MadisonB&C
Active Member
Had an awesome hunt with dad on Thursday. When we got to the farm at 1:00 and there were already deer out feeding, we had to spend the next hour following the river bottom over a half mile to the other end of the field. It took an hour after that to move through sparse ground cover, avoiding the watchful eyes of 20+ deer, to get into a position. We wound up sitting side by side in thin grass that was just enough to hide us if we were careful. There were bucks fighting and dogging does in front of us from the onset, and some good ones, but the best deer out on that property are youngsters, and I was hoping one particular old dude would step into the field. While I was watching the action in front of us, dad took another look at a big doe group feeding 350 yards to our right.
"Nate...that one in the middle is a buck!"
I turned and glassed the herd, and when I found the buck I told dad he was the one we came for. Wonder of wonders he even started moving steadily in our direction.
That, of course, was when the doe showed up.
I hadn't even had a chance to turn and face the buck when a big old nanny appeared at 80 yards and made a bee-line for us. She wound up just 10 yards downwind, and when she got our scent she bounded back to where she first appeared. She gave us the stare down, and we both thought that any second she would blow out of there and take the whole field with her. Every time she looked away for a second I turned and eventually got the gun set with the buck in my scope, still getting closer. The whole while, dad is rattling off yardages..."244...ok, 231...now he's 210...". That was the last number I heard before the doe blew.
The buck threw his head up.
"How far?"
"204."
BOOM
I jumped out of the smoke cloud just in time to see his legs give out 50 yards from the shot. You could say I was excited.
It was an incredibly climactic hunt, as much fun as I've had doing what I love in a long time, and on top of it I got to share it with the man that started me towards all of it so many years ago. Calling off yards is the least of the things he contributed to this latest hunt. I think "blessed" is the word most people use when they're as fortunate as I've been. Seems like a good word to me.
"Nate...that one in the middle is a buck!"
I turned and glassed the herd, and when I found the buck I told dad he was the one we came for. Wonder of wonders he even started moving steadily in our direction.
That, of course, was when the doe showed up.
I hadn't even had a chance to turn and face the buck when a big old nanny appeared at 80 yards and made a bee-line for us. She wound up just 10 yards downwind, and when she got our scent she bounded back to where she first appeared. She gave us the stare down, and we both thought that any second she would blow out of there and take the whole field with her. Every time she looked away for a second I turned and eventually got the gun set with the buck in my scope, still getting closer. The whole while, dad is rattling off yardages..."244...ok, 231...now he's 210...". That was the last number I heard before the doe blew.
The buck threw his head up.
"How far?"
"204."
BOOM
I jumped out of the smoke cloud just in time to see his legs give out 50 yards from the shot. You could say I was excited.
It was an incredibly climactic hunt, as much fun as I've had doing what I love in a long time, and on top of it I got to share it with the man that started me towards all of it so many years ago. Calling off yards is the least of the things he contributed to this latest hunt. I think "blessed" is the word most people use when they're as fortunate as I've been. Seems like a good word to me.
