First buck

[MrTom]

The nephew joined me for the last weekend of our first regular firearms seasons today. I sat him on a ridge overlooking a steep, sweeping hillside of clean forest. I set out for my stand 200 yards further up the ridge line and just made it in the stand when I heard his shot. So I walked back to see what he got. He said the deer dropped and slid down the slope so he descended to see where it ended up….10 feet from the road. Which was a good thing because this sucker was one well-fed deer. We figured he dressed out at about 175.

 

[.45er]

Congrats! That a big deer.
What firearm was used?

 

[CGhost]

Congratulations! Beautiful buck

 

[03mossy]

Well that worked out!! Congrats!

 

[MrTom]

What firearm was used?

I can't get him to use his muzzleloader because he can't get past the one shot. He took this buck with a Savage 220 using 2-3/4" Remington Accu-Tips.

He's hunted this property with me for 10 years now and is finally listening to what I tell him. Last year family got in his way and he only had the last weekend to hunt so I put him on the same stand and he shot a real nice doe and a smaller doe. He asked about another spot this trip but I told him to go right back to where he was last year and to just stay patient. I guess the buck took pity on him. lol Actually we found that the buck had been bedded and that the wind had hidden is getting set up. He said that he had been watching the trails on the slope when all of a sudden this buck just appeared without having come down any trail. He said the buck was facing the other way when he first noticed it and that he had no trouble getting the gun up but then the buck came around to his side of the tree and saw him. The deer acted confused because he was partially behind a tree and sitting in his chair. When the deer started to act antsy he shot and the rest is history. The nephew didn't wan't to hunt the slope again he said but I told him he was crazy not to because of deer travel from two adjecent properties funneled deer right past him.

We had hard, NNW 20-30 mph wind from hell and snow falling when we got up on the ridge and the wind helped keep his settling in quiet enough to not disturb the buck. 18 degrees when we hit the hike up. The deer was less than 30 yards away and when we found the bed it was clean and free of snow.

I collected two really nice does on bonus tags, one with the Optima pistol and the other with the Accura V2. Both about 35 yard shots. I did not harvest a buck so I can still buy the muzzleloader season tag and take either or then. The muzzleloader season starts on the last Saturday of the "B" firearms season , which starts a week from today. I can start with the muzzy the Saturday after Thanksgiving and runs for 17 days. I'll be hunting a rural residential area that always sees a ton of deer flock to it when that second seasons gets wound up and some huge bucks are known to hang tight for a month or so after the second season ends, but nobody hunts muzzies then. I have permission to hunt smack in the middle of about ten large-acre rural residential lots. The lots have to be 20 acres so there's plenty of room.

 

[snapbang]

Great story Tom. Thanks for sharing

 

[Sandhillshunter]

That's awesome! Congratulations!

 

[deermanok]

Great buck and awesome story.

 

[toytruck]

Very nice buck! Congrats to both of of you!

 

[retrieverman]

Pass on my congrats on a really nice buck!!!

 

[Hausser1]

The nephew joined me for the last weekend of our first regular firearms seasons today. I sat him on a ridge overlooking a steep, sweeping hillside of clean forest. I set out for my stand 200 yards further up the ridge line and just made it in the stand when I heard his shot. So I walked back to see what he got. He said the deer dropped and slid down the slope so he descended to see where it ended up….10 feet from the road. Which was a good thing because this sucker was one well-fed deer. We figured he dressed out at about 175.

Congrats!!

 

[James Sparhawk]

The nephew joined me for the last weekend of our first regular firearms seasons today. I sat him on a ridge overlooking a steep, sweeping hillside of clean forest. I set out for my stand 200 yards further up the ridge line and just made it in the stand when I heard his shot. So I walked back to see what he got. He said the deer dropped and slid down the slope so he descended to see where it ended up….10 feet from the road. Which was a good thing because this sucker was one well-fed deer. We figured he dressed out at about 175.

He is hooked now, awesome job

 

[snapbang]