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 It
was the night before my final hunt of the rut. My dad had told me that
the rut is just now in its prime and we have a good shot of making it
happen tomorrow morning. Earlier in the season I had passed up a few
six pointers in hopes for a bigger buck. Little did I know it would
come down to the last day of the season. I was well aware that if I
didn’t pull it together tomorrow I would be hunting in some cold,
frustrating weather in the second season. I maintained a positive
mental attitude and was sure it was going to happen tomorrow morning.
I had a little trouble falling to sleep
that night: I was a bit nervous and over excited. After reviewing all
the steps of having a positive and safe hunt several times I fell
asleep. Only to be woken up about 6 hours later. Around five o’clock
the next morning my dad came in and woke me up; together we had a nice
breakfast and talked about how to get into the tree quietly and
safely. I felt confident, earlier in the season my dad had harvested
an eleven pointer out of the same tree I was headed to. I gathered my
stuff, put on my Scent-Lok base layers, and jumped in the car.
The ride seemed like forever even though
we were only headed right up the street in hopes of harvesting a
backyard buck. At last we pulled into our spot of fifteen beautiful
acres. We put on our warm Scent-Lok suits and slowly made it to our
tree. The day seemed to be going perfect; we got into our stands
quicker and quitter than usual. We were set up and ready to hunt about
20 minutes before sun up.
About a half an hour after first light two
does were coming our way. It was perfect the wind was blowing in the
opposite direction and I stood as still as can be. The does wanted to
cross the fence in their usual spot which was just out of range. There
used to be an opening in the fence which was heavily traveled by the
majority of the deer in the area. Fortunately my dad and I arranged
the fence earlier in the season to divert deer travel to the other
fence crossing which happened to be right under our stand. Sure enough
the deer came right to us because of the time and effort that we had
put into preconditioning our area by placing a synthetic scrape below
our tree, and closing the fence. They came right into my 15 yard
shooting lane, but just wouldn’t give me a broad side shot. As they
came closer the deer saw something move and went on alert. The does
began to slowly walk right back from where they came, but not before
giving me a short opportunity. I came to full draw, but was
unfortunately spotted by the mature doe and couldn’t squeeze off the
shot. I was disappointed, but shook it off and realized that the hunt
wasn’t over. This wasn’t the first time this season that the same
thing had happened.
Not long after the missed opportunity; I
rattled in a small but shooter buck. It was closing fast, but right
before it entered my shooting range it turned off into the field with
a few does. I waited patiently for it to make its way back into the
woods, but it was occupied by the does in heat. We attempted to grunt
the buck back in with a hands free buckgrunter. After a few good
grunts the buck broke the wood line. I was shaking out of control, the
combination of cold weather and excitement was taking its toll on me.
The 4 point buck was coming fast. I grabbed my bow, and waited as
motionless as I could. I was so excited and nervous I had watched the
buck walk through one of my shooting lanes. I had completely missed my
opportunity. As the buck walked off, I regrouped myself and prayed for
just one more chance.
Unbelievably, the buck stopped in its
tracks, and began to walk back for no apparent reason. I began to
shake all over again! I could barely hold my bow steady. The deer
stopped broadside 15 yards away, I pulled myself together and drew
back. I carefully put the pin just behind the shoulder blade and
released. The arrow hit right on target, but the deer showed little
reaction at first. He just walked off like nothing had happened, but
after a few yards he stumbled and went down no more then forty yards
away. I couldn’t believe it—my first buck—and I had nearly missed my
opportunity! It was truly a buck meant to be.
When it was all over we thanked the Lord
for the second opportunity and a hunt I will always remember. My dad
was very proud of me. Together we went down and retrieved my first
buck, and I told Dad I wanted to donate him to Farmers and Hunters
Feeding the Hungry.
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