Throwback
Chief Big Taw
*sorry it’s so long. It means a lot to me for a lot of reasons.
Been trying all season to shoot a buck. Haven’t had a lot of luck. Got a few decent ones on trail camera but I’m hunting mainly behind my house and it’s less than 10 acres so....
Anyway been fighting a migraine all day. Came home from town after lunch and took a nap to help get rid of it. Had some honey do stuff and about 5:00 I was done. Wasn’t going to go hunting using the weather as an excuse but pretty much made myself go because the wind was almost perfect for my blind behind the house. Got my stuff up and kept my town clothes and tennis shoes on.
Now I’m not really a superstitious person but for years it seems like when I only take 7 rounds with me to the stand my kills increase compared to carrying more or less. So I got my ammo carrier out and counted out 7 rounds, loaded up the 7mm mag and went to the blind.
I got situated and was checking a couple of websites including here, looking around etc. the wind was howling so bad no way I could hear one coming.
about 30 minutes after I got in the stand I saw what looked like an 8 pointer Comjng from the trail to my right. I looked at him in my binocs and saw he was legal and when he stopped and looked at the blind I realized it was a buck with a really long split brow tine I had pics of and had decided I was gonna shoot if I was him.
He stared at me for probably a solid two minutes then slowly eased toward the feeder about 20 yards in front of me. He went behind a pine tree and I got my gun up. When he came out from behind the tree I started to shoot as he was mostly broadside but right before I pulled the trigger I realized there was a small tree right in front of his vitals. I let him take about two steps forward and move slightly sideways and I set the crosshairs behind his shoulder and uncorked one.
He took off running to his right with his tail down and no other sign of being hit. The wind was howling and spitting sleet so no way I was going to hear him go down.
Almost immediately my wife and next door neighbor texted me “did you get him”? ?
Well I got really nervous. I get good about the shot but like the title says due to work and family obligations over the last 25+ years my hunting time was limited. I’m pretty sure the last antlered buck I shot was pre 2000. I’ve shot a couple of antlerless deer but just never had the tjme to dedicate to shoot a good buck. I waited till shooting light was over—never know what else will show up—and went to the house and changed into my boots and got a flashlight.
I was really nervous as I walked back into the woods. What if I missed? Worse what if I wounded it?
I quickly found where he was standing and found a relatively small amount of blood that looked like liver blood. Then a little more, then a little more, and then a little lung blood. But not as much as you would think a 7mag would produce that close. I got more nervous. In fact I had a minor panic attack.
I tracked him slowly down the trail, down the hill and across the spring seepage. It was hard to find the blood between the leaves and the wetness from the rains. I started spells tracking him up a slight incline and after about 20 yards I saw eyes moving about 20 yards away. Was this my buck laying there wounded about to run off? I looked closer and saw that it was a FAT raccoon that was ignoring me but headed toward me at an angle. I took a step to my left and saw a white patch about 15 feet in front of me behind a tree. Another step and I saw antlers, the raccoon then saw me and started running away. It was my buck! It was dead and i double checked it to make sure. He was laying there on his left side, exit hole right where it should have been but plugged a little with lung bits.
The relief was indescribable and the happiness was also. I stood over him and just looked at him.
My buck.
Not the biggest I’ve ever killed, but bigger than most. One of the deer I have on camera that I wanted to shoot to try and find my old self again. That young man that I lost decades ago and am trying to find again through the fog of adulthood, and the dreams that I’ve put aside all these years I’m seeking once again now while I still physically can do it.
I took a couple of pics them thanked him. Then started hurting him. I noticed a deep scar on one side of his shoulder probably from a fight with another buck. I got him gutted—boy that’s a skill you can lose if you don’t do it for a hot minute. Halfway through I remembered to game check him. That was pretty cool. First time I had done it on my phone.
Although I had promised my wife if I needed help dragging and loading him due to my back issues I had to prove to myself I could still do it. I figured out the easiest route—mostly level or downhill and started dragging. 20 feet. 30 feet. 40 feet. rest. Drag again. Stop. Drag again. “Ignore your back you’re still a man” I told myself. About this time I tripped up and landed flat of my back in the line needles. I laid there several minutes in the dark with nothing but the cold wind howling, my flashlight laying on the ground somewhere nearby lighting up the silhouette of my buck, and the black night sky. The smell of the ground brought back a lot of memories. I got up and started dragging—much harder now—and got him back to the point where I had shot him. I put my gun and jacket in my blind and went and got my truck, drove it down to my stand and drug my buck the last 20 yards—-even harder now. I tried to load him myself to prove that I still could. But soon realized that wasn’t happening. So I called my neighbor and he sent his daughter—a deer hunter herself—and she arrived soon after and we got it loaded. I drove to the house and Showed my buck to my wife and got some obligatory tailgate pics then off to the processor we went. I was so excited to be taking buck to the processor I can hardly remember our conversation
It snowed most of the way home. Another thing to make it even more memorable
Later when I returned home that old familiar feeling fell over me. That feeling of success only a true hunter knows.
that’s one goal i had for this year accomplished.
Been trying all season to shoot a buck. Haven’t had a lot of luck. Got a few decent ones on trail camera but I’m hunting mainly behind my house and it’s less than 10 acres so....
Anyway been fighting a migraine all day. Came home from town after lunch and took a nap to help get rid of it. Had some honey do stuff and about 5:00 I was done. Wasn’t going to go hunting using the weather as an excuse but pretty much made myself go because the wind was almost perfect for my blind behind the house. Got my stuff up and kept my town clothes and tennis shoes on.
Now I’m not really a superstitious person but for years it seems like when I only take 7 rounds with me to the stand my kills increase compared to carrying more or less. So I got my ammo carrier out and counted out 7 rounds, loaded up the 7mm mag and went to the blind.
I got situated and was checking a couple of websites including here, looking around etc. the wind was howling so bad no way I could hear one coming.
about 30 minutes after I got in the stand I saw what looked like an 8 pointer Comjng from the trail to my right. I looked at him in my binocs and saw he was legal and when he stopped and looked at the blind I realized it was a buck with a really long split brow tine I had pics of and had decided I was gonna shoot if I was him.
He stared at me for probably a solid two minutes then slowly eased toward the feeder about 20 yards in front of me. He went behind a pine tree and I got my gun up. When he came out from behind the tree I started to shoot as he was mostly broadside but right before I pulled the trigger I realized there was a small tree right in front of his vitals. I let him take about two steps forward and move slightly sideways and I set the crosshairs behind his shoulder and uncorked one.
He took off running to his right with his tail down and no other sign of being hit. The wind was howling and spitting sleet so no way I was going to hear him go down.
Almost immediately my wife and next door neighbor texted me “did you get him”? ?
Well I got really nervous. I get good about the shot but like the title says due to work and family obligations over the last 25+ years my hunting time was limited. I’m pretty sure the last antlered buck I shot was pre 2000. I’ve shot a couple of antlerless deer but just never had the tjme to dedicate to shoot a good buck. I waited till shooting light was over—never know what else will show up—and went to the house and changed into my boots and got a flashlight.
I was really nervous as I walked back into the woods. What if I missed? Worse what if I wounded it?
I quickly found where he was standing and found a relatively small amount of blood that looked like liver blood. Then a little more, then a little more, and then a little lung blood. But not as much as you would think a 7mag would produce that close. I got more nervous. In fact I had a minor panic attack.
I tracked him slowly down the trail, down the hill and across the spring seepage. It was hard to find the blood between the leaves and the wetness from the rains. I started spells tracking him up a slight incline and after about 20 yards I saw eyes moving about 20 yards away. Was this my buck laying there wounded about to run off? I looked closer and saw that it was a FAT raccoon that was ignoring me but headed toward me at an angle. I took a step to my left and saw a white patch about 15 feet in front of me behind a tree. Another step and I saw antlers, the raccoon then saw me and started running away. It was my buck! It was dead and i double checked it to make sure. He was laying there on his left side, exit hole right where it should have been but plugged a little with lung bits.
The relief was indescribable and the happiness was also. I stood over him and just looked at him.
My buck.
Not the biggest I’ve ever killed, but bigger than most. One of the deer I have on camera that I wanted to shoot to try and find my old self again. That young man that I lost decades ago and am trying to find again through the fog of adulthood, and the dreams that I’ve put aside all these years I’m seeking once again now while I still physically can do it.
I took a couple of pics them thanked him. Then started hurting him. I noticed a deep scar on one side of his shoulder probably from a fight with another buck. I got him gutted—boy that’s a skill you can lose if you don’t do it for a hot minute. Halfway through I remembered to game check him. That was pretty cool. First time I had done it on my phone.
Although I had promised my wife if I needed help dragging and loading him due to my back issues I had to prove to myself I could still do it. I figured out the easiest route—mostly level or downhill and started dragging. 20 feet. 30 feet. 40 feet. rest. Drag again. Stop. Drag again. “Ignore your back you’re still a man” I told myself. About this time I tripped up and landed flat of my back in the line needles. I laid there several minutes in the dark with nothing but the cold wind howling, my flashlight laying on the ground somewhere nearby lighting up the silhouette of my buck, and the black night sky. The smell of the ground brought back a lot of memories. I got up and started dragging—much harder now—and got him back to the point where I had shot him. I put my gun and jacket in my blind and went and got my truck, drove it down to my stand and drug my buck the last 20 yards—-even harder now. I tried to load him myself to prove that I still could. But soon realized that wasn’t happening. So I called my neighbor and he sent his daughter—a deer hunter herself—and she arrived soon after and we got it loaded. I drove to the house and Showed my buck to my wife and got some obligatory tailgate pics then off to the processor we went. I was so excited to be taking buck to the processor I can hardly remember our conversation
It snowed most of the way home. Another thing to make it even more memorable
Later when I returned home that old familiar feeling fell over me. That feeling of success only a true hunter knows.
that’s one goal i had for this year accomplished.
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