review the footage to see exactly where I hit. With the ability to see my entry, we were able to make the decision to give this buck 5 hours since it was cold that night. Turns out he only went 75 yards, but the theory I have is it’s better to be safe than sorry because once you bump a wounded buck it’s NEVER good!
