Well, Ol' Chris was at it again!
On Veteran's Day, which happened to be unseasonably warm, Chris shimmied his way into a tree at about 12:30p.m. prepared to sit until dark. He sent me a text about this time letting me know his plans, and I have to be honest, I thought he was nuts setting up so early on a day where the temps would approach 80.
Well, I would have climbed into the stand at midnight the night before if I had known a buck like his would stroll by!
Around 4, Chris said he looked over his shoulder to see this big boy at about 35 yards making his way directly towards him.
In his words, "When I noticed how gray his face was I thought, 'No way a buck like him will give me an opportunity.'" HA! How about up close and personal!
Chris shot this buck at 5 yards. Immediately after the shot, he mule-kicked and spun, fleeing back the way from which he came. Shortly after disappearing from sight Chris heard a loud crash. He relayed all of this information to me via text message, and asked my advice. I told him what I would do, and we made plans to meet up at dark to begin trailing.
As is usually the case with extreme downward shots, blood on the ground was non-existent. Chris was set up in a fairly narrow, but thick, treeline bordered by bean fields on each side. When we could not locate blood or the deer we decided to scour the treeline in hopes of finding blood, or better yet, the buck.
Chris, his buddy, Wade, and myself slowly worked our way the length of the treeline without success. Moving back to the point of origin we redoubled our search. After slowly working to the area where Chris heard the crash we each went our own direction. A short 40 yards later I poked my head around some brush and spotted this buck lying stone dead. He had made it about 80 yards as the crow flies.
Now, I had been plotting what I would do if I was the lucky one to find the buck. For nearly 3 hours I pondered what I would say.
Well, at the moment of truth, and in the most deadpan voice I could muster, I said, "Chris? Do you want to keep tracking this deer?"
Solemnly, Chris replied, "Why? Not looking good, huh?"
To which I said, "Well, you can keep tracking, (pause for effect) or you can come over and see your buck!"
Without any further adieu, here is Chris' first buck, a dandy 20" wide 10 pt.
Topic: Even warmer, fuzzier feeling! (Read 877 times)
