UPDATED; Josh Bowmar Harvests Dreamlike Buck During Gun Season With His Bow

Every so often, a buck will grace our Instagram feed that brings scrolling to a screeching halt and results in a small office gathering to see the jaw-dropping rack. Josh Bowmar just recently arrowed a dreamlike buck fitting that bill.

A quick glance at the Bowmar’s Instagram page reveals this husband & wife tag-team are having a hunting season for the record books. It all got started with Sarah taking a bull elk with her bow in Idaho, which happened to be her first ever bull elk! Then, Sarah and Josh each harvested awesome bucks in Missouri, which you can watch on their YouTube channel.

 

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3 years and 200 miles later- I finally did it. I’ve had my fair share of elk heartbreak in the woods and I am so damn proud of myself for pushing through the mental challenges! On day 7 of our hunt, 70 miles in, I was ready to throw in the towel. I wasn’t sure if I could hold it together for another attempt after so many failures. I had a shot at 45 yards on day 4 and my arrow was stuck in between my rest and the riser and I about lost it. Bow hunting is so much more than harvesting these amazing animals- it truly pushes you. It was the last 15 minutes of my hunt and we heard a bull bugle about 600 yards away. We took off running and got within 100 yards of him with only a few minutes of light left. He was bugling his head off and kept raking a tree. Every time we heard him rake, we ran 15 yards closer, but couldn’t see him. Finally, I could see his body moving and he was coming right at us. I drew back and waited for him to get into the crossing where I had an 18 yard shot. Finally he entered my shooting lane, quartering to me really hard, leaving me a 4 inch bullseye between his shoulder and his sternum. With 1,000s of arrows under my belt all summer long preparing for this trip, I was confident I could make the shot, so I released my arrow and all the practice and preparation paid off as I watched my arrow hit him perfectly right where I was aiming. He dropped and spun out, only running 70 yards before stopping, he went another 30 yards and we thought we saw him fall over and heard him crash. But not being sure, we decided to give him some time and when we went back to camp and gave him a couple hours. And came back to track blood, it looked like a paint can was dumped all over the ground. We found him right where we heard him crash! My first bull elk! Thank you all so much! The hunt will be on YouTube soon! We can’t thank @builttohunt enough for helping us get these unit 76 tags – PS- I want to dedicate this elk to my grandpa. While he wasn’t a hunter, he always loved hearing about our adventures and seeing our photos and videos. We unfortunately lost him a few months ago and this is the first hunt I won’t be able to tell him about 🙏🏼

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Sep 21, 2018 at 11:26am PDT

Their season was only just getting revved up, however, as Sarah went on to harvest a legendary buck they’ve only previously seen in trail cam photos. The buck, which they deemed “Tank,” appeared 35 yards in front of them like a ghost with only 30 minutes of shooting light left to work with. Sarah kept her composure and made a clean, confident shot on the animal. They only had to track him for 40 yards.

 

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A legend has fallen! We have had this deer we called TANK show up on camera the same day for the past 2 years in 2016 and 2017: Nov. 11th He never stayed long, maybe 3 days tops. So we knew we didn’t have time to hang stands or brush in a ground blind and take the risk of spooking him. We were going to go apache style, on the ground, mono e mono, with no blind. Lucky for us, there was a down tree with some large branches we hid ourselves in, staying motionless for hours. The first night we just had a bunch of turkeys and does show up, the big mature does knew something was up, but never busted, never blew, but no Tank. Trail cameras showed he came through around 2:30am the following day, so we at least knew he was still around. The next sit, pressure was high, heavy over cast with a ton of moisture in the air, it just felt right. As the afternoon turned into evening, we had a few does come through, but no Tank, but with about 30 mins of light left, we look up and out of the shadows the elusive buck we’ve never laid eyes on in person is standing in front us at 35 yards, it was TANK! I went full draw immediately when he disappeared into the brush to our right knowing he will circle back to check the does to our left. I had to keep my bow drawn for over 2 minutes before he finally came through my shooting hole. He was walking steeply quartering away at 33 yards. I held my 20 yard pin 8 inches high knowing it would drop right into his vitals, I held my breath and released the arrow. Everything seemed in slow motion as the arrow flew through the air and hit its mark! It was far back but he was quartering so hard I felt confident he was done. We got out of there immediately to give him a few hours before going back. We would have waited longer, but with 80% chance of rain and snow we couldn’t risk it. We came back as it started to rain and snow, but luckily for us- the tracking was short as he only went 40 yards!! I still cannot believe we were able to harvest this mature deer, he was much bigger antler wise the previous 2 years as he peaked in 2016, but this buck could be 8 years old and to harvested him on the ground with a bow is truly a deer hunt of a lifetime.

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Nov 13, 2018 at 5:47pm PST

Fast forward a couple of months and a layer of snow later, and find Josh sitting in a ground blind during gun season waiting on a deer they call “Wires” they’ve been after for 2 years now.

Bowhunting during gun season is always a little tricky, but this just goes to show how patience and persistence – especially during late season – can really pay off in a BIG way!

 

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A true miracle came together for me last night! I pulled off killing my biggest buck ever, with a bow- during gun season This deer means so much to me for so many reasons. A very special reason is the fact I shot him on our own land! This is a first for Sarah and me. We’ve been after this buck Wires for over 2 years now and he’s always given us the slip. Rarely ever breaking daylight and when he did it was always sporadic never predictable. This year was no different! He’d be gone for days and weeks at a time and then randomly show up. Every time he disappeared I figured someone shot him because everyone hunts around us. This deer was on many people’s hit list and the fact I was the one that got the opportunity with my bow during gun season is truly a God sent miracle. More pics coming!! Thank you all for the love and support! @hoytbowhunting @nomadoutdoor @eastonarchery @sevrbroadheads @traegergrills @sigsaueroptics #bowhuntersdream #biggestbuckever #bbd #bowmarbowhunting

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Nov 28, 2018 at 7:09am PST

Congratulations, to Josh and Sarah both for sticking it out in cold weather and pursuing this beast during his sporadic travel schedule! We look forward to seeing more pictures of this dreamlike buck soon, and his eventual landing spot in their trophy room with the rest of their Ohio bucks.

UPDATE**

Since we posted this article, Josh has uploaded more photos of this once-in-a-lifetime buck. Scroll below to see more photos AND find out what he scored:

 

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Everyone’s been asking so I thought I’d share with all of you WHAT HE SCORED! Check it out below!! He had 17 scoreable points and a 23 2/8s inside spread with almost 30 inch main Beams! He had a 188 6/8s typical frame with 26 2/8s inches of extras which put him at 💥215 INCHES💥on the nose! A true dream come true for this bowhunter joining the 200 club. Thank you all again for the congratulations! You guys are awesome. I can’t wait for all of you to see the video! It’ll be on Our YouTube channel, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!! (Link in profile) Right side: Beam length: 29 3/8 G1: 2 6/8 G2: 14 G3: 13 1/8 G4: 7 1/8 Mass: M1: 4 6/8 M2: 4 3/8s M3: 4 3/8 M4: 4 1/8 Total typical right side: 84 Left side: Main beam: 29 6/8s G1: 3 6/8 G2: 13 6/8 G3: 12 G4: 4 7/8s MASS: M1: 4 6/8 M2: 4 3/8 M3: 4 3/8 M4: 4 1/8 Total typical left side: 81.75 Inside spread: 23 2/8 Total typical before extras: 188 6/8 EXTRAS: right side: E1: 1 E2: 6 E3: 1 5/8 E4: 1 7/8 EXTRAS LEFT SIDE: E1: 6 2/8 E2: 4 6/8 E3: 4 6/8 EXTRA TOTAL: 26 2/8 188 6/8 typical frame + 26 2/8 extras GRAND TOTAL SCORE: 💥215 Inches!💥

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Nov 29, 2018 at 5:50am PST

 

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One of my favorite trail cam pics of wires. I have about 1,000 of him, mostly at night. It was a rare sight to see him break daylight. That’s probably why he grew so old and got so big! For this mock scrape, I put some @antlerice buck Urine in this scrape and he tore it up! He hated another buck coming in his area haha. I can’t wait for you all to see this video and hear the full story! #bowhunter #ohio

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Nov 28, 2018 at 7:43pm PST

 

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To show history of my buck, check out this trail cam videos of from the exact same tree 1 year apart! First video is of him from last year 2017. Talk about a crazy jump! How big do you think he was in 2017? This goes to show how important nutrition is! Most people stop feeding and nourishing the deer once season is over. I didn’t, I kept the high end mineral out (own blend ) all year long especially during January-March. And it clearly helped him big time! Swipe to see the difference

A post shared by 🎯Bowmar Bowhunting🎯 (@bowmarbowhunting) on Nov 29, 2018 at 11:23am PST

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