Here's the story...
Well...we certainly had a great time...the ride up to Missouri..was long but a lot of fun..with Tom telling loads of fun stories and Dr. Rick..adding bits and pieces to keep us laughing. I did catch some zzz's in the back of Rick's van on the way up.
The "first evening" Tom put me in a Big Hardwood tree and he put up a climber about 30 yards away...facing a different direction. Just as the sun went behind the hills and the greese started flying over I saw two does following a trail in from the South. I stood up and got ready...when the first deer got to about 18 yards I picked a spot and turned a Zwickey loose! The shot was a pass through and the doe just kept walking like nothing happened. The other deer just stood there so I pulled another arrow from the Zipper's bow quiver and shot her also.
I got a little excited and had to sit down for a little bit.
Tom then came over and showed me how to blood trail. We got to the first deer and we discovered it was a button buck. I felt bad..but Tom said don't worry, when it walked past him he thought it was a doe too.
We then found the second deer and it was a nice big doe and I had made a good shot.
Two days later I was in the same tree and 4 deer feed in from the North and I shot a big doe at about 23 yards.
Since I had already taken a Buck ...everything broke loose after the first day and other then the 4 does that I mention up above all of the other deer that I saw that were in range were HUGE BUCKS! Most of them were 8 to 14 points. One day I saw two 6 points sparing about 15 yards from my stand. All I could do is watch...all those big bucks!!
Tom bought me a $2.97 grunt call from Walmart and showed me how to use it. I used it a few times with no results. On Wednesday or Thursday I was bored and started playing with the call ...a HUGE BUCK came over the hill seperating Tom and I in the Big Timber. It stopped and sniffed the air...I grunted softly...it grunted back and moved down closer to me and sniffed the air again...I grunted again..it came directly under my stand...and stood there for about 3 minutes. Now I could not take a shot...but had I been able too I might have been able place it perfectly..and then maybe not...it looked like it would have been a very difficult shot. There was a branch in the way...and while I have been shooting a nerf balls from treestands the feeling is not the same as having a HUGE BUCK directly under your stand. Of course all I could do was just watch this deer curl his lip, sniff the air and look for the other deer he thought was in his area!
Manomanoman this deer was HUGE..larger then our mule deer target. I plan to practice shooting the mule deer target from a tree stand at five yards in preparation for next year. Rick our hunting partner saw this deer as it left my area and almost went to him...but the buck turned and was out of range for Rick. Rick said the buck was a 170 B&C class deer....whatever that is.
During the week long parade of BIG BUCKS I also had a beautiful 8 point...broadside at 13 yards ...he had been chasing a doe from Rick's area and she came from one side of a fallen tree and he came from the other side ...the were going to meet head on...something spooked her and she turned flagged and ran....he stopped and just watched her for a couple of minutes and then slowly turned and went back the way he came.
On the morning of the last day...I was watching the fence line looking for my chance at another doe...I did not know there was a huge buck under my stand until he BLEW and scared me to death!
Tom says my first hunt is amazing...because I had so many firsts!! He has told me that he has never seen bucks spar. He is really impressed that I grunted the deer in.
My biggest lesson was learned the hard way. Next year...I want to get a big buck before I go after the does.
Topic: Countrygirl fills the freezer! (Read 10336 times)
