Sportsmen & Women

This buck was a total suprise when he came into my view on the seventh day of modern gun season, November 25, 2000.  Even though I had seen him earlier during mid-bow season it was hard to believe he was still around and a mile away. During early bow and muzzleloading season  the weather had been exceptionally warm and the buck's were not moving, or if so,  I hadn't heard any shooting or heard of very many being killed.

Mid-bow season came  and the weather turned somewhat cooler.  My son, James had a tree stand on Big Skin creek and wasn't getting to hunt much,  and insisted I hunt  it one time as he was working a lot and wasn't  using it.  He told me  to take extra tree steps  because the ones he had screwed in were spaced too far apart for me to climb and reach the stand.

I never did like to use another persons stand, but decided to go for it.  After all I knew the area like the back of my hand and had taken deer close by and knew his stand was in a good location. Feeling somewhat guilty, I decided to hunt it once and let him know if I seen anything he might want to hunt when he got a chance.

About three days before modern gun season started, I decided to hunt the late evening bow hunt, dressed in by favorite camo (woodland), picked up my Horton Hunter Supreme SL crossbow, quiver and strapped on my fanny pack and rode my Honda 300 to within a quarter of mile of the stand and walked the rest of the way.  I tried to stay away from the main deer trail leading past the stand.  Even though I had rubbed cedar limbs and twigs  across the soles of my hunting shoes to conceal the human scent, it would be wise to use all the secrets I could think of getting to the stand!

Well, James was right!  As I approached the water oak tree where he had his stand,  it was evident I would have to use extra screw steps to get up the tree and into the stand.

  I kept the fanny pack  around my waist and un-zipped it so I could get to the tree steps when needed.  After climbing to the second step and hanging around the tree with one arm, I managed to twist the screws on the third  step into the tree.  I was up to the fourth step, looked up and knew I would have to use another step?  My bow was on the ground with the  cord tied  around my waist.  Trying to be as quiet as possible I begin trying to get the fifth step started into the green bark.  Something caught my right eye toward the open field at the edge of the woods.  Even though  there was an abundance of  thick sawtooth briars, sage grass and small saplings,  the view was good from my standing point.   

 And  there they were!!!  The first thing that caught my eye was those large antlers.  It  looked like there was a  chair turned upside down on top of his head. 

  My heart leaped into my mouth and I thought, "I have got to be quiet and not let them know I am around"!  My bow was  on the ground I was a long way from getting into  the tree stand...All I could do was watch the show?  The monster buck and doe disappeared into the woods about 75 yards going away from me and towards the creek. Feeling helpless all I could do was wait, but not for long.  About two minutes later he brought her back within 45 yards of me and they did a triple circle, but at a much faster pace and were gone out of my sight.

 God help me, what a site to see!  The only thought I had as they disappeared was that maybe James would get a chance to  kill him when rifle season opened three days later.

Modern gun season opened the 20th of November and I was hunting my two of favorite spots a mile away.   I wasn't seeing anything but doe!  On the 5th  day of season it rained all night and was still raining the next morning, not heavy, but I didn't go hunting that morning or that evening.

The next morning, the seventh day of season,  I left the house as usual and decided to hunt the least hunted stand, which was on a post oak ridge,  over-looking a flat creek bottom.  There had been a small scrape under the tree stand and I figured it might be a spike or maybe a 4 pointer making it.  The wind was slightly out of the northwest and a good frost on the ground.  This was perfect!  Around 6:30 a.m. I heard my nephew Kirby shoot about 1/4 mile southwest of me and knew very well that he had scored.

The fox and grey squirrels were doing their usual thing.  As a matter of fact the oak tree I was sitting in  was a den for them. They would come out of the hole at the crack of dawn, run out on the limb under the stand and jump to the next tree that was a water oak.

Seven o'clock came and I noticed the wind had switched directions and was blowing from the southwest and I  didn't like that? About 7:05 I was turning my head to a 90 degree angle to my left and seen the monster rack just above the head high oak and ash saplings.  Man was he in thick cover and there was no way for a good clear shot at 60 yards! 

 He was walking a good pace and finally I could see why?  A large  doe was about 10 yards ahead of him and she wasn't letting any grass grown under her feet.   I made a sharp turn to my left and lifted my 30-30 Marlin over a limb and hoped for a clear shot before they disappeared into thicker brush.  I whistled but they  wouldn't stop.  Finally  he walked between two bushes I fixed  the crosshairs on my bushnell 3X12 on the vitals...I pulled the trigger and  fired.  This was the first time I had ever missed a deer with the 30-30!   He  stopped and with his head held high, stood still!   I couldn't see the doe!  I was so shook up and not thinking I forgot to pull the lever and empty the spent shell,  and the gun mis-fired.  I thought,  Lordy,  lordy, he will hear me when I put  a live bullet into the chamber, but slowly I got a shell in the chamber  and looked through the crosshairs and centered  on his  neck.  That  was all I could see, except that large rack! I pulled the trigger and he dropped in his tracks and there were two fawns that ran by him like a bullet.

I quickly ejected  the spent hull and was ready for him if he should get up,  or at least I was going to empty the gun in that  direction.  I sat up there and looked through the scope and could see just a small area of white hair on the buck.  After about 10 minutes I knew he wasn't going anywhere.  I put the 30-30 marlin in the gun bag, lowered it to the ground and climbed down.  I walked cautiously to where the  big fellow lay  and felt  the biggest thrill of my hunting whitetails when I counted the points. He was a large 17 point non-typical, but that didn't matter. I removed my yellow handled case knife from my pocket and field dressed him. Putting the tag on his antlers and walking out of the woods was the happiest hunting day of my life.

  Kirby  had heard me shoot and had already made it home and  rode the 4 wheeler back to where I was standing by my parked Jeep. He  asked me what I had shot and I told him it was a nice one. (wanted to suprise him)!   I asked him what he shot and he said it was a small 10 pointer.  We loaded both bucks on the 4 wheeler and brought them home.  We forgot to take pictures of them on the atv, but did get them made at the check station.