Posted By: nacho
My buck story from yesterday - 11/24/15 07:03 PM
I was lucky enough to connect with a good 8 point yesterday morning. This was my third encounter with this buck this season. The very first time we saw him me and my oldest son Dwayne were bow hunting. That morning we were set up about 120 yards from each other in a bottom. The 8pt came in that morning with a decent 6pt and a spike and strolled through about 50 yards from me and 70 yards from him. I am not comfortable taking a 50 yard shot with the bow so we let them walk and Dwayne sat and watched all three bucks zig zag up the hill to his left. He was excited to say the least and wanted to sit in a stand on top of the hill the next time he could hunt with me. Then last friday I was lucky enough to see the buck again and was able to grunt him into 45 yards but he would never commit and come into the shooting lane. He was by hisself that morning and I sat there and watched patiently as he walked up the hill and hoped he could make it through the opening weekend with out being pressured. That Friday morning I also saw the 6 point and spike again and actually missed him that morning at 35 yards with the bow thanks to a limb that I forgot to trim out of the way. That takes us to Sunday morning and I hunted the same stand I have seen the buck out of all three times. He never showed up that morning but I was lucky enough to take a shot and harvest a nice doe and see several other does that morning. After not seeing many deer in bow season and finally having good deer hunting weather and seeing deer Friday and Sunday I head back to the woods Monday morning with the thoughts of they will move later in the morning so I slept in a extra hour and actually get settled in the stand at 7. Around 845 I spot movement coming down the hill to my right and I can tell its a decent buck and spike together. I watch them come down the hill and need them to turn to their left and come down in front of my stand in order to have a chance of a shot. As they come through the bush I still can not get a good look at the bigger buck but they come into the shooting lane and I make sure to pick the biggest one of the two as they had swapped back and forth of which one was leading all the way down the hill and through the bush. The 8pt stops just in the last bit of shooting lane I had left with his front shoulder exposed so I settled the crosshairs and let the 308 bark. The deer went about 15 yards and piled up. When I pulled the trigger I seen whitetails scattered everywhere that I had not even noticed before the shot. I give him a hour or so and see a few other does come around before I finally get down and walk up to find out just how big the deer was. I believe it will be my best buck to date and he died just a few yards from where I killed the doe sunday morning. To add to the story when I pulled up to the property monday morning and went to grab my hunting boots I noticed that I had left them at home but lucky enough I had a pair of firefighting boots in my toolbox and my artic shield boot covers with me. I wish Dwayne could have shot the buck but at the same time I could not pass up the shot and I know if any of the other hunters in the area would have seen him they would have shot him without a second thought about it. The good news is for the next two mornings Eli and Dwayne will be out of school and in the woods with me so hopefully we will have a chance to harvest something. 
