Liv4Rut
Active Member
Most memorable moment in the deer woods this fall? Whether it be a missed opportunity, or a truly awesome sighting of a mature buck, or simply something unique and just neat that is etched into your mind forever? The one memory that is burned into my mind forever is an encounter with a truly magnificent whitetail. I was set up in a clump of trees in a little opening of a really thick timber. It was a morning hunt, Frost on the ground, a slight cool breeze, just the kind of morning a bowhunter dreams of during the rut. At first light a small buck passed by, at about 8 oclock I caught movement in front of me, I grabbed my bow not knowing if it was a shooter or not. The deer was only 20 yards and I could not tell what it was, it preceded to the right of me, and when it came out into a clearing which I couldn't shoot, it took the breath right out of my lungs. I remember seeing long tines, with a typical ten point frame, with split g2's that went up forever, and about a 10 inch tine sticking out from the inside of his mainbeam from his right side. He preceded behind a tree and made a scrape and I watched intently, I wasn't really nervous, I knew my chance was coming. He came into a small opening and stopped, I pulled back but as soon as I did he took a step offering me nothing but a gut shot, I held forever and had to let down. He was a mere 30 yards away. He finally preceded up and to my right which I knew he was headed for a scrape, I pulled back again and waited for him to step into a small hole, I bleated with my mouth but he never stopped and passed thru the hole with no shot. Right when he cleared the lane, he stopped and looked my way, and I just melted. My legs starting trembling, my heart started pounding, I knew a buck of a lifetime had just walked by, and that I would not get the shot. I watched him work the scrape over and over just rocking his large rack back and forth taunting me, and when he finally walked away he looked back one last time, and just took my breath away again. He was there and gone like a ghost. I never saw him again, but it was one deer that I can close my eyes and picture his 190+ inch rack taunting me, as almost like I shouldn't be out there trying to outwit the master of elusion. One lesson learned, Make sure I can shoot every possible trail within a 40 yard radius of my stand. That was the only trail I had not cleared much, and he knew it
That's what keeps me going everyday, memories like that, I still wake up every morning and picture that deer walking thru the woods, steam blowing out his nose with each breath. Now that I got that memory off my chest, what is your favorite memory of the 2004-2005 deer season, I know I sure would like to hear it
