Brian811
Active Member
Well, here's my story of how I killed this second to last day buck. First, I'll say that on Sunday Jan 6th I went bow hunting and was able to fill my antlerless archery tag. It was a pretty cold morning in the stand with a temp around 14* and a NW wind of 10-15 mph. Then that afternoon I went muzzleloader hunting with a small group of guys. We put on a few drives and I was able to fill my antlerless muzzy tag. There were 6 or 7 deer killed that day between us. One was a buck that was in the 120-130" range and one was a shed buck. It was a good day to be hunting. Now I only had a few days to fill one of the tags I had left and since I could only hunt after work, I decided to use my ProHunter. I tried a couple times hunting a friend's farm but without any sightings. I decided to take walk around the property in hopes of bumping into some deer instead of sitting and hoping some would come out. I eventually saw two deer and tried to sneak into position for a shot but they must have winded me and took off before I got there. I moved over and sat down under a tree for a few minutes and thought about staying there til dark but changed my mind. I continued my walk and looking for sheds. I spotted a deer feeding in a field through a fenceline and tried to quietly get to the fence for a rest and to make a good shot on her. The leaves were crunching under each step and she came to alert but couldn't see me clearly. Now I'm standing there waiting for to either go back to feeding or move into an opening so I could get a shot. Then some other deer started moving around, getting nervous about the doe standing on alert. While I'm looking back and forth at the doe and the other deer, this big, mature white racked buck comes walking into view from past the other deer.I know my eyes about pooped out of my head! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I cocked the hammer on the gun and raised it to my shoulder. The buck was walking towards me and just slightly quartering to me. He stopped and I lined the cross hairs up on his neck/ shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Blackpowder smoke filled the air. I could barely see white tails bouncing away through the field. I didn't know if I hit him or not. I quickly reloaded and crossed the fence to look for blood or a dead deer. I walked over to where I thought he was standing but couldn't find any blood or tracks. So, I started walking in the direction the deer ran looking for any sign of a hit but finding none. I think I walked about 40-50 yds, and not finding any blood, began wondering why I took that shot and if maybe I hit a branch. I was about to give up because I didn't see any tracks or blood when I picked my head up and there not 15 yds away was my buck laying dead. I was beside myself when I walked up to him. I said 'Thank you, God" many times. I couldn't believe I finally killed a buck this hunting season. This deer had great mass and I love a deer with mass. I looked for where I hit him and it was right where I was aiming. I believe he was at least 80 yds away when I shot him off-hand through a tiny opening in the tree branches. I couldn't be happier with how this season ended. I am lucky to have made some friends here that let me hunt on their ground and I really appreciate it more than they know.
