I was ready to go hunting, and I had to give brother a hard time for missing the opening day of deer season due to the very poor planning on his part. Now there is going to be Birthday Parties interfering with deer season from now on.
The wind was howling, but at least the rain had stopped overnight. I got to my stand about 30 min. before legal shooting time. The wind was just brutal, swaying my stand back and forth enough that I was worried if I had to shoot at a deer. Shortly after first light I started seeing deer. First a doe with her two little ones, then a couple small fork bucks, and later a 6 point. Deer were all around most of the morning. There were a couple legal bucks, but they were not what I was looking for. I planned on staying on stand all day, but the wind was really getting to my eyes, so I came out of the woods for lunch and to help Dad with couple things. I got back to my stand about 1:30 pm and started seeing deer right away again. I had counted 9 different bucks I had seen so far this day, and twice that many does. About 4:30 a little fork horn came by chasing two does. He suddenly disappeared, and the two does stayed put. Something had their attention behind me. I slowly turned around to see two more does about 75 yards through the thick woods, then I saw a buck, a big buck. I didn't need to glass him first, there was no mistaking he was a shooter. The trees and brush are very thick. I can see parts of him through small openings, but he won't stop. He turns and starts quartering toward me as I pick out a hole about two feet wide that he's about to pass by. He stops just as his head gets in the clear lane. Holy cow, he's bigger than any deer I've ever shot, and now my heart is racing because the wind is swirling and he looks like he's getting nervous. Just one more step, just one more step. He turns away, no shot. He continues to check the wind while keeping an eye on the two does he has with him. Finally, he seems content in his lair, and starts toward me again. I pick out another opening, and after the longest 30 seconds in history I see his shoulder in my crosshairs. I don't know if he slowed down, or if my mind was just running in slow motion, but I was rock solid right in his shoulder when the Marlin 375 barked and the 230 gr. Ranch Dog cast bullet hit it's mark. He spun around, ran a small circle, then was down and out all in about 10 seconds.
I gave him 15 minutes just to be sure, but he was done. I said a prayer, thanked the Lord for my good fortune, and for my wonderful harvest.
There was no ground shrinkage, he was better than I thought. A good 12 point, nice tine length, and a couple kickers to boot.
I of course forgot my camera at home, and I don't have any way to get the crappy pics from my phone to here, but I'll add them when I get home tomorrow night. I have not scored him yet, but I'm certain he's going on the wall. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of my first deer at age 10, and finally now 30 years into it, I now have my wall hanger.
Edit: I figured out a way to get this pic from my phone posted. Going to try and get some better ones in the morning with some good light.
After a quick preliminary measurement today, it looks like he's going to gross a tad over 150, and after deductions end up around 143 B&C.
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