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Hey guys. I finally got a pretty good buck, at least he is my biggest so far. Thought I would share him with you. My Family owns a small farm in Gallia County, Ohio (Southeast). I hunt there every year. This year was tough for us for a couple of reasons. The mast crops of acorns as well as some other normal "deer Feed" was not good. In our area the Acorn crop was all but non-existent. I even heard that they are already hitting the Honeysuckle. Our next door neighbor is Mead Paper (Gladfelter) and they started to harvest some of the pines on our side of the road. I got to hunt Thanksgiving week (Archery) and the week after is our gun season. Thanksgiving week My Nephew got a Doe with a Bow and his Wife missed a chance at an 8 point (buck Fever). I saw only 2 deer the whole week! Started to see a Few on Sunday after Thanksgiving but always on the wrong side of the fence. Monday for opening gun season only a couple does made an appearance. We had quite a bit of cold wind and some rain. Tueday was cool with some cold wind. My nephew got another Doe just over the hill from me. I met up with him on his way out to get his quad. I told him to get her out and I would still hunt over to the other side of the woods and sit in our Blind and watch over the Brushy bottom. We have built 3 wood box blinds on the property over the years for a little shelter from the wind and rain.
Since it was still wet from the rain the night before I made it noise free to the blind. Got settled in for he rest of the morning hunt. About 20 minutes later I saw a Flash in the Brushy bottom, that I am above, but it is about 150 yards away. Watched for about another 5 minutes and saw nothing, must have just been a leaf in the wind. A few minutes later I see it again.
Got the Binos out and started to pick the brush apart. Now I see an antler, then another. Oh Boy a Buck!. He is in some thick brush and must be feeding on something and only picking up his head once in a while. I get out of the blind with the trusty Knight MK 95 and move slowly down to a logging road where I will have some brush between me and him, man I hope he don't catch me moving towards him. I take a peek through the brush, Nothing!!! Oh crap, no there he picked up his head again, still there. I hunker down and move a quitely as possible along the woods fence next to the road. Near the end of the fence the brush that I had for cover ends so I stopped again and peek aound the brush, Now I can see him without the binos he is a good un! Oh crap now he is turning away from me, No don't leave. I grab the top strand of barb wire at the steel post and throw the knight MK 95 on top of my hand. SQUEEK, The wire slides down the post!! Oh no. The Buck stops and looks back in my direction. After what seems like 15 minutes (probably only 1 though) he seems to make up his mind that nothing was there and goes back to feeding, even rares up on hind legs for some leaves at the top of a bush. Ok Shawn Settle down! I let the wire back up slowly , and Quietly! Then move the remaining 25 yards to the wood corner post with a small gate. Buck is still there but in some thick stuff. I get the binos out and look for a hole. He is turned with his back to me and then rares up again, Oh Boy it's the 10 pointer I have been trying to get a shot at for 3 years!! Now my heart jumps up and seems to be beating between my ears! Settle Down or you are going to blow it I tell myself. I take off my cap and lay it over the wood brace post and settle the forearm of my trusty MK95 on the cap. The Buck is now only about 15 yards from the creek and the other side is off limits! He is still feeding but then turns to my left and is broadside with his front shoulder wide open. OK its now or never. I settle the crosshair for a high shoulder shot to try and put him down where he stood. I squeeze the Timney trigger and the Knight 310 grain lead bullet is on it way! Through all the smoke I think I see his white belly hit the ground! The wind moves the smoke away and YES he is Down Right where he stood! I see he tries to pick up his head so I grab a speed loader and then he just goes still. I finish reloading and watch for a couple of miniutes then open the gate and move down to check him out. When I get to him I see that he is an 11 pointer and has a little tine about 1/2 inch long. Another 1/2 inch and he would be a 12, but don't matter to me none, He is beautiful to me as he is. I then realized I did not have a camera, so I field dress him and as I finish here comes my nephew to check on the old uncle, damn good boy and a Marine to boot! We hauled him out to get a real good look at him.
The old boy must have been a real brawler as he was pretty beat up. He had 3 tines with the tips broken, both ears torn, a broken jaw that had healed from a past fight, there are 2 patches of hair (one on the top of the neck and one on the bottom) scraped off and a larger one on the belly. There is also a wound on the chest in the white hair just at the bottom of the sternum that has not healed. I looked at it and see another small hole in the next layer of skin and it is sticky around the hole. It looks like he was gored during the rut. We hurried him back to the barn to wash him out and really look this wound over since it also has a strong odor to it. I washed him out and find that the small hold is just the right size for an antler tip. I start to skin out the area and hit a large puss pocket that seems to just gush the stuff out! So now I checked out the other exposed wounds on the ears, one is scabed over ok but the other has the scab raised and also appears to be infected. We then rushed him over to he check station and checked him in, then headed for the Taxidermist to see if he can save it for a shoulder mount. He looked it over and said no problem. I took him home and skinned him out and found a large bruise on the front left shoulder too! I would love to meet the buck that Kicked his ass! Must have been one heck of a scrap! Due to the infection I could not take a chance on the meat so it was taken back to the woods for the coyotes, foxes and Possums to feed on.
Since the food supply seems low this year I don't think he would have made it through the winter. But at least he will not suffer so that makes me feel a little better.
Here he is on the back of my Nephews truck just before leaving to get him tagged.
Hope the story is fit to read since it is the first time I tried writing one, but he is the largest buck I have ever pointed a gun at so I just wanted to show him off some. I have not quite smiling since last Tuesday! :wink:
ShawnT
Since it was still wet from the rain the night before I made it noise free to the blind. Got settled in for he rest of the morning hunt. About 20 minutes later I saw a Flash in the Brushy bottom, that I am above, but it is about 150 yards away. Watched for about another 5 minutes and saw nothing, must have just been a leaf in the wind. A few minutes later I see it again.
Got the Binos out and started to pick the brush apart. Now I see an antler, then another. Oh Boy a Buck!. He is in some thick brush and must be feeding on something and only picking up his head once in a while. I get out of the blind with the trusty Knight MK 95 and move slowly down to a logging road where I will have some brush between me and him, man I hope he don't catch me moving towards him. I take a peek through the brush, Nothing!!! Oh crap, no there he picked up his head again, still there. I hunker down and move a quitely as possible along the woods fence next to the road. Near the end of the fence the brush that I had for cover ends so I stopped again and peek aound the brush, Now I can see him without the binos he is a good un! Oh crap now he is turning away from me, No don't leave. I grab the top strand of barb wire at the steel post and throw the knight MK 95 on top of my hand. SQUEEK, The wire slides down the post!! Oh no. The Buck stops and looks back in my direction. After what seems like 15 minutes (probably only 1 though) he seems to make up his mind that nothing was there and goes back to feeding, even rares up on hind legs for some leaves at the top of a bush. Ok Shawn Settle down! I let the wire back up slowly , and Quietly! Then move the remaining 25 yards to the wood corner post with a small gate. Buck is still there but in some thick stuff. I get the binos out and look for a hole. He is turned with his back to me and then rares up again, Oh Boy it's the 10 pointer I have been trying to get a shot at for 3 years!! Now my heart jumps up and seems to be beating between my ears! Settle Down or you are going to blow it I tell myself. I take off my cap and lay it over the wood brace post and settle the forearm of my trusty MK95 on the cap. The Buck is now only about 15 yards from the creek and the other side is off limits! He is still feeding but then turns to my left and is broadside with his front shoulder wide open. OK its now or never. I settle the crosshair for a high shoulder shot to try and put him down where he stood. I squeeze the Timney trigger and the Knight 310 grain lead bullet is on it way! Through all the smoke I think I see his white belly hit the ground! The wind moves the smoke away and YES he is Down Right where he stood! I see he tries to pick up his head so I grab a speed loader and then he just goes still. I finish reloading and watch for a couple of miniutes then open the gate and move down to check him out. When I get to him I see that he is an 11 pointer and has a little tine about 1/2 inch long. Another 1/2 inch and he would be a 12, but don't matter to me none, He is beautiful to me as he is. I then realized I did not have a camera, so I field dress him and as I finish here comes my nephew to check on the old uncle, damn good boy and a Marine to boot! We hauled him out to get a real good look at him.The old boy must have been a real brawler as he was pretty beat up. He had 3 tines with the tips broken, both ears torn, a broken jaw that had healed from a past fight, there are 2 patches of hair (one on the top of the neck and one on the bottom) scraped off and a larger one on the belly. There is also a wound on the chest in the white hair just at the bottom of the sternum that has not healed. I looked at it and see another small hole in the next layer of skin and it is sticky around the hole. It looks like he was gored during the rut. We hurried him back to the barn to wash him out and really look this wound over since it also has a strong odor to it. I washed him out and find that the small hold is just the right size for an antler tip. I start to skin out the area and hit a large puss pocket that seems to just gush the stuff out! So now I checked out the other exposed wounds on the ears, one is scabed over ok but the other has the scab raised and also appears to be infected. We then rushed him over to he check station and checked him in, then headed for the Taxidermist to see if he can save it for a shoulder mount. He looked it over and said no problem. I took him home and skinned him out and found a large bruise on the front left shoulder too! I would love to meet the buck that Kicked his ass! Must have been one heck of a scrap! Due to the infection I could not take a chance on the meat so it was taken back to the woods for the coyotes, foxes and Possums to feed on.
Since the food supply seems low this year I don't think he would have made it through the winter. But at least he will not suffer so that makes me feel a little better.
Here he is on the back of my Nephews truck just before leaving to get him tagged.
Hope the story is fit to read since it is the first time I tried writing one, but he is the largest buck I have ever pointed a gun at so I just wanted to show him off some.
I have not quite smiling since last Tuesday! :wink: ShawnT
