kjohn15
Member
Here is my late season Muzzleloader buck. Not the biggest of the herd, but after hunting really hard all year with no results, it sure felt good to pull the trigger. Grossed 141 5/8 unofficially.
The Story: We have been trying our hardest to slip in on a group of deer with easily 40-60 deer per night feeding in bean stubble. We had seen as many as 15 bucks any given night (2 deer in the 150's or better), but with so many eyes, ears, and noses it was a challenge to get in on them. The deer were bedding on property that nobody can hunt (and they knew it), but luckily I got permission on a piece of ground that was just purchased in August right next to the bedding area. The property consists of only brushy terraces on a bean field, but the deer have been feeding on the top side of the terraces where the bean platform could not cut all the beans at ground level. The challnge was that every day we would go out at about 1 p.m. and some of the deer actually bedded on the terraces and they would spook down into the finger where the majority of the herd was bedded and it would blow them out to the opposite side of the un-huntable property. We would sit and see 15 deer or so come back our way by dark, but they were always wary and hard to kill. So, to the disappointment of my fiance`, I went to bed early on New Years Eve and my brother and I snuck out with the double bull and set up on the bottom side of a terrace on New Years morning. The morning was slow and we were thankful for the buddy heater. After seeing 6 deer, we snuck out at 11 a.m. and left all the gear in the blind. We got out without bumping any deer so we knew we should be able to get in that afternoon without jumping the herd. Before we headed out for the afternoon, we decided to drive down a minimum maintainance road on the back side of the properties to see if we could see any deer. We spotted a group of deer. Upon further inspection, this buck was bedded with about 20 other deer 3 terraces below the blind! We hustled back to the blind and got set around 2. We started to see deer almost immediately and they kept pouring out of the neighboring property. We watched 2 really good bucks feed over the hill and out of sight and a bunch of does came from the direction where we had seen my buck bedded, but never saw the buck. After watching all the deer to our SW I happened to look out of the blind to the North and there was the buck. He was bumping a doe around at 200 yards and closing. He was heading straight at us and we scrambled to adjust windows and I got a solid rest and just as I did, my brother said "The doe is starting to spook!" so I took the shot with the buck looking straight at me at 100 yards. Perfect hit and he went 40 yards and plowed over a terrace and rolled into the bean stubble below. The Hornady SST went in thru the brisket and exited half way back of the buck just on his left side of the spine. It blew up the heart and both lungs. The chest cavity looked like a bloody stew. Like I said before, not the biggest buck, but after my #1 hitlist buck was killed during the 2nd shotgun season I was pretty deflated. I was satisfied with this buck, but after watching a 180-190 class buck all season it is hard for him to measure up. I will try to fill my archery tag this weekend and my achery doe tag. Maybe 2013 will be my year and I get lucky before the 10th. Good luck to everybody still
hunting. Aim small, miss small!
The Story: We have been trying our hardest to slip in on a group of deer with easily 40-60 deer per night feeding in bean stubble. We had seen as many as 15 bucks any given night (2 deer in the 150's or better), but with so many eyes, ears, and noses it was a challenge to get in on them. The deer were bedding on property that nobody can hunt (and they knew it), but luckily I got permission on a piece of ground that was just purchased in August right next to the bedding area. The property consists of only brushy terraces on a bean field, but the deer have been feeding on the top side of the terraces where the bean platform could not cut all the beans at ground level. The challnge was that every day we would go out at about 1 p.m. and some of the deer actually bedded on the terraces and they would spook down into the finger where the majority of the herd was bedded and it would blow them out to the opposite side of the un-huntable property. We would sit and see 15 deer or so come back our way by dark, but they were always wary and hard to kill. So, to the disappointment of my fiance`, I went to bed early on New Years Eve and my brother and I snuck out with the double bull and set up on the bottom side of a terrace on New Years morning. The morning was slow and we were thankful for the buddy heater. After seeing 6 deer, we snuck out at 11 a.m. and left all the gear in the blind. We got out without bumping any deer so we knew we should be able to get in that afternoon without jumping the herd. Before we headed out for the afternoon, we decided to drive down a minimum maintainance road on the back side of the properties to see if we could see any deer. We spotted a group of deer. Upon further inspection, this buck was bedded with about 20 other deer 3 terraces below the blind! We hustled back to the blind and got set around 2. We started to see deer almost immediately and they kept pouring out of the neighboring property. We watched 2 really good bucks feed over the hill and out of sight and a bunch of does came from the direction where we had seen my buck bedded, but never saw the buck. After watching all the deer to our SW I happened to look out of the blind to the North and there was the buck. He was bumping a doe around at 200 yards and closing. He was heading straight at us and we scrambled to adjust windows and I got a solid rest and just as I did, my brother said "The doe is starting to spook!" so I took the shot with the buck looking straight at me at 100 yards. Perfect hit and he went 40 yards and plowed over a terrace and rolled into the bean stubble below. The Hornady SST went in thru the brisket and exited half way back of the buck just on his left side of the spine. It blew up the heart and both lungs. The chest cavity looked like a bloody stew. Like I said before, not the biggest buck, but after my #1 hitlist buck was killed during the 2nd shotgun season I was pretty deflated. I was satisfied with this buck, but after watching a 180-190 class buck all season it is hard for him to measure up. I will try to fill my archery tag this weekend and my achery doe tag. Maybe 2013 will be my year and I get lucky before the 10th. Good luck to everybody still
hunting. Aim small, miss small!
