Healthy Famz Healthy Family News essential tips for a healthy family. Explore practical advice to keep your family happy and healthy.
Related Articles
A beloved compound bow in the hands of a dedicated hunter during the rut can be a winning combination for big bucks. Just ask Mitch Bogumill of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who tagged the biggest dollar of his life in November.
“I spent 50 hours this season hunting a favorite spot on our family's 80 acres,” Bogumill said. Outdoor living. “We tried our best not to make any small money, and I think I spent twenty dollars all season.”
The Wisconsin rut was in full swing during his Nov. 16 hunt, Bogumill says. So that morning he placed an estrus-scented rope at the edge of a logging road, near his 20-foot ladder tree stand.
“I also applied some 'Nose Jammer' cover scent so the deer wouldn't smell me,” says the 35-year-old bowhunter. “My brother Marcus told me about its use after he was busted by a buck a week before I went hunting on the logging trail.”
Bogumill explains that the full moon was so bright that morning that he didn't need a flashlight as he walked to his ladder stand. His stand overlooked a logging road that looked like a funnel for traveling deer as it was near a spot where some whitetails were nesting.
“Around 8 a.m. I used a blat-can call, and within a few minutes a giant buck stepped out of a grassy field onto the logging trail and walked toward me with its nose to the ground,” Bogumill recalls. “He came to my scent rope, twenty meters from my station. The wind was perfect for me, and when it was twenty yards away I made my shot.
Read next: The Best Deer Calls of 2024
Bogumill used his 20 year old Hoyt “Ultra Sport” compound bow. He has brought many other deer with him and cherishes the bow like an old friend. His arrow went through the goat and hit the heart and both lungs. The expandable 3-blade broadhead with 125 grains had devastating results.
“I saw the blood pouring out of him as he ran. He went about 30 yards, cowered, and then just fell over. When I left my station and walked towards him, the blood trail was about five feet wide.”
Bogumill called his wife Valerie to tell her the good news. Then he called his brother Marcus and his father, John. The two met Mitch at their nearby hunting cabin, and they used an ATV to retrieve the huge buck. They then took the buck back to their hut to clean it.
Field-dressed, the 16-point buck weighed 200 pounds, Bogumill says, and he believes he was 5.5 years old. His green taxidermist scored the rack at 193 inches. He will have a shoulder rest made from the buck and hang it in their hunting lodge as well as in his house.
“This whole thing is such a great family event, and none of it would have happened without the help of my dad and brother,” Bogumill said. “It's the largest amount of money we've taken off our property. We certainly hope that there will be more money that is even bigger in our future. Hopefully my daughters Abby and Aubrey will be part of that.”
The best deals on outdoor gear gifts
Bob McNally
