Finally, my first legal buck!

I had been meaning to write this post for some time. Life just got thrown into high gear between deer season and the holidays. Most of the readers of this blog probably already know how fortunate I was to bag a nice 11 point buck during gun-deer season this year. But I thought I would get my account of the blow-by-blow on my blog for all, particularly myself, to remember.

Although, I was quite lucky to have this big guy visit me, our camp and throughout the state this was a very poor gun-deer harvest. The DNR reported that the state wide deer kill is down 20%, and in the northwest region where we hunt, it was down over 30%. Last year, our group killed 6 deer, this year as a group we only saw 3 deer, 2 of which we got.

Last year, since it was our first on the property, we intentionally hunted on the more easily accessible interior of the land. We weren't sure what to expect both from deer and other hunters, so it was a reasonable place to start. With no blaze-orange incursions, I figured this year was a good opportunity to expand the land usage and hunt closer toward the boundaries. Well, long story short (it really is long, so I will be brief), I had some competition from another hunter, and this gentleman was hardly friendly. So, Saturday and Sunday morning were "investments" in establishing a presence on our southern border. Sure enough, once I was alone on Sunday evening, I had a doe moving in from the marsh on the west. Unfortunately, I misjudged how close she was and got out of position and was unable to get a shot. That evening, Todd shot a nice doe in the northern clearcut/meadow. We won't mention Todd, Jake, and my attempt to retrieve his game that night, needless to say, we were unsuccessful.

As we began the hunt Monday morning, Todd and Dad went back out to find his deer, the rest of us assumed our normal hunting positions. As I got in, I was delighted to see I was alone again (and it stayed that way the rest of the week). The weather was nowhere near as frigid as Saturday and Sunday, but after a few hours of boredom, I started feeling the cold. After listening to Todd and Dad's efforts, I was getting a bit restless, but decided to stick it out to 10 am as usual.

Fortunately, the bitter cold made the woods very noisy. The doe that came in the last evening I heard from far away before seeing her, actually it was that noise that made me misjudge her position. I was determined not to make the same mistake again. So, just before 9 am, I heard some crunching coming from the southeast, the other side of the marsh. Long before the deer came through, I got the gun up, popped the scope covers, and waited for an animal to emerge. I was not disappointed, for a second, I saw a large deer heading straight for a doe-pee scent bomb I had setup earlier. He moved through an opening rather quick, I saw horns for just a second, and then he stopped behind a large pine tree about 40 yards from my stand. It happened so fast, I was confident it was a buck, but realistically had no clue how big or how many points. This actually worked in my favor, for if he had strutted broadside in front of me in all his glory, I most likely would have had to deal with a major case of buck fever.

However, this was no dumb deer, he froze behind that pine tree and didn't move, he knew something wasn't quite right. As I had my gun up, peering through my scope waiting for him to step up, I began to tire. It seemed like an eternity, but most likely was just a minute or two. Without his appearance, I began to wonder... did he sneak around a way I hadn't seen? Did he double back? With the woods as noisy as it was, I should have heard his movement, but I began to doubt myself. So, I lowered the gun slightly to widen my field of vision and give my muscles a rest. I scanned the area all around with my eyes, desperate to see if he attempted an escape, but nothing! He must still be behind the pine tree, but I couldn't pick him out. Then, finally, he took one more step, he was still behind the tree, but he'd stepped into about 1x2 ft hole in the tree. I could see his brisket and lower neck, but no more. I slowly got the gun back up and watched him, telling myself... "be patient, let him come out, you don't have a great shot yet, don't rush it, don't screw this up". And then, he forced my hand. As I watched him, willing him to take another step, he looked like he was going to do the exact opposite. He twitched like he was about to bolt, at that point I felt I had no choice, I said to myself, "take the shot you have, take it now or say goodbye." Without another thought, I put the cross hairs on the only part I saw of him, at the base of his neck and squeezed. Not since my very first deer have I had a deer drop immediately, except for the deer I hit this fall with the truck! But this time, I was rewarded, the big guy dropped right in his tracks, not a single step. Of course, he was still behind the pine tree, so I struggled atop my stand to determine what I just dropped. From a distance I could see a single horn, so I was relieved to think... ok, I at least got a 1 pointer!

Next came the radio call. I knew I was jazzed so I figured to at least call in to let everybody know I didn't shoot off my toe and to standby instead of blabbering. It didn't come out so eloquently... "Ah this is Dennis, yes, I have a deer down, give me a second while I calm my nerves." Yeah, nice, that wasn't at all obvious you were now suffering from post-buckfever. So I took advantage of a few minutes to "calm my nerves," but honestly I don't think it worked too well, I still didn't know what I had shot. I had to get out of the stand to figure that out, but I wanted to radio in an update. So, after a few minutes when the excitement began to clear, I let everybody know I was pretty sure I shot a buck, and I was going to get out of the stand to take a closer look.

As I unleashed my harness, and slowly came down the stand, I started to downplay my hopes. "It's probably not that big..." "I bet I shot that little fork on the gamecam pics" You know, trying to shield yourself from getting your hopes up too high. Well, fortunately, as I approached the deer, it got bigger and bigger. When I finally was standing next to the deer, I was so excited, I miscounted the points. I got on the radio... "Dad! Wow, this is a nice buck, I got a 9 pointer!" Then I took another look at the horns and couldn't count the same number twice. So, I slowed down, took one horn at a time. Then I got radioed again ... "I miscounted! I actually got an 11 pointer!!" I am sure everybody had a good giggle, and expected me to come back on the radio a few seconds later claiming it grew another few points!

To add to this wonderful memory, my Mom and brother Bryan came out to take pictures and help me dress him out. You can see this picture was snapped before we got started, largely because I was still too excited to hold a knife still. As we finished up, Todd also came by to help, we dragged him out to the main path. Todd also had some good advice on carrying him out on the ATV instead of dragging, just in case I was thinking of putting him on the wall. Hehe, no thoughts there!

Well, it won't break any records, we estimated the score at about 129 7/8, he had a 15 1/2 inch spread with one split brow tine, but he could quite possibly be the biggest deer I ever shoot, so it's certainly a trophy to me! The rack was very nicely symmetric, except for that split tine which added some nice character. My only regret is that Laura had to return to teach on Sunday night, so she wasn't in camp when I got him. I called her up Monday afternoon, it went something like this... I started, "Hi hon, I think we need to revisit that discussion about me putting a deer head on the wall." "You got one!!?" she replied. "Yup, an 11 pointer!" I responded. "Congratulations!!! Oh, that is going to ruin my decorating!" Laura has graciously allowed me to mount my achievement, downstairs, but it will look very nice next to my gun cabinet and woodstove.

I expect the taxidermist to be done in February! Thanks all for reading and sharing in this unique joy! After 22 years, I finally bag my first legal buck!