This Ohio bowhunter gains everything from an impromptu, nothing-to-lose hunt.
Justin Pandorf’s 2012 deer season could’ve ended differently.
Had his bowstring not snapped, the archer from Manchester, Ohio, would’ve had his compound when an 8-pointer gave him what should’ve been a slam-dunk shot. Had the scope on his back-up crossbow been working properly, he would’ve put his tag on that 4x4. And had he not, against his better judgment, chose to spend an afternoon in the freshly logged woods he’d written off as a waste of time, he would never have seen the deer that closed the door on his season.
It helped, too, that Justin volunteered to be laid off from work, just so he could have more time to hunt that year.
Justin is an asphalt-hauling truck driver, and paving is not a wintertime job. So when the company’s owner was looking to lay off some drivers, he volunteered to be on that list.
While shooting his bow with some buddies before the season opened, he accidentally bumped something on the back of the truck that caused the bowstring on his very old Mathews Solo Cam to break. When he couldn’t find a new string locally, he dug out an old crossbow.
Its accuracy, however, was less than stellar. Something was wrong with the scope.
Nevertheless, he hunted with the crossbow the first few weeks of the season. He stuck — nicked might be a better word — a nice 8-pointer, but he never found a drop of blood. After that, he saw only a few small bucks and does.
He was so concerned that the crossbow was not performing properly, he decided to not even try for a doe. He needed to get back with his compound bow.
Eventually, Justin discovered Broken Rack Archery in Batavia, Ohio, which made a new string for his bow. Within a few days, he was back in the hunt with his revitalized compound.
About that time, his father contracted to have some timber harvested from the family property during the first week of November. Justin feared the timber cutting would ruin his chances there, so he decided to give public land a try.
After taking care of some business on Saturday, Nov. 14, Justin loaded his Jeep with everything he needed to hunt the state-owned land farther east. However, Saturday evening was just too beautiful not to watch the sunset from a stand.
With no real hope for success, he shouldered his gear and headed for a ladder stand on the family’s back 40.
“As I entered the wooded area behind the house, I immediately came across a large cedar tree, at least 20 inches in diameter, that had been seriously thrashed,” he said. “The rub wasn’t there a few weeks earlier, so I was sure a big buck had taken up residence.
“I had retrieved trail camera photographs of only a couple of small basket-racked 4x4s to that point. Neither of them could have done that kind of damage to the cedar,” he added.
“The last time I’d seen this same tree all torn up, a young girl down the road, Alexis Kemp (featured in the September 2009 issue of this magazine), took a monster in late November with her crossbow,” he continued.
“I have hunted this little peninsula of woods behind the house for almost 20 years, and I had never seen a monster buck.
“All around my stand, I saw piles of sawdust left by the timber cutters, along with lots of treetops scattered throughout the woods. It didn’t look like anything would want to be in that wasteland.
“So I’m sitting up there, looking around, wondering why I was wasting my time, when I turned my head and saw this gigantic buck at 20 yards!” Justin said. “I promise you that by the time it closed to within 12 yards, I could smell that deer. It was all rutted up.
“While drawing my bow, I must have made some noise, because the buck swung its head around and looked directly at the base of the ladder stand. I released at that exact second,” he added.
The arrow severed the deer's spine and it went down instantly.
“After several minutes of the buck not moving, I decided to get down and check it out. About halfway down, I banged the ladder stand, and the buck raised its head and looked at me.
“When I reached the ground, I grabbed my bow and put another arrow into its heart. Afterward, I laid my bow aside and knelt down beside the deer. I laid my hands on its neck and talked quietly to it until it took its last breath. It was a very solemn moment that I will never forget,” he said.
Justin then sprinted the 200 yards back to the house to tell his parents about the big buck. But nobody even batted an eye. It took him several minutes to convince them he wasn’t joking.
After swapping camo for jeans, he went back out to field-dress and collect his prize.
“By the time I got to the buck, my cell phone was going crazy, vibrating constantly from texts. I finally put it aside after texting my neighbor, Debbie Morgan, to ask if she could bring her trailer into the woods.
“I guess I was a lot more excited than I thought. I was careless with the knife and cut one of my fingers nearly to the bone. I had to wrap it tightly to stem the blood flow before I could continue,” he said. “My blood mixed with the deer’s on the ground.
“When Debbie came over to help, she re-wrapped my finger. She and I then tried everything to load it into her utility trailer, but we simply couldn’t do it.
“About that time, my girlfriend arrived on the scene. She helped us load the buck and noticed my wound. A doctor, she went back to her office a few minutes away, grabbed some supplies, and came back to clean and suture it.”
Hunter: Justin Pandorf
BTR Score 192 7/8
Compound Bow
Perfect
– Photos courtesy Justin Pandorf
This article was published in the September 2014 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
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