Yesterday I experienced my first public land hunt. Man Down and I decided to hunt an area near my house that is accessible by boat. About 3:00 he calls and says he's 5 minutes from my house but has to turn around and go back home because he left his climber. He makes it back about 4 and we hurry to get the boat in the water. We went to an area we thought we could access but it was just too thick even for the Gator Tail. Get out of there and go to the second choice. As we are getting our gear together and exit the boat, I guy comes out the woods and let's us know they have 4 guys scattered through that area. No problem. Our fault for running late. We head over to another place we have never been. Make our way through the thick grown up swamp land and find a couple suitable spots. I took the first one as I was soaking wet with sweat and wore out from navigating the dense woods. Climbed up and waited. About 6:40 I see a big white belly in a gap in the trees. Of course I was thinking big doe. Twisted around the best I could and got the gun up. Being it was only 50 yards, I had trouble finding it in the scope. When I located it, it was walking straight to me. At this point I saw the horns. He turned to my left and I fired. Kicked his legs up and ran to about 25 yards in front of me and stopped behind a group of trees. Tried locating him and when I did he was walking straight towards me again. This time I had the climber arms for a brace and he was only 20 yards out so I let it fly right into his high chest. Spun around and dropped imedialtely. He wasn't a wall hanger and would of been a good one next year. But on Public, you take what you are given. This was my first ever public land hunt and I was super excited. I owe a big thanks to Man Down for being late so that it all came together.

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He was such a good sport he got to go on a boat ride

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