- Joined
- Apr 26, 2011
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[align=justify]I hadn't had much luck during bow season seeing deer so I was less that confident when I decided to go hunting on Nov. 19th. Not seeing deer got me thinking, why do I keep hunting the areas that aren't producing? Why not go where no other hunters hunt? [/align][align=justify]I got up early that Sunday morning, about 4:45, and walked out on the porch hoping it was too windy, raining or dense fog had covered the area so I could have a reason to go back to bed. Much to my dismay, the weather was perfect, 35 degrees with a light wind from the west, just what I needed to hunt my spot. I still whined and moaned that I wasn't going to see anything anyway. I laid back down and fought with myself for an hour. I got back up and got my stuff together. Grabbed my treestand and the 7 Mag, gave my wife a kiss, then made the half mile trek to my spot. I wanted to hunt with my muzzleloader, but this was the first year in Indiana that I could hunt with my rifle so I gave her a morning hunt. It was already light outside. I was determined to hunt a spot no other hunter had so I hunted the steep hillside of ridge. It was so steep, in fact, that I had a heck of a time going down it to set up. I found a tree and could only go up about 12 feet before the limbs of the surrounding trees swallowed up my shooting lanes. At about 8:00 I saw my first deer. A small buck that was cruising for does. Wind was in my face and the set up was near perfect until 8:30. The wind decided to do a 180 and take my scent into the thick stuff. I contemplated moving my stand, then a doe showed up. She came out of the thick stuff and caught a whiff of me right away. She didn't blow, stomp or hesitate. She bolted out of there like a scalded dog. Now I really wanted to move. I didn't see a scenario where I would get a shot at a buck. Five minutes later, I saw antlers right where the doe came out. Nervous doesn't begin to explain what I was feeling. He was a good buck, one that I wanted badly and he was directly downwind. I told myself to get ready and take the first decent shot that presented itself. He was at 90 yards and coming up toward me. He cleared some saplings and I knew he was going to bolt at any second. It was an extremely steep shot as I steadied the 7. I put the dot under his throat patch and let the big dog eat! He went down like a bag of hammers, sliding 20 yards down the hill without as much as a twitch. I took my time getting down. I wanted to enjoy this as much as possible. I strolled down to him, thanked The Good Lord for my blessings and sat there for about 10 minutes reliving the whole hunt in my mind. I climbed the hill to get cell service, made a couple calls, and I had family members on the way. It was an awesome day.[/align]