Posted: 11/20/2011 4:48:20 AM EDT
|
Well. . . . I missed my 1st buck last night. I'm thoroughly depressed so I will post up the story so you guys can make fun of me and make me more depressed lol.
Sun is beginning to set as I'm sitting against a fence post looking east and west. I'm more focused to the west down what I can describe is a natural shooting lane. Basically it's about 30 yards of clearing between two tree lines. There is probably 5-8 heavily used trails from tree line to tree line. I seen a doe and a spike following her and a basket 8 a little earlier, nothing worth shooting. So about 5 min after sunset my butt is hurting and I have to stand up and I'm thinking about packing in. I take a look to the east on a love grass field with a row of wheat planted as a fire break and I see something moving. Slowly reach down to my rifle and raise up to scope in a smaller doe and breathed a sigh of disappointment. Scanned about 15 feet to her right and BAM! Biggest buck I've seen walking down the fence line about 90 yards with the doe as she ate. Rack was even with ears which is typical for our area and genetics there but he was tall and was 14 to 16 points. I post up a on the post and watch this buck walk away from me. So for about 10 minutes or what felt like hours, I watched this buck's ass and he'd take a few steps and look around like he knew he was being watched. Absolutely beautiful mature buck and I was shaking…at one point the muscle in my thigh began to spasm. Luckily for me, the fence line has a curve inward to give me a broad side view so I begin to try to compose my self and wait. Sure enough, he gave me a side shot at about 110 yard and I pull and squeeze. Smoke clears and I raise my head and all the sudden the fence where I am starts shaking and going bezerk and I see this doe had run head 1st in to the fence, fall back, then jump over. She runs about 20 feet and stops and looks back at me. No buck any where in sight. I'm pumped! I think he fell right there in the love grass. I start walking up the fence to find him, doe still standing there staring at me. I'm trying to figure out if I want a European mount, or if I have enough to get full shoulder mount, do I want a sleek mount or maybe just go standard, hell I was thinking about where I'm going to hang it in the house, I maybe walked 40-50 yards and all the sudden . . . . I'm starring the buck in the face with a fence in between us. I freeze and he walks up nonchalant to about 15 feet of me, starring at me, snorts and then paws the ground which I actually thought he was limping. He walks in kind of a half moon shape circle of me and just has his eyes locked with mine. I have the gun at my waist ready as I begin to think this thing is going to rush me. I'm frozen and I'm trying to figure out if this was the same buck as I was watching and if so, how the hell did he cover so much ground toward me and me not see him. About 2 or 3 minutes go by as we are in a stale mate. I wanted to shoot him but he crossed the fence (granted he was within arms reach of the fence) and I didn't want to break the law. I also knew that the next mile section there was a blind looking at me. Buddy I was with heard the shot and figured I got something and was walking up behind me and at about 60 yards, the buck spotted him walking, turned and bolted tail up. It was the most intense disappointment I've ever felt, yet I felt some how oddly privileged to be that close to an animal that I didn't take. I know that he some how was starring at me saying "What the hell, you wanna make a move?"….. *sigh*….at least it was just opening day and I have more time to loose this buck fever . . . . |
|
Quoted:
Question Why didnt you shoot again ? I wanted to, trust me. It jumped over the fence and was about 10 feet or so on someone else's lease. There was a blind about 600 yards away on that lease facing me. If I had shot it, I would have broken the law and I didn't want to chance the Game Ranger being called. Now if I had wounded it, it would have been another story, but as far as I could tell, he was unscaved. I won't lie, it had crossed my mind and when my buddy got there, he told me no one has hunted in that blind this season and told me I should have shot it. I kicked my self. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Question Why didnt you shoot again ? I wanted to, trust me. It jumped over the fence and was about 10 feet or so on someone else's lease. There was a blind about 600 yards away on that lease facing me. If I had shot it, I would have broken the law and I didn't want to chance the Game Ranger being called. Now if I had wounded it, it would have been another story, but as far as I could tell, he was unscathed. I won't lie, it had crossed my mind and when my buddy got there, he told me no one has hunted in that blind this season and told me I should have shot it. I kicked my self. but at least you have integrity to do the right thing, even when nobody is looking |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Welcome to the "I missed a great buck" club. You're not alone.  This. I missed a really nice 8 a week ago. He was running after a doe. Apparently they're in rut here. I almost got a 6 or 7, and would have if my stand was about 5 feet higher on the tree. My stand overlooks a small clearing where my bear pit is located. Past the pit about 30 feet is the top of a slight hill with a decent drop off on the far side. I watched a rack with ears go by and never had a clear shot, he went about 5 feet into the trees and headed away from me, behind a large oak none the less, never presenting a good shot. I'm convinced that if my stand was 5 feet higher I could have taken him. The distance was less than 50 yards, and my Mosin is a nail driver at 100+, so the shooting part would have been easy as long as I could get him to stop for a couple seconds. |