By Mike Bolin
An Old Warrior fights his last battle.
Hello. My name is Mike Bolin and I’m a good friend and camera man for Trifecta Outdoors. I hope you enjoy my story on my very first deer ever! Pro Staffer Jeff Grinstead got me into Bow hunting
and over the last 5-6 years I’ve given it up and picked it back up again. I absolutely love animals and never knew if I could take ones life. As I grew older I realized that it was more then
just killing an animal. The time and effort these guys put in year in and year out makes you respect what they are doing and shows you they have total respect for the animals they hunt. This year
for me was different, I shot my bow more then ever and knew this was the year.
I lived in Chillicothe, Ohio the year before and didn’t get to hunt much. On November 1st I moved back to Athens County where I had permission to hunt land 300 yds from my house. This is where it
started and even though it was only 6-7 acres it always showed potential. Jeff Grinstead shot his first deer 20 yds from where my stand is located. The deer always seem to funnel through this
area with fields on both sides of the stand.
The HUNT! It was a calm and quiet Sunday evening on November 9th. A light South wind which was perfect for this stand. I didn’t need my weather app to tell me it was a south wind because the
sewer plant located 100 yds South of me let me know this! You would of thought I was filming one of the Trifecta members. Two hours into the hunt I had no luck at all even my Fantasy Football
team was sucking! I didn’t grunt a bunch early because I thought my inexperience wouldn’t benefit me and I had a better chance of being patient. And then to my North a small 6 point comes out
into the field. I’m thinking great the only spot I could get busted from! He had other things on his mind. He made quick work of the field and ran into the woods I was hunting. Running 35 yds to
my left and out of sight, never giving me a shot.
Ten minutes had passed since the small buck had ran through and got my blood pumping. I was desperate, every weekend that passed without getting a deer was another weekend wasted in my mind. Gun
Season was approaching and I knew after that my chances were slim. I grabbed my grunt call and let it rip. An aggressive grunt hoping to get some kind of reaction. My back is to the south so I
have to turn occasionally to scan the field behind me. As I turn I catch a glimpse of a rack coming out of the woods and immedetely get excited. I made sure all my equipment was ready incase I
was lucky enough to get a shot at this beautiful animal. At first I thought it was the small 6 that just ran passed me 10 minutes ago. I hit my grunt call a few more times, this time short soft
grunts. It worked! He started walking toward my stand. 60 yds…. 50…. 40… OMG this is happening!!!! He turns into the woods, you have got to be kidding me. Did he see me? I’m so stupid how
could I blow this? I hit my call again knowing I had about 30 min of light left. No response. In my mind I just lost him. Seconds felt like hours. And then I see his bright rack pop out behind
some brush! He is about 30 yds to my left looking for whatever buck was challenging him. I needed him to walk toward my stand to have a shot. I waited for him to look away and when he did i gave
it one last light grunt. He snapped his head around and began to walk my way! He walked right in front of me and stopped at 15 yds! Is this really happening? This is the moment I have been
waiting for. Feeling confident I drew my Bow back. Nothing could prepare me for this moment. I look down my peep sight and put my top sight right behind his shoulder. One deep breathe and I let
it fly. SMACK! Direct hit. As I try not to fall out of my Tree stand I watch the Buck run back where he came from. I tried to listen for a crash but between my heart beat and the tree stand
shaking I couldn’t hear much. At this point I really didn’t know how big he was or if it was a great shot. I knew one thing, I needed to get down and leave the deer alone. I got ahold of Jeff and
he told me the same thing. We would give it an hour and go look.
I went back to the house and got changed and told my dad the story. We ate some chili and I couldn’t wait to go back out. I paced back and forth outside trying to burn some time. Finally I got
ready and drove the Ranger over to Jeff’s House. He just sat down to eat. You have got to be kidding me let’s go! I didn’t say that since I was 30 min early. After he got done eating we head off.
I’m not going to be much help here because I’m red/green color blind which makes it impossible to see blood on the leaves. I showed Jeff where I saw him run. We didn’t find much blood so we were
kind of worried. I’m staying near the last spot of blood while Jeff is looking for new blood. And then all the sudden I say “Jeff do you see anything?” I’m looking at the blood spot he
showed me examining it, amazed he could see such a small spec of blood. Jeff answered “Only a dead Buck!” I shot out of my crouched position like a NFL receiver coming out of his break! Ok, maybe
not but I was jacked up. This thing was a monster to me. All the time and effort had finally paid off and I couldn’t be happier. This will be one I always remember and won’t be my last. I’m here
to stay and look forward to many more memories with Trifecta Outdoors.