11 Point on the 11th
Short story is opening morning rifle season sounds like a war zone off in the distance. 8:40am rolls around and I am startled by a hunter on the neighboring property shooting 4 times, killing 2 pigs and mortally wounding another I find out later. He had to have been less than 500 yards from me because I could hear the pigs squeal after he shot them. Not 5 minutes later over a ridge where I was pretty sure this guy was bedded, here comes two deer and they stop about 40 yards from my ground blind. I recognize the rack, he takes one more step out into an opening and I pull the trigger. He piles up maybe all of 50 yards from the point he was shot.11 point buck on the 11th. Just bagged the deer at the top of my list for 2015!
I would like to thank all those who take time to help others out on this site and 2 other sites that I regularly read. If it wasn’t for the tips and such I would have never seen this buck… I am blessed to have had the opportunity to harvest each one of the deer I have taken.
Long version you can skip and check out the pictures below if you want… I checked my cameras on Friday and put some fresh corn out. I went through the pictures and I had early morning movement during daylight of two nice deer on our property so I decide not to hunt that evening or any Saturday and hunt both am and pm on Sunday. Well my 19 month old daughter, who I can’t wait to introduce to the awesome outdoors, decides she no longer agrees with her bedtime routine and proceeds to scream until she vomits when we leave her in her crib. Clean her up, calm her down, and repeat at least 3 more times. I don’t get in the bed until 1:41am and set my alarm for 5:45am, not even a good 4 hours sleep. Wake up to the alarm and have to fight getting up, but remind myself its opener rifle season and I have movement on camera in the mornings. With the wind coming out of the NE, I decide to sit in my ground blind that was SW of where I’m pretty sure this 11 point beds. I was hoping that I could catch him on his way back to bed if possible. Get in the blind by 6:45am and the waiting game began. This is the opening morning of rifle season and as the sun rises it sounds like a war zone off in the distance. I don’t see or hear anything until about 7:45am. I look up and this ninja 4 point buck materialized out of nowhere not but 25 yards from my blind. Feeds on some corn and acorns and walks over and freshens a scrape I never noticed and trots off none the wiser. Well 8:40am rolls around and I am startled by a hunter on the neighboring property shooting 4 times, killing 2 pigs and mortally wounding another I find out later. He had to have been less than 500 yards from me because I could hear the pigs squeal after he shot them. Not 5 minutes later over a ridge where I was pretty sure this guy was bedded, here comes two deer and they stop about 40 yards from my ground blind. I immediately recognize the rack, but the majority of his body is behind a couple trees. He is looking back in the direction of the shots that were fired, takes one step out into a clear path of site for me and I place a quartering-to shot thru the front of his chest into his heart and left lung and the bullet stopped just inside the skin. Mule kick and he takes off running, didn’t hear him crash because the ringing in my ears from not having my headphones on… Well I give him a good 30 mins while waiting for a buddy of mine to help me look and we walk to where he was standing when I shot. No blood at all, but we could tell he took off in a hurry. We walk down towards the big creek on our property since that was the direction I last saw him running in, but never did find any blood. I decided right then that I would stay out there all day looking for this deer because I knew I made a great shot on him and he would be dead somewhere. We regroup after spreading out a bit walking the creek and decide to head back and retrace his initial tracks. On the way back we find him not 50 yards from where he was shot, he had run down an old creek bed and taken a 90 degree turn and ran up and over a ridge out of sight. Man was I excited to see him lying there, he was at the top of my list and I just got him!
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Originally Posted by JABIII
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