2014 has been an odd year for me. Securing a new lease at the beginning of the year, I had mixed feelings as to how the year would turn out. It’s a large lease, but the majority of it is field. It may sound odd, but that’s not something I am used to. I grew up in northern Wisconsin and hunted the big woods; rarely within a couple miles of the nearest field. There was going to be a learning curve. Trail cameras were helpful on finding key locations of travel routes and soon I was eliminating stands and prepped for season. I was not impressed with the number of deer on camera but with all the corn and beans I knew there was more than I was seeing.
I was so busy with life in general; I never made it to the woods until the first week of November. Even then, I wasn’t able to grind it out from dark to dark all week. I was able to log some hours and had a number of opportunities at some young deer. I seen nothing huge but it was time well spent in the tree. The second and third weeks I planned on spending more time in a tree but work had put me on the road. I ended up getting home late the night before rifle opener and throwing my stuff together and caught a few hours of sleep.
I was up and on the move plenty early opening morning. No sooner was I in the stand and I had deer directly under me. It was still too dark to tell gender but with the snow I could see silhouettes. By 9 O’clock, I had already seen 3 bucks, a handful of does, and a coyote. The fog was rolling in hindering my view of the far ridge I was glassing. Basically, I had 2- 100 yard shooting lanes and a 30 yard ATV trail visible.
Just before 11:00, I pulled a sandwich from my pack and sat back to scroll the countless texts I missed that morning. I happened to look up to catch a bobcat sneaking her way towards me. She ended up on the ATV trail and I snapped a picture as she stopped for a squat. She moved off in the brush and I watched as she crossed one of my shooting lanes.
Within minutes of the bobcat coming through, I caught movement again from where the bobcat had appeared. It was a big doe and she was on the move. I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture. She walked right to where that bobcat has peed and as soon as she smelt it, she bounded into the woods less than 20 yards from me. At the same time, I could hear grunting coming from the same direction as the doe. I exchanged my phone for my gun and before I could even flip the scope caps, I knew I was going to shoot. I never even looked at the antlers. I could see he was a mature deer and this was all going to happen real quick. As he put his head down to smell where the bobcat had squatted; He turned broadside and I had the crosshairs right behind his shoulder and was pulling the trigger. In typical “me” fashion, I had neglected to flip the safety off and there was no way I was going to squeeze through that!
In the mean time, he bounded to the left of the ATV trail and stood no more than 20 yards looking back towards the foreign smell. Wouldn’t you know it, he was directly behind the only oak sapling with EVERY leaf still attached. For 5 agonizing minutes I had the sights pinned to his head. The only thing I could see was his nose and his eye. At this point I know this could go 2 ways. Either he has to come back across the ATV trail to pursue the doe or he could continue on with never a shot given. Nerves have now kicked in and I am already trying to make up excuses to tell my buddies as to how I could possibly have a buck at less than 20 yards and never squeeze the trigger.
Thanks goodness for me, the doe started to walk and when she cut the bobcat track again she started to bound. As the buck crossed the trail to cut her off, I got one quick shot off. I seen him hunch up but he was gone in no time. I never heard him fall, no brush break, nothing. I may have heard a cough. The type you get with a lung shot . I waited a good hour before I crawled down. I walked to where I shot and tracked him about 15 yards. As I peeked over the crest of the ridge, he was laying just 20 yards on the other side. I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the man upstairs for blessing me with meat in the freezer and another set of antlers to remember the hunt. Good luck boys, shoot straight and keep your powder dry.
Jon
Attachments:
Ashelay.jpeg
2014-Gun-Buck1.jpg
