Or, that time I came eye to eye with a 10-point buck and free-handed it him at 90 yards.

Wait, what? I know. I KNOW. Let’s back up to the start of the weekend. Be prepared: this one’s a doozy.

Our freezer has been empty for longer than I’d like to admit, so the Mr. and I decided we needed to shoot a deer…  Or three. Spending time in the deer stand was the only thing on the agenda for Friday night to Sunday morning, So that’s exactly what we did.

We got to Georgetown Friday afternoon, quickly went to dress a stand that was bare, got in our gear, and headed out. We knew a few spots where we’ve got a lot of deer on camera (thanks to Paco), so we had high hopes… Ok, fine – John dressed the stand and I stood around looking at the hundreds of deer tracks around me.

It was a slow hunt and, unfortunately, the evening proved to be an effort in futility. I didn’t see a thing until right at dark, when a small deer came out in the far corner of the field prints (it was just too dark to tell exactly what it was from that far away) followed shortly thereafter a young 6-point. He came out of the woods right at an active scrape, and I actually saw him use it which was pretty cool –  not something I’ve seen it while hunting before. I watched him until I could hardly see my hand in front of my face, then head back to the house. It was going to be an early morning.

So, Saturday morning. What. A. Morning. What a day, really. I decided to try a different spot from the night before, close in proximity to the other stand but a completely new field of view. Sure enough, about 7:45 I saw two smaller does creep out of the edge way at the end of the long shooting lane in front of me. I had time to take the shot if I’d wanted to, but I just felt like I would see something with horns if I waited.

Did I? You bet. About 30 minutes later a tall 6-point came cruising across the lane. Even if he had been a shooter, I don’t think I had enough time to take the shot – It was still nice to know that my hunch had played out. It is certainly that time of year – where there are does, there will be bucks. A few hours later, making another sweep with my binoculars, I passed back over the lane and saw the back end of a buck (and a glimpse of his horns) entering the brush. Dang it! What had I missed? Needless to say, that peaked my interest for another hour or two. Ultimately… nothing. But, with the rut clearly underway, I wouldn’t stay out of the stand very long. I jumped back in after lunch time and it wasn’t 15 minutes before I saw a big bodied but smaller rack buck nose to the ground clearly chasing a doe.

I’m telling you – this time of year is the best time to spend as much of your day in the stand (if you can swing it). It’s not that bucks are totally unaware of what’s happening anymore, but they are definitely moving at more abnormal times. I saw that guy around 1 PM and he never even knew I was in the area. By that point in the weekend, I’d already seen more deer – bucks in particular – in 24 hours than I had in the past 2 seasons combined. YES.

I sat through the evening and at about 4:30 saw a buck meandering up the shooting lane. This was a new buck, not one I had seen so far, and he certainly had some size to him. Unfortunately, he had his head down, walking straight away from me. There was no way I could take an ethical shot and feel good about my placement, particularly not knowing exactly how many points that rack had. Ahhh… That’s deer hunting! Again, an empty handed hunt for me… But Sunday still awaited.

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Yep – back in the stand first thing Sunday morning. The pressure was on. As luck would have it, 2 does (different from Saturday morning) came out after about an hour. Knowing I had limited time and an empty freezer, I made a quick decision to take a shot at the larger of the two. Cross-hairs aimed, safety off, trigger pull. The doe did not fall. Instead she jumped up, startled, and went dead still trying to figure out where the noise came from. I’d missed. I ejected my spent round as fast as I could, took aim once more, and shot. Same reaction from the doe, only this time she took off into the woods and out of sight. Did I hit it, or had I seriously missed this doe twice? Twice! I’ve only missed two deer ever, and now I’ve potentially done it twice in one morning? On the same deer? Surely not I was caught between “I’m the worst shot ever” and “It was the gun, not me! I just need to sight in my rifle.”

As it turns out, it was neither (or both?). As I mentioned above, this is a pretty long shooting lane. How long? I’d guestimated about 200 yards, maybe a little more. I’d forgotten my rangefinder (always remember your essential gear!) so I couldn’t sure, and I was way off. That doe was right at 310 yards from my stand. I’m zeroed in for 100-125 yards, so I’m pretty dead on up to 175-200. Anything farther means I need to adjust my aim since the bullet is dropping by then – something I hadn’t done. There was a slight chance I’d hit that deer but it wasn’t looking good. A total of 16.5 hours in the stand, and I had nothing but sightings and a miss to show for it.

At least it was a nice day…?

Don’t worry, I’m getting to the good part.

After the hunt, John and I decided we’d at least go back to check that it was, indeed, a miss before we headed back to Charleston. I’d absolutely hate to leave a dead or wounded deer in the woods, so we wanted to be 100% sure. As we were loading up I asked him if I should bring my rifle… I was grumpy and exhausted and didn’t know if I felt like messing with a gun. He told me I might as well, though, just in case. Ok, fine. So off we went, with an unspoken but mutual understanding that if I saw anything, and could take a shot, do it.

Once we got to the shooting lane and hopped off the 4-wheeler where I’d marked the doe, we began looking around for any sign of a hit – blood, a tuft of fur, anything. Nothing. Sometimes deer don’t bleed instantly, so we split up and searched the woods where she ran. We ended up about 100 yards apart, and I came out of the woods much farther down the lane – gun hung around my back, head held low. Right when I looked up to say, “Hey let’s go ahead and get out of here so we don’t mess up the area too much,” I saw him.

No, not John. About 90 yards away, in the middle of the lane, staring. DIRECTLY. AT. ME. Brown body, big horns. Way outside the ears. As slowly, yet quickly as possible, I got my rifle off my shoulders and raised it. The buck still hadn’t moved. Seriously? I found the spot between his shoulders and neck in my cross hairs, clicked off the safety, took a deep breath… And squeezed the trigger.

That buck never even knew what hit him. A millisecond after the sound exploded through the woods, he dropped and didn’t flinch. I’d actually hit a deer, and free-handed it, no less. Definitely not something I’ve ever done, or probably will ever do again.

But wait – where’s John? He suddenly appeared at the edge of the lane, right near the buck – he looked down at the deer, then at me, then back down at the deer, then back at me. Then he threw his hands in the air – WHAT?! What just happened? How did that happen? He’d apparently heard this deer creeping through the thick brush, not sure if it was maybe that doe and she was wounded or if it was another deer all together, and was quietly following it. He essentially drove this buck  to me, giving me the perfect opportunity to shoot. Needless to say, I wouldn’t have seen this deer if he hadn’t been in the woods after it.

This is definitely the biggest buck I’ve ever bagged, and the oldest. His 10 points are a littile unique – the G2 on his left side is broken off, and the right side has about a 1 inch point to give it it’s 5th on that side. He was also covered in sparring wounds & old fighting scars – boys will be boys, particularly when the rut is on!

We’re guessing he was around 6 years old, just based on his teeth and all of the grey on his face, but we’ll know for sure once we get the mount back.

Oh yeah, I am definitely getting this bruiser mounted.

Well – that’s the story! The whole weekend in 1 post. Thanks for sticking with it – it’s definitely a weekend I’ll never forget!

Venison, at last! And some new wall decor, of course.