I know this is a long read, and even I don't like long reads, but this one is worth your time. This season has humbled me down a few notches. In most years I'm tagging out before gun season without much of any drama…not this year! I'm a veteran hunter tagging my first deer 46 years ago, so this kind of drama shouldn't be haunting me, but it sure knocked me down a few notches. I'll keep it as short as possible.
Opening weekend I shave the hair off the back of one of my target bucks. I miss guessed the yardage to be 80 and he was 68, and at that distance you don't have much room for error. I had the rangefinder laying next to me, and had time to range him, but got too excited and hurried the shot. Rookie mistake. Later pictures verified the streak of hair missing across his back. However, we would meet again.
This I need to tell so you get the next epic mistake. I tagged a bonus buck on a WMA. Nice 9pt buck, estimated 5.5 and dressed 177…had a 6 3/4" base. Shot him with my crossbow from a hang-on stand. I always use shooting rails, which in this case (because the shot was shooting downhill on a steep angle) meant I had to put the butt of the crossbow up on top of my shoulder and my eye up close to the scope for a comfortable shot over top of my shooting rail. Of Course, a crossbow doesn't kick so that works just fine, and it did indeed…clean kill shot. Now it's about to really get good…
Two days later I'm back on one of my leases hunting a different target buck with the ole muzzleloader. I'm watching a spike rub a tree in front of me, and hear another deer coming up behind me. No need to turn around since he's coming up the hill towards me, but then someone shoots down the hill from me close enough to unnerve the one behind me and I hear it walking fast back down the hill. I turn around and sure enough it's my target buck walking away from me down a very steep hill. He's only maybe 60-70 yds away so I can still bust him but gotta do it quickly. Same setup as two days ago, steep hill shooting over a shooting rail, so what do I do…well, I'm still in crossbow mode apparently, so I throw the butt of the gun on top of my shoulder and eye up to the scope for a comfortable shot and pull the trigger. The next thing I see is stars!! Busted me right between the eyes. Blood gushing from my nose. Dazed and dizzy and nearly passed out 25 feet up in the tree. What the heck, I've never done anything like that. How stupid. At least when I finally looked up my buck was laying there dropped in his tracks. That eased the pain…well, at least until I walked down there and realized it wasn't my target buck. They say never judge a buck when he's walking away from you and I know that, and having to make a split second decision can get you in trouble, so another Rookie mistake. He was a solid 3.5 yr old 8pt. Very nice buck, but not on my hit list. I even passed him up opening day of muzzleloader…oh me. And it seems I do have a permanent scare now, and had both eyes black, blue and purple for 3 weeks! Well, this episode created the next one…
I'm back on my other lease where I shaved the hair off the one opening day of bow, and still muzzleloader season. It's been an awesome morning. Been watching a 120" 8pt locked down with a doe since daylight and it's 9:30am. Probably seen 30 deer and 8 bucks at least, many of which were chasing. I should say in this stand I can see 200-250 yds in 3 directions hunting a food plot and apple orchard, so always see a ton of deer. Anyway, at 9:30am I hear yet another chase coming up behind me. I don't even bother to turn around because I'm sure it's just another young buck chasing a doe. They come flying right underneath my stand, and oh my gosh, it's a big 10pt I've never seen before! They run about 125 yds and stop in my food plot. I want to be sure he's a shooter so with binoculars I'm seeing his G-2's and G-3's are about the same length at about 10"! He turns broadside and I let him have it. Hind legs shoot up in the air and down the hill he goes. Sweet, tagged out on a big 10…I thought. The doe he was chasing just stands there. About 5 minutes goes by and from the back of the same field comes another big 10pt I've never seen…WHAT!?! Put the binoculars on him and though he looks similar to the one I just shot he has a broken G-2 from fighting…interesting. Well, he picks up the doe and off they go. I get down to go get my trophy and nothing…no blood no hair…nothing! Looked for 1.5 hours…nothing. How can that be? I seen him kick his hind legs. I had a rock solid rest. I finally found where the bullet hit the ground and then starting walking slowly to my stand. Yep you guessed it, about 5 steps later I found an 8" long piece of a G-2! So, that was the same buck I had shot that I thought had been fighting…unreal. I missed by over two feet. Then it hit me like a brick. When that scope busted my forehead a few days earlier it must have knocked it off big time. Why did that not ever cross my mind to check my scope after such a hit? Just par for the course this season I guess. A couple days left in muzzleloader, but I just can't do it, so I sit it out disgusted. Next episode…
Gun season and I'm back in this stand looking for either the big 9 I shaved with my bow or the big 10 so I can glue his horn back on and hang on the wall. Well, I never seen the big 10 again. I had never seen him on camera before or after the day I shot his horn off, so he apparently was way out of his territory. However, the big 9 that I shaved with my bow comes running full speed across my food plot chasing a doe. So, we meet again finally! I'm patient and waiting for him to stop. Surely he will stop, right? They run around a couple of times and then start heading straight away. Seriously, I'm gonna have to take a Hail Mary running shot quartering away at 150 yds. Missed him again! At this point guys I'm about to hang it up for the season. I give it two more days in that stand and no shooters. I called my wife at lunch Thanksgiving Eve and told her I'm craving a change of scenery, so I go back to my other lease and decide to go hunt a stand I haven't hunted since bow season last year. Now, I did sneak in there a week before and make some mock scrapes, but had not even been back to check the cameras. I sneak in that afternoon fully expecting to just relax and enjoy the scenery and try to shake off all the drama that's been haunting me. At 4:30pm I look down the hill about as far as I can see (125 yds) and see a deer. I casually raise the binoculars, and OMG…it's him! It's the biggest buck I've had on camera on this lease this year! Are you kidding me, and what kind of fresh hell will this bring to my season? I remain calm and keep telling myself to do everything right. He's with a doe and not going anywhere. I have to watch them for what seemed like close to 10 minutes. He stayed behind a ton of saplings so thick I could barely see him. Surely they will come on up the hill onto my flat where I can get a good shot. Nope, that's not the way this season goes. She finally turns and starts down the hill and then he falls in behind here. It's SO thick this is truly another Hail Mary shot, but it's doable. I start praying and squeeze the trigger. Thank you Jesus!! He falls in his tracks! I called my wife and was so excited I couldn't even talk. I don't get this excited often, but after the drama of this season it was like a curse had been lifted. Now, remember I said it was really thick. Attached you'll see a pic of a tree I shot through 10 feet before it hit the buck, which then split the bullet into 3 pieces. One double lunged him and the other two pieces broke his back…WOW! Just a really nice period to put on this emotional season. Looking back these will be great stories to tell to my grandkids, but my wife will tell you I was very hard to live with those few weeks…lol.
Opening weekend I shave the hair off the back of one of my target bucks. I miss guessed the yardage to be 80 and he was 68, and at that distance you don't have much room for error. I had the rangefinder laying next to me, and had time to range him, but got too excited and hurried the shot. Rookie mistake. Later pictures verified the streak of hair missing across his back. However, we would meet again.
This I need to tell so you get the next epic mistake. I tagged a bonus buck on a WMA. Nice 9pt buck, estimated 5.5 and dressed 177…had a 6 3/4" base. Shot him with my crossbow from a hang-on stand. I always use shooting rails, which in this case (because the shot was shooting downhill on a steep angle) meant I had to put the butt of the crossbow up on top of my shoulder and my eye up close to the scope for a comfortable shot over top of my shooting rail. Of Course, a crossbow doesn't kick so that works just fine, and it did indeed…clean kill shot. Now it's about to really get good…
Two days later I'm back on one of my leases hunting a different target buck with the ole muzzleloader. I'm watching a spike rub a tree in front of me, and hear another deer coming up behind me. No need to turn around since he's coming up the hill towards me, but then someone shoots down the hill from me close enough to unnerve the one behind me and I hear it walking fast back down the hill. I turn around and sure enough it's my target buck walking away from me down a very steep hill. He's only maybe 60-70 yds away so I can still bust him but gotta do it quickly. Same setup as two days ago, steep hill shooting over a shooting rail, so what do I do…well, I'm still in crossbow mode apparently, so I throw the butt of the gun on top of my shoulder and eye up to the scope for a comfortable shot and pull the trigger. The next thing I see is stars!! Busted me right between the eyes. Blood gushing from my nose. Dazed and dizzy and nearly passed out 25 feet up in the tree. What the heck, I've never done anything like that. How stupid. At least when I finally looked up my buck was laying there dropped in his tracks. That eased the pain…well, at least until I walked down there and realized it wasn't my target buck. They say never judge a buck when he's walking away from you and I know that, and having to make a split second decision can get you in trouble, so another Rookie mistake. He was a solid 3.5 yr old 8pt. Very nice buck, but not on my hit list. I even passed him up opening day of muzzleloader…oh me. And it seems I do have a permanent scare now, and had both eyes black, blue and purple for 3 weeks! Well, this episode created the next one…
I'm back on my other lease where I shaved the hair off the one opening day of bow, and still muzzleloader season. It's been an awesome morning. Been watching a 120" 8pt locked down with a doe since daylight and it's 9:30am. Probably seen 30 deer and 8 bucks at least, many of which were chasing. I should say in this stand I can see 200-250 yds in 3 directions hunting a food plot and apple orchard, so always see a ton of deer. Anyway, at 9:30am I hear yet another chase coming up behind me. I don't even bother to turn around because I'm sure it's just another young buck chasing a doe. They come flying right underneath my stand, and oh my gosh, it's a big 10pt I've never seen before! They run about 125 yds and stop in my food plot. I want to be sure he's a shooter so with binoculars I'm seeing his G-2's and G-3's are about the same length at about 10"! He turns broadside and I let him have it. Hind legs shoot up in the air and down the hill he goes. Sweet, tagged out on a big 10…I thought. The doe he was chasing just stands there. About 5 minutes goes by and from the back of the same field comes another big 10pt I've never seen…WHAT!?! Put the binoculars on him and though he looks similar to the one I just shot he has a broken G-2 from fighting…interesting. Well, he picks up the doe and off they go. I get down to go get my trophy and nothing…no blood no hair…nothing! Looked for 1.5 hours…nothing. How can that be? I seen him kick his hind legs. I had a rock solid rest. I finally found where the bullet hit the ground and then starting walking slowly to my stand. Yep you guessed it, about 5 steps later I found an 8" long piece of a G-2! So, that was the same buck I had shot that I thought had been fighting…unreal. I missed by over two feet. Then it hit me like a brick. When that scope busted my forehead a few days earlier it must have knocked it off big time. Why did that not ever cross my mind to check my scope after such a hit? Just par for the course this season I guess. A couple days left in muzzleloader, but I just can't do it, so I sit it out disgusted. Next episode…
Gun season and I'm back in this stand looking for either the big 9 I shaved with my bow or the big 10 so I can glue his horn back on and hang on the wall. Well, I never seen the big 10 again. I had never seen him on camera before or after the day I shot his horn off, so he apparently was way out of his territory. However, the big 9 that I shaved with my bow comes running full speed across my food plot chasing a doe. So, we meet again finally! I'm patient and waiting for him to stop. Surely he will stop, right? They run around a couple of times and then start heading straight away. Seriously, I'm gonna have to take a Hail Mary running shot quartering away at 150 yds. Missed him again! At this point guys I'm about to hang it up for the season. I give it two more days in that stand and no shooters. I called my wife at lunch Thanksgiving Eve and told her I'm craving a change of scenery, so I go back to my other lease and decide to go hunt a stand I haven't hunted since bow season last year. Now, I did sneak in there a week before and make some mock scrapes, but had not even been back to check the cameras. I sneak in that afternoon fully expecting to just relax and enjoy the scenery and try to shake off all the drama that's been haunting me. At 4:30pm I look down the hill about as far as I can see (125 yds) and see a deer. I casually raise the binoculars, and OMG…it's him! It's the biggest buck I've had on camera on this lease this year! Are you kidding me, and what kind of fresh hell will this bring to my season? I remain calm and keep telling myself to do everything right. He's with a doe and not going anywhere. I have to watch them for what seemed like close to 10 minutes. He stayed behind a ton of saplings so thick I could barely see him. Surely they will come on up the hill onto my flat where I can get a good shot. Nope, that's not the way this season goes. She finally turns and starts down the hill and then he falls in behind here. It's SO thick this is truly another Hail Mary shot, but it's doable. I start praying and squeeze the trigger. Thank you Jesus!! He falls in his tracks! I called my wife and was so excited I couldn't even talk. I don't get this excited often, but after the drama of this season it was like a curse had been lifted. Now, remember I said it was really thick. Attached you'll see a pic of a tree I shot through 10 feet before it hit the buck, which then split the bullet into 3 pieces. One double lunged him and the other two pieces broke his back…WOW! Just a really nice period to put on this emotional season. Looking back these will be great stories to tell to my grandkids, but my wife will tell you I was very hard to live with those few weeks…lol.
