On Wednesday morning I thought that I would hit the woods for about an hour or so before work. To say that the morning was slow would be an understatement. There wasn’t a deer to be seen. At about 9 a.m. I got down from the stand and started heading up.
I decided to walk the edge of another woods. I hadn’t been over in that area in a few weeks and I wanted to see if there was any deer sign and check out my food plot. When I was about 1/2 through the food plot, alongside of the woods, I suddenly heard something to my left in the woods. A nice buck had jumped up and started running through the woods!
I shouldered my Remington 870 but couldn’t get a clear shot. I quickly assessed the situation and had an idea where the buck may be heading. So, I took to running in an attempt to cut the buck off and it worked! I was able to run around the woods (over 300 yards) and get in front of the deer. I made about a 75 yard heart shot. The buck started to ‘snow plow’ while trying to get his front feet underneath himself. While doing so, his left antler hit the ground and peeled off the buck’s head right in front of me! 😳 I quickly ran up to the buck and he took his last breaths. I had gotten my very first 10 pt!
This buck and I had actually met twice before. On the evening of November 14th, (the day before the firearms deer season started), he came into my decoy at last light. I made a clean miss at about 30 yards. DOH! 😣
It was just over a week later when I saw him again. And once again, he didn’t show himself until last light. I knew it was him by the swollen back foot that I had seen during archery season. This time I connected! I shot him in the front shoulder at about 264 yards with my .450 bushmaster. I watched as trotted out of the field, head and tail down. There was a minimal blood trail that left me wondering what happened and sick to my stomach. As I eventually discovered, that shot was not a mortal wound.
It never ceases to amaze me how resilient and tough these deer can be. I thank God for providing me with these experiences and for this nice buck. Apparently, the 3rd time was the charm! 😊
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