This goes back many years but I remember it like it was yesterday. Back when I was courting my wife my eventual father-in-law learned I was a hunter and invited me to hunt some land he had been given permission to hunt. I agreed to meet him at his house well before sunrise and we would make the 20 minute drive to the farm.
It was a cold drizzly November morning, the damp air chilled you to the bone. When we arrived my father-in-law showed me the general lay of the land, and areas where he had seen deer in the past. After a brief strategy session I decided to sit on the South end of the property where the corn butted up to a thin strip of woods that ran parallel with a small creek. Where the field and woods met it sloped fairly steeply down 10-12 feet to a flat creek bottom. From the bottom of the slope it was 50-60 yards across the flat to the edge of the creek. I decided to set up on the ground just a few yards into the woods in a decent make-shift ground blind. I noticed a couple scrapes along the edge of the field so I was pretty happy with my set-up, figuring I had shots if a deer came along the edge of the field or near the bottom of the slope in the flat. It wasn’t long and I hear the unmistakably sound of a grunt, I look towards the creek and see a nice buck cruising the edge of the creek on my side. I gave a few grunts, but he was on a mission and never even looked up. About 20 minutes later I spot 2 more nice bucks moving in the same direction as the first buck on the far side of the creek. At this point I decide I’m in the wrong spot, I need to get down near the edge of the creek so I can get a shot regardless of what side of the creek they were on. So I sneak down across the flat and set up next to a huge Sycamore tree.
I’m not in my new spot 10 minutes and I notice a brute of a buck walking the edge of the corn field at the top of the slope. This baby was the type of deer that you dream about - massive shoulders and thick neck, big, broad Roman nose and a huge chocolate brown, webbed 10-12 point rack. I knew it was a dandy the first second I saw it. But of course I had just moved from the location the buck would soon be passing within 10 yds. of. I only spent a second scolding myself for not staying put and focused on trying to get this stud to come down the slope and across the flat into my shooting range. I let out a soft grunt, he immediately stopped, looked my way and began surveying the scene to identify where the sound came from. There was a fair amount of brambles, brush and tall nettles in the flat between the buck and myself, so I was well concealed. After what seemed like an eternity, he continued walking down the edge of the field. I quickly let out another slightly louder grunt. This time he spun and took about 4-5 steps down the slope. I stayed frozen, so as not to give away my location and to see what his next move was. After not seeing the source of the grunt he again began to walk away, back up the slope. This same scenario played out another couple times. On the last time he became very cautious and you could tell he was thinking something was not right. So he walked back up the slope and instead of continuing his course along the edge of the field he kept going North straight away from me across the corn stubble. I grunted again, but he was having no more of that and never broke stride. At that point I figured I might as well go for broke, I grabbed my rattling horns and smashed them together and gave them a quick, hard rattle. I stood with the horns in my hands watching to see if he would respond. Well, respond would be a major understatement. The second I hit the horns, he spun 180,came leaping down the slope, crashing through the brush and weeds, bounding out 4-5 yards in front me. As he was making his charge, I was on one knee scrambling to get rid of the horns and grab my bow to get ready for a possible shot. I barely had the bow in my hand and he was directly in front of me, steam and snot rolling out of his nose and fire in his eyes. We were so close, I could make out every detail of his face. There we were in a stand-off staring at each other. It felt like forever, but within a few seconds he realized I wasn’t what he came for and was ready to bolt. I quickly made a futile attempt to quickly raise my bow and snap off a shot. I barely started to move my arm and he was gone.
I sat there shaking like a leaf from the adrenaline rush. After a couple hours I met my father-in law back at the truck and went over the whole story with him with the enthusiasm of a little excited kid. He just smiled.
This location would provide me several more awesome encounters over the next few years – Thanks, Dad.
Topic: Unforgettable Moments.....If you have one....share it with us (Read 2702 times)
