IDsageStalker
New member
This past Sunday I took my last drive of the season up into the mountains to try to help a buddy kill a deer. just after first light, and a long slow walk up about a mile of ridge line I turned around to check our back trail. To my surprise there was the head of a spike buck peeking over the ridge we had just crossed, and looking straight at us. He ducked back over the hill, so I made a plan to circle low and try to get us out in front of the deer.
We started creeping that way and at the last second my buddy decided to split off from me and circle behind the buck in case I spooked him back up over the ridge. when I got around the mountain I jumped the spike and he had three other bucks with him. I had no intention of shooting a deer that morning, since my freezer is full of elk, and I wont be around to eat it for a while. but I couldn't pass up a nice chocolate racked 4x4, and my buddy was nowhere to be found. I pulled the trigger, the rifle sounded, and the buck stood there looking at me. I racked another round, squeezed, and he kicked, and then stood there again. third time is a charm I thought to myself as the buck finally ran off. I followed him maybe two hundred yards and jumped him laying in a nasty drainage of new growth from last years burn. Round three, no reaction. he split off from the other two bucks and started quartering up the hill, I bleated at him and he stopped. after loading a single round since my magazine was now empty, I took a knee, let out a deep breath and and lung punched him at only a hundred yards. I watched him roll about twenty feet down the mountain, and I sat there wondering what on earth had just transpired. This is the same set up I had shot water bottles with at 400 yards all summer, and my elk a few weeks earlier. I checked the scope mounts and shouldered the rifle again. In the adrenaline of the moment my eyes had not noticed the crack running diagonally through the crosshairs. I sat there in amazement, thankful I hadn't wounded this animal and not been able to finish the job.
Upon inspecting the buck I found one hole. three clean misses at 100-150 yards and then one right on the money. It was a strange feeling, almost like this deer was a gift, just meant to be somehow. It's been a great season, full of adventure and capped off by a great buck (in my opinion). The freezer is full, my tags are full, and I leave for Basic Military Training in two weeks.
Good luck to everyone on the rest of your seasons, I'll have lots of reading to do when I get back to the real world in five months!
We started creeping that way and at the last second my buddy decided to split off from me and circle behind the buck in case I spooked him back up over the ridge. when I got around the mountain I jumped the spike and he had three other bucks with him. I had no intention of shooting a deer that morning, since my freezer is full of elk, and I wont be around to eat it for a while. but I couldn't pass up a nice chocolate racked 4x4, and my buddy was nowhere to be found. I pulled the trigger, the rifle sounded, and the buck stood there looking at me. I racked another round, squeezed, and he kicked, and then stood there again. third time is a charm I thought to myself as the buck finally ran off. I followed him maybe two hundred yards and jumped him laying in a nasty drainage of new growth from last years burn. Round three, no reaction. he split off from the other two bucks and started quartering up the hill, I bleated at him and he stopped. after loading a single round since my magazine was now empty, I took a knee, let out a deep breath and and lung punched him at only a hundred yards. I watched him roll about twenty feet down the mountain, and I sat there wondering what on earth had just transpired. This is the same set up I had shot water bottles with at 400 yards all summer, and my elk a few weeks earlier. I checked the scope mounts and shouldered the rifle again. In the adrenaline of the moment my eyes had not noticed the crack running diagonally through the crosshairs. I sat there in amazement, thankful I hadn't wounded this animal and not been able to finish the job.
Upon inspecting the buck I found one hole. three clean misses at 100-150 yards and then one right on the money. It was a strange feeling, almost like this deer was a gift, just meant to be somehow. It's been a great season, full of adventure and capped off by a great buck (in my opinion). The freezer is full, my tags are full, and I leave for Basic Military Training in two weeks.
Good luck to everyone on the rest of your seasons, I'll have lots of reading to do when I get back to the real world in five months!
