Well I left after work on Saturday to drive 3 hrs away from town to a spot where I've spooked a few deer 2 weeks ago. Thankfully this time it was open to 'any buck'. Slept in the jeep at the bottom of the fsr that leads to the cut I wanted to hunt. Was up at 5, and waited till 6:30 for some light. Walked into the high end of the cut right along the timber.
After about 30 mins of still hunting along the edge I saw two does that made me. Sure enough there was a buck in the group, I had favorable wind so they stuck around a little. I was able to place my crosshairs on him at about 75 yds, first I was standing up, then I decided since the crosshairs were jumping so much I'd take a seat. Got in a perfect steady shooting position and waited for him to come a little further out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. Sure enough they got spooked and took off. I was so frustrated!
Just like the last time in the same cut the deer saw me before I saw them and got spooked off. I tried to see where they took off to but to no avail. Instead of turning around in frustration I decided to keep walking to the end of the cut. Sure enough there they were 125 yds out on the edge of the timber trying to figure me out.
There is a perfect blowdown stump right beside me but I could only see the doe from that rest. three steps to my left and I could get a bead on the buck, unfortunately no rest.... Back and forth trying to find a spot where I can get a rest on the buck. I felt that they were ready to move again so I decided to take the freehand shot after I calmed down a little. Whamo, right shoulder, heart and lung. He did a heart jump and took off slowly towards the bush. I panicked a little and didn't want to loose him. I touched off a shot while he was jogging away that took out his rear legs, I regret taking that shot.The original heart shot did the trick and I should have trusted my first shot.
I must say I was hunting for 'any (freezer) buck', and originally thought this buck was a 3 pointer, but was happily amused to find that it made the record book for the smallest 4 pointer in history! What a great learning experience... from field dressing to skinning, my brain isn't the only thing sore from my adventure today... Who would of thought bringing a deer down a mountain cut block could be such hard work!! And trying to figure a way to get the deer into the back of the jeep all by myself... gotta find a different way of doing that!
All in all I had a blast!! A huge thanks to those guys who have been helping me get off the ground... You guys should know who you are!
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Originally Posted by todbartell
