We slept late, ate a big breakfast and couldn't think of anything to do, so Mason said "Lets go fishing". Well, it seemed like a good idea at first... We thought about that for a minute and didn't go. We shot some basketball, I schooled him cause I got NBA like skills. Townzen sent me a text wondering if we'd done any good this morning, so I asked him if he wanted to go up to Fayette to stand with Mason while I did some pushes. He did.
The first push netted a small buck within 5 yards of them, the second netted me a bunch of brier cuts. The third was the same. The fourth turned up a coyote, small buck and a doe that came within 15 yards. The coyote was not in range and the deer were not what Mason wanted to shoot. The 5th push netted only more brier cuts for me. The 6th was a good one. Before starting, Mason asked if he could shoot a doe. I told him no, to which he argued that he's never killed one with a shotgun. The way things have been in pursuit of "the big one", I said "Shoot whatever you want if Townzen can get it on video', "and Townzen, if you don't have good video and you let him shoot, I'll kick your tail". With that sweet bit of fatherly advice they were off. I zigged, and zagged all over that awful patch of woodland and had found myself back within 75 yards of my truck. I was just about to zig again when 2 antlerless deer took off in the boy's direction. A short minute later I heard two rapid shots. No point in ziggin and zaggin anymore, so I circled around the woods to meet up with the fellas.
I found 'em, and Mason said he was sure it was dead. He felt confident in the shot he made on the running deer at 60 yds or so. Townzen confirmed that the first shot looked good while the second appeared to have gone just under the deer and made a pretty cool splash in the waterway they were crossing. We started tracking, and tracking, and tracking. I sent Mason and Townzen ahead to cut off the deer, two different times. After the second time meeting up and still following blood, I gave them the 3rd position I wanted them to stand and wait. They circled, and I continued to follow blood. After resuming, I hadn't gone 30 yards when I jumped the bedded deer. It ran right back down the trail it had come in on. I didn't think there was a chance in heck I'd be able to follow the decreasing blood down the same trail, but fate had a helping hand to lend. As I picked the trail apart I was thinking there was no way I'd notice if the deer split off the original trail, it was hardly bleeding. I came upon a coyote skull that I'd passed while trailing earlier and happened to look beside it to see a tiny speck of blood...hey, that wasn't there a half hour ago... Sure enough, that was all I needed and can only be described as divine intervention. I veered off on the trail of the deer and went just a short distance before finding the second shed antler of the day, and just beyond that, lay the still alive deer about 30 yards ahead in the brush. I texted Townzen, they hurried back to me, and Mason issued the finishing shot on what turned out to be one BC class button buck. What a relief!
We needed to have fun today, and thanks to Townzen for tagging along, we DID! I gotta say, Mason can swing and shoot a 12 bore 1100 with the best of 'em!
His mom seems to be in a bit of a knot that he shot another deer, but who cares. Sometimes, you just gotta do it!
Oh, along my extensive travels this afternoon I found a deadhead 8 point, an old shed 5 point, and a last year's 4point side...and a now-famous coyote skull. Just fun, the whole dang thing was just fun. I love bowhunting, but it sucks to work so hard at not being intrusive. With a gun, you just get in there with 'em, and that is a heck of a lot of fun!
