What's your buck of a lifetime? Did you score (if so please post a pic) or did you whiff and how?
The year is 1990, Thursday of shotgun season, I was 19 years old and had about 6 years of deer hunting under my belt with 4-5 deer harvested.
It was an afternoon hunt following a couple college classes here in Portage Co. I got to my hunting spot about 3pm. I was the only one there as no tire tracks were evidenced on the oil well road leading into the woodlot. The weather was around freezing with a couple inches of snow on the ground. My plan was to still hunt around this 5 acre pine woodlot that the deer frequently bedded in. This pine lot was a perfect 5 acre square in the bottom of a valley within a couple hundred acre hardwood lot; prime bedding area. There were lots of tracks in and around this pine bluff in the snow. I hunted this area very slowly until almost dark. I had a couple of minutes left so I began my uphill venture back to the truck with no sightings thus far. Suddenly, I noticed something brown and horizontal in a couple blow down trees about 75 yards above me. I froze in my steps and raised my Remington 1100 12 gauge with anticipation holding just a little off my target for safety reasons. My staredown at this proposed tree stump lasted about 30 seconds with the dwindling daylight. I asked myself mentally, "That cannot be a deer, they don't grow horns that big with about a 2 foot spread. That has to be a tree stump. I'm seeing things." I proceeded to lower my gun back to my waist and take another step forward toward this proposed tree stump. Just then the Big Buck turns side ways to bound off. He has a doe with him too. I throw the gun back up to my face and in rapid succession throw 3 slugs at his white tail as he's bounding away. I quickly made my way over to the shelf they were bedded on to check for blood and hair. "Nothing!" I had blown my opportunity. While looking around this specific blow down tree there was deer pee and poop all over the place (I'm taking almost half a wheelbarrow load). It looked like this buck and doe had spent Monday though Thursday of shotgun season in the very same spot without moving.
Lessons learned: Always identify your target properly no matter how much time it takes. Patience. Bucks bed on shelf for days on end.
Followup: Two weeks later it was identified that a motorist killed a 14 point buck just outside this farm on the state highway. The buck was a 180 class which is the largest I've personally seen to this day while deer hunting. Twenty two years later and my stomach is still sick about it. I will never forget (listening Jesse?).
The year is 1990, Thursday of shotgun season, I was 19 years old and had about 6 years of deer hunting under my belt with 4-5 deer harvested.
It was an afternoon hunt following a couple college classes here in Portage Co. I got to my hunting spot about 3pm. I was the only one there as no tire tracks were evidenced on the oil well road leading into the woodlot. The weather was around freezing with a couple inches of snow on the ground. My plan was to still hunt around this 5 acre pine woodlot that the deer frequently bedded in. This pine lot was a perfect 5 acre square in the bottom of a valley within a couple hundred acre hardwood lot; prime bedding area. There were lots of tracks in and around this pine bluff in the snow. I hunted this area very slowly until almost dark. I had a couple of minutes left so I began my uphill venture back to the truck with no sightings thus far. Suddenly, I noticed something brown and horizontal in a couple blow down trees about 75 yards above me. I froze in my steps and raised my Remington 1100 12 gauge with anticipation holding just a little off my target for safety reasons. My staredown at this proposed tree stump lasted about 30 seconds with the dwindling daylight. I asked myself mentally, "That cannot be a deer, they don't grow horns that big with about a 2 foot spread. That has to be a tree stump. I'm seeing things." I proceeded to lower my gun back to my waist and take another step forward toward this proposed tree stump. Just then the Big Buck turns side ways to bound off. He has a doe with him too. I throw the gun back up to my face and in rapid succession throw 3 slugs at his white tail as he's bounding away. I quickly made my way over to the shelf they were bedded on to check for blood and hair. "Nothing!" I had blown my opportunity. While looking around this specific blow down tree there was deer pee and poop all over the place (I'm taking almost half a wheelbarrow load). It looked like this buck and doe had spent Monday though Thursday of shotgun season in the very same spot without moving.
Lessons learned: Always identify your target properly no matter how much time it takes. Patience. Bucks bed on shelf for days on end.
Followup: Two weeks later it was identified that a motorist killed a 14 point buck just outside this farm on the state highway. The buck was a 180 class which is the largest I've personally seen to this day while deer hunting. Twenty two years later and my stomach is still sick about it. I will never forget (listening Jesse?).
