It's been a while since I've had success with a decent antlered deer. I hunt for meat 100% of the time because I've never really been full blown into deer hunting. It's just something to do to pass the time until turkey season. The last 8pt I shot was almost a decade ago. There's been a couple of 6 and 7 pts in the last 10 years, but today was a pleasant surprise.

This particular field I hunt has all the right things to hold nice deer. Plenty of food, creek close by, thick swampy areas, bedding areas, etc. We had a nice tripod stand on it, but it was accidentally knocked over with a tractor and has been left unattended. I'm primarily the only one that hunts this land, and with 3 other large fields and plenty of hardwoods and pines, I like to let this one rest until the rut, and then hunt it hard. Since there is no stand, I take a chair, hide close to a tree and sit and wait. Last year I shot a 6pt here and it charged me after the shot. The story is on here somewhere, but the deer get very close to me, and that means there is no shortage of adrenaline.

This is my chair set up. Sometimes I use a gobbler lounger, but I can see better with a normal bag chair.



About an hour after I sat down, a small 8pt fed into the field down the hill to my left. I watched him for a while and talked myself out of pulling the trigger on him.



Not long after that, a spike came in from my right and fed across right in front of me.



He moved over to my left...



I noticed he started acting a little weird and was staring down the field where I saw the 8pt earlier. I started looking down that way and saw a doe and another deer feeding up towards me. I couldn't tell if it was a buck trailing her or not, but I assumed it was. I got my binos up and watched and waited. I finally saw its head and could see a decent rack and counted 8 points. I got my gun up and didn't have time to get my shooting stick out. I shot and saw him drop. Unfortunately I spined him and had to hurry over and finish the job. Today was a good day in the outdoors, and getting a buck made it even better.

Congrats on a fun hunt

Congrats!!

That’s a real nice deer and a beautiful place.

Attaboy!!

Congrats

congrats. did he get into a fight with a fence after the shot?

Nice. Like the story with the pics too

👍

That is a nice looking spot. Congratulations on the kill.

Congrats! Hope the next one comes sooner !

Congrats on a fine buck

Congrats

Great story, terrific deer! Glad you scored!

When I got to him that’s how he looked. Must have been trauma from the initial spine shot.

Congrats!!

Congrats

Congrats on a nice buck. Good story too.

Congrats. That’s a awesome looking spot

Congratulations! Enjoyed story with pictures