I've taken a number of deer over the years with my traditional equipment, but I've always managed to choke on the few big ones I've gotten shot opportunities at. Well, the rut gods have smiled on me and I finally connected with a decent buck.
I was able to get out of work a little early on Tuesday. I was in my stand by 3:20, about a half hour earlier than usual and no sooner got settled in when I heard the same squirrel that I heard the previous night rustling in the leaves behind my stand. I thought it would be prudent to glance behind me so I fumbled my book back into the pouch on my stand and leaned around the oak I was perched in to see what was up. Much to my suprise, the squirrel had gained about 150 pounds and was now sporting a nice rack! I was able stand up and get into position without drawing his attention until he emerged from underneath a leaf bearing beech tree about 10 yards away. At seven yards I found myself in a staring contest with a woods wise 8 pointer and I thought for sure the game was up. These things never end well for me and sure enough, he bolted off to about 17 yards and turned around to give me a thorough inspection. After a minute or two, his orginal destination began to call again and my frantic stillness must have put him at ease enough to continue onward. He continued onward towards the woods road my stand overlooked. He walked behind a couple large trees that split the distance between us, giving me a chance to prepare for the shot. When he stepped into an opening at about 18 yards, I let loose. My shot went a bit high and left of where I was looking and hit him high in the back. I watched in dismay as he ran off and prepared myself for a long wait and difficult tracking job. He ran down the road about 60 yards and stopped in the trail. I could barely make him out through the leaves, but I caught movement as he launched across a ditch and made a great commotion as he ran through the leaves. Strangely, the sound didn't seem to fade off into the distance and suddenly all was quiet. Dare I hope he was down? It sure sounded like it but I decided to wait a bit to be safe. I could only take about 15 minutes of that though before I got down and started making my way along the road looking for blood. It was spotty in the wispy grass growing in the trail but when I got to the spot where he crossed the ditch I found a big splatter of bright red bubbly blood. After the third splash of crimson, I knew I was following a dead deer and my pace quickened. A couple dozen yards later I was looking at my first "non-yearling" buck and although you won't see him on the cover of North American Whitetail, he was a "big-un" to me and no slouch for a public land buck. I've been waiting 24 years to kill a buck like this and it feels good to have gotten the monkey off my back. Though not the shot I would've liked to have made, I took out the aorta/vena cava and the away side lung and the deer was down in less than 30 seconds. 154 pounds of good eats to boot. Here he is.
Topic: Finally (Read 2745 times)
