Ok, here goes the story...
I decided this year I was going to hold out for a good buck or not shoot a buck at all. Usually I'm not too picky. I'll shoot a buck early and then not get out until the late season to hunt does. That's really my favorite time to be out. Everything is quiet, hardly anyone around, and there's just something about being out there in the snow covered woods that makes you feel alot farther away from things than you really are.
I passed on quite a few deer through October and the first of November, then work got in the way. I was telling my hunting partner, Arrow k9, after passing on a good 120-130 class 8 pt, that maybe I had just passed on one too many.
Anyway, yesterday was a nice, clear sunny day. After the weekend full of snow storms and high winds I figured they'd be up and moving. I had worked until 4 am so I missed the morning hunt. I got up and got ready to head out for the evening when my wife called to tell me she had to work over which meant I had to get the girls from school. So much for heading out to the property I was planning on hunting.
I got the girls and by that time it was 3:30. I figured I wouldn't go as I already had less that two hours to hunt. I live on the back side of a military base which has an old gate at the end of my road. We always drive down there to the turn-around and look for deer. There were deer up and moving all over. That was that! I rushed the girls into the house, threw on my hunting clothes, grabbed my bow and headed off.
I lease a property about a mile from my house with a group of other guys. They had hunted it pretty heavy during the last gun season which had just ended Sunday. Even though I knew it had been pressured, it was too late to go anywhere else. I thought I might catch a doe moving through as the bucks tend to hide out on another property once the gun pressure starts.
I was just about to my stand when I ran into four does standing around right below it. They saw me about the same time and high-tailed it. I figured I was an hour too late but might as well sit and see what happens. I was in the stand for a little less than half and hour when I saw the head of a doe poke up about 50 yds away. She moved on by and behind her, I can just see the tops of a really nice rack moving through. They started making a big commotion and I kept waiting on them to come through but they never did.
While I was watching for them, I caught movement off to the right. Here comes this nice non-typical, eight on the left side and four on the right. Really nice mass. As soon as I saw him I knew he was the one I'd been waiting for. He walked up through the woods to the tree line and stopped. There's a small hill at the tree line which puts the deer at about eye level with me. It's the highest point in the area. My stand is on the other side of a 15 yard opening. He was about 35 yards away. He stood there staring out for a few minutes. Then he began walking back and forth about 50 yds in each direction along the line looking all over throughout the woods. He wants to come across the opening to my side but he knows the opening means danger. He's checking out everything he can before he commits.
My heart is about wore out from beating so much by now. Finally he squares up with the trail leading down the hill. He stands right at the top of the hill and puts a foot forward to come down and stops. He starts looking all around again. He looks right at me and stares. I'm thinking, "Oh no, it's over." I immediately shift my eyes off his and look at the ground. He relaxes and I see his tail flick. I know he's coming now. I had already decided where I was going to shoot him as he came down the trail. He started down the hill and I was focused and drawing back, timing him to the bottom. It was one of those times when everything felt so effortless I just knew nothing could go wrong. The trail gives a perfect quartering away shot. As soon as he hit the bottom of the hill I touched anchor and the arrow was gone. Everything froze at the release and I saw nothing but a ball of yellow fletch disappear through the spot I was focused on. He made three bounds then started trotting off to my right. I watched him get slower and slower until he fell over about 80 yds away.
He's a fantastic winter deer taken during my favorite hunting conditions. He's a 12 pt with eight on the left and four on the right. A nice double brow on the left and lots of character throughout. I haven't put a tape to him yet but I'm guessing he'll green somewhere around 150.
Tradgangers had a part in this one too. I was out of Ribtek 160's and Charlie Lamb told me The Nocking Point had them. I usually sharpen my heads with a file and stick, but this time I used a KME Sharpener purchased from Kustom King. Sharpster did good producing one incredible tool. If you haven't used one, give it a try, it's fantastic. I taught my hunting partner, Arrow k9, how to make wood arrows and he made me up some. He kept bugging me to carry "his" bumble bee arrows (yellow/black crest) through the season instead of mine so I did. They flew like a laser. Guess he figured that was the only way they'd see some action! (Just kidding Mike!!)
It just doesn't get any better!
Sorry... I have no idea how to make these pictures any larger.
Topic: The Bighorn gets some Big Horns! (Read 4642 times)
