Those of you that know me, know that I hunt the swamps along the Mississippi River. It is truly a magical place. Because of the flood prone nature and swampy terrain, there are huge tracts of land that remain un affected from the follies of man. Logging, development and other activities are simply not practical. Neither is the comfortable sort of hunting most like to do nowadays. Such luxuries as food plots, box stands and easy access simply are not practical. I takes a boat, strong legs and a lot of determination to reach a lot of the areas I hunt. The reward is obvious, lots of game with little pressure. This year has been very strange as water covered the land until August, and now the river is back up to nearly flood level in December, very rare event. This makes access even more difficult, but concentrates the deer on high points and forces them through funnels of dry land as the stay ahead of the water. I was fortunate enough to be in such a funnel this last Friday morning. The hide commands a view of the rather open cotton woods, black locust and pecan trees that dominate this relatively high area of swamp between two large bodies of water. By 8am numerous does had slipped past my hide near a major trail. Around 9 I could see 3 bucks making their way down the trail. These 3 year olds were still in a bachelor group and quite friendly with each other. I let them pass, despite one of them being a perfect 10 well into the 130 class. I did this for 2 reasons. First, my freezer was full with several hogs, a fat doe from early season, and a fine 8 point taken recently. Second, I could already see the 2 deer 90 yards behind them. These 2 guys appeared to be traveling together more or less, but kept some distance and did not seem very friendly. These were more mature bucks, one wide and heavy with some palmation of his beams, the other narrower and tall, but heavy as well and very long tines. I decided to have a go at the first one to give me a chance, hoping it would be wide and heavy. As they neared, it became clear that tall and long was the dominant. The wide buck kept his distance. As they passed, tall and long stayed on main trail at 25 yards while the wide buck mirrored him on other side about 40 yards out. At the time there was just the slightest tinge of dis appointment that the wide buck did not offer a shot. The shot felt good and the narrow buck appeared to be hit well. He raced for the steep bank by the water behind the wide buck. I could see that at least 1 shoulder was ruined and he soon went down on brisket and bulldozed a few yards. As I approached him, it dawned on me how badly I had mis judged this buck. Only 15 inches inside, but long, heavy tines and massive main beams that almost touch at the tip, and lots of trash around the bases. I truly thank god for the health and ability to pursue such splendid animals in a truly magical place.
Topic: High Water and High Hopes! (Read 2290 times)
