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- Nov 11, 2018
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Well my friend Snapbang graciously allowed Hausser1 and myself the use of his awesome “Trump Tower” blind and property Tuesday, him being out of town on work related business. So at the butt-crack of 3:45am i rolled out of bed and into the jeep and on the road i go, having the jeep loaded for hunting at all times from Sept15 thru Jan 1 makes prep a little easier. 1.5 hrs later, Hausser1 and I met up at a gas station to get geared up so as not to cause too much commotion at the property. I stocked up on snacks so we could stay out all day, Snapbang said just be patient, something will come by eventually. Well Hausser1 and I get settled in and catch up with whispered conversation till light enough to see the surroundings. He has hunted here before but i haven’t. Beautiful little hunting spot, cozy heated blind with 270' view, comfy chairs. He said” be patient, he’s coming…” I can be patient. Not sure when that happened, i always thought i was pretty impatient, at work, at school, with family… not in the woods tho, i guess. We sat there all day. I dozed a bit around 1 or 2p. Watched (dozens of) skwirls and blue jays. At one point this bird flew in the window and startled the crap out of both of us, then flew back out. All i saw was a forked tail, long curved beak and some yellow-ish feathers with little black dots all over, he was about 18” from my face when he came in then reversed course. I decided to stretch my legs and walked quietly around the property to see if i could predict where i might be most likely see deer coming from. Mostly quiet the rest of the afternoon. Hausser1 informs me, as the light starts to fade with the setting sun, “14 minutes”. Ok its now or never, “be patient, he’s coming…” five minutes later i turn to look out the back window at a last light skwirl squawking about something. When i look back out the front, guess who finally shows up? Yep, Buck… jackass! Im all out of position with the shooting window, a chair is in my way, i grab my CVA Scout sml conversion. And (try to) quietlyshove the chair out of my way. Buck looks over at me from about 50-60 yards, like, “what”? I stick the barrel out the window and try to sight on him, he is facing almost directly at me, slightly to my right. I have to lean more left to square up and put crosshairs on his chest. A great target as they always fold up when you can put one through the chest front. Well i’m a little off balance but it ought to be an easy shot, you know, except for the adrenalin making me as dumb as i can be without drinking. I pretty sure i jerked the trigger instead of squeezing properly, also i may have blinked, too. When what little smoke there was cleared he is running like they will do, when you try to kill them. He left the scene quickly and into the woods he disappeared. I try to reload my ml from the speedloader that i had foolishly removed from the lanyard round my neck, and stowed back in my pack. After wht seemed like 10 minutes i finally dug it out and poured powder and a Barnes 195 into and down the barrel. Now where the heck are the primer modules? In one of my 300 pockets? No, they were right here! Dang it. found them. Primed and ready to go find him, cant be far. I go out to where he was standing, when Hausser1 gets there. I thought for certain it ran right by him, but he never saw the buck, just heard my shot. So we look for blood. He sees a couple little tiny spots of blood, ive bled more from a paper cut, crap! Then he sees a little pile of white-ish fur laying right where the deer was when i shot. Its not looking good. I tell Mike that it was a 6pt, maybe an 8. I saw main beams flashing in the dusk light but got no good point count, another dumb thing on my part, not making certain what he is. Deer will usually bee-line, when shot, if theres nothing in the way. This guy just did a Houdini. No kicked up dirt, no blood on the ground or up on tall grass or trees. Nothing. We walked thru and around the woods and field but find no more sign. We agree that i just grazed the deer and he ain't coming back. I admittedly didn't search as thoroughly as i could/should have. I gave in and gave up. Called it a bad shot and we headed home. I relived that poor shot dozens of times. It all happened so fast that i didn't take time to think and set up solid for the shot and a half dozen other little things i did wrong in that 5 seconds that seemed like 5 minutes. That was Tuesday. This morning, Thursday, Snapbang texts me and tells me that he and Hausser1 were hunting this morning and noticed a lot of crows nearby. They took a break and went to see what that murder of crows was after. What they found was the buck i had shot. He went all of about 70 yards into a field. I probably walked right by him Tuesday night. It had been cold but, i guess, not cold enough as he “had a stank on him”. He had a hole in his lower left rear belly(?) with feces coming out, so no blood cause his guts plugged the hole up. Dam it! I hate this so much. Killing a deer and for nothing. Snapbang(Bob) got me a couple pics but the buck was too far gone to keep. I lost the very first deer i ever shot, while hunting with my dad, cause i didn't look hard enough, and swore i wouldn't repeat that mistake. Well some lessons don’t stick. Maybe this time it will.
Thank you to Bob and Mike, for letting me go hunt there with you guys.
Thank you to Bob and Mike, for letting me go hunt there with you guys.
