Thread: Public Land 10 Point

I kind of hesitated to post this on here. Compared to the monsters you guys been putting up last few days my deer looks like something I stole from a petting zoo, but I decided to go ahead and tell it anyway.

Anyway, Friday 11/19/2010, I was trying to hunt a new spot on some public land that didn't quite turn out how I planned, so I decided to still hunt on the 1.5+ mile walk back to the truck and just enjoy the morning in the woods.

I was a good ways back up in a creek bottom that was covered in oak trees. As I took my chosen steps I noticed a lot of acorn caps on top of the leaves, so I thought deer may be using the area. I kept slowly easing my way through the bottom and something up the way caught my eye. I pulled out my binoculars and I could see that it was a buck with a set of forward-swept horns, but I couldn't tell exactly how many points. I pancaked right there – I mean belly in the mud, face in the leaves, pancaked – and crawled up to the nearest tree. I put my arm up on the tree for an anchor for my Omega and drew the hammer. I was bringing the crosshairs down on him for about a 100 yard shot when all of a sudden I heard a 4 wheeler crank in the distance off to my right. He popped his head up and looked in the direction of the noise, flipped his tail, and trotted off. I was stunned. I was so mad i almost threw up. Here I had just stalked up on a buck on public land of all places only to watch him evaporate in front of me on account of something that wasn't my fault. I sat there in the same spot for about 20 minutes thinking about what had just happened. Then I thought that maybe if I just hung out he may come back since he didn't seem all that alarmed when he took off and I knew that he had not seen me.

So I got up moved over about 400 yards across the bottom and sat behind a fallen tree, which provided a better wind position and also more concealment. I sat there for about an hour and a half watching the squirrels and listening to them fool around in the leaves and chatter back and forth at each other. The sun poked out from behind a tree and came across my legs and I was drifting to sleep in its warmth. I was slouched back and my eyes were in the fluttering stage that comes just before sleep when all of a sudden the same buck I had seen earlier came out on a steady march right over my left shoulder no more than 25 yards away. I had to fight my natural urge to sit up since he would no doubt see me. I managed to keep still, but now I had a whole new problem and that was that he was gonna walk straight into my wind cause he came in on a side I didn’t expect. And sure enough he did. He got directly downwind of me and froze on the spot and I knew I was busted for a second time! He spun around on a dime and took off out of there on a dead sprint. I mean that buck was moving. I had to make a split-second decision about what to do and I thought, "I am gonna kill this buck." So I pulled my gun off my shooting stick and followed him in my scope for about 60 yards. He ran into a relatively clear area of the bottom and when he was about 60 - 75 yards away I hollered at him. I hollered “Hey...Hey...HEY” and on the third time he slowed down to a walk/trot. Somehow the whole thing was just meant to be cause it was a freehand shot while he was moving, but I connected with his lungs. He dropped right there on the spot.

I reloaded and walked over to him and then the thought hit me that now I am gonna have to drag this dude back to the truck, which was approximately .7 mile away. So I cleaned him out and got to dragging. It was the hardest deer drag of my life, but I was smiling the whole way.

Also, I mentioned last time that I am starting to "process" my deer. So I got this guy back to the house and hung him up in my backyard. Took me a little while longer this time, but I got a truckload of meat off of him. I also went and got a meat grinder so I can make hamburger now. I'll let yall know how that all turn out when I get to it.

Alright everyone, take care and best of luck with the rest of the season.

Nice buck, and persistance pays.