Drycreek
Well-Known Member
The reason I had to leave the thread was because the buck came back pushing the does ahead of him. This is an 84 acre place and I have passed a couple bucks here already this year because of age and/or spread. They must be 13" inside to be legal, but my son and I won't shoot anything younger than 3.5 regardless of width. On other places our criteria goes up, but we never kill more than one buck here and we both have other places to hunt for bigger deer. That said, I'm basically a meat hunter, and not an antler hunter, so this buck, if 3.5, was going in my freezer.
As he fed across the wheat, I was looking at him through my scope. My right eye has retina issues and as he was 125/130 yards away, I couldn't see him well enough to make the call. I picked my binos up with my left hand and determined that I would take him. He looked up and saw his doe leaving and broke into a fast walk up the hill quartering toward me. I mouth bleated at him three times, he would stop and look, but immediately start walking again. I had to open my left window as I saw that he was coming up the hill through the woods to my left. I must have looked like the Keystone Cops trying to get that window opened and latched. When I finally got on him I could see that he was about to move into the last possible lane, (a skidder trail from my last cut), and I bleated loudly again. When he stopped, I squeezed (jerked???
) the trigger on my .280 Remington.
I could see that his shoulder was broken but in a couple jumps he was out of sight. I sat down and cursed myself for shooting too quickly. I sat for about a minute thinking about what direction I thought he would go, whether he would be laying in sight once I walked out, and about whether he was truly mortally wounded. I packed up my gear, walked out to my cart, went home and harnessed up my JRT for the track. I put him on the spot that I thought the buck was standing and he took up a track. There were four deer in that group, no blood at the place he was shot, so he got on the wrong deer at first. After a couple minutes he stopped trailing and looked around, so I brought him back, he took the correct track, and we found blood within thirty yards. He made short work of the track, probably only 100/125 yards to where he lay dead.
I thank God that I did not wound this deer and lose him, and I thank Sarge for finding him !
Looks like I can't resize enough to post a pic. He was brown, had nine points, and will eat very well !
As he fed across the wheat, I was looking at him through my scope. My right eye has retina issues and as he was 125/130 yards away, I couldn't see him well enough to make the call. I picked my binos up with my left hand and determined that I would take him. He looked up and saw his doe leaving and broke into a fast walk up the hill quartering toward me. I mouth bleated at him three times, he would stop and look, but immediately start walking again. I had to open my left window as I saw that he was coming up the hill through the woods to my left. I must have looked like the Keystone Cops trying to get that window opened and latched. When I finally got on him I could see that he was about to move into the last possible lane, (a skidder trail from my last cut), and I bleated loudly again. When he stopped, I squeezed (jerked???
) the trigger on my .280 Remington. I could see that his shoulder was broken but in a couple jumps he was out of sight. I sat down and cursed myself for shooting too quickly. I sat for about a minute thinking about what direction I thought he would go, whether he would be laying in sight once I walked out, and about whether he was truly mortally wounded. I packed up my gear, walked out to my cart, went home and harnessed up my JRT for the track. I put him on the spot that I thought the buck was standing and he took up a track. There were four deer in that group, no blood at the place he was shot, so he got on the wrong deer at first. After a couple minutes he stopped trailing and looked around, so I brought him back, he took the correct track, and we found blood within thirty yards. He made short work of the track, probably only 100/125 yards to where he lay dead.
I thank God that I did not wound this deer and lose him, and I thank Sarge for finding him !
Looks like I can't resize enough to post a pic. He was brown, had nine points, and will eat very well !
