|
Hunt America
I "met" Justin over at Hunt America. We both moderated forums there. He still does. He is the moderator of the youth
forum. This young man is very level headed and is a great role model for the other youth hunters who frequent this site. Well
done Justin! Here's Justin's story:
I got in my stand around 6:05, and around 10 minutes later, I saw a deer. It was too dark to shoot yet, and I watched it. It
messed around my stand for a while, and it came within 15 yards at one time. Then, just as it got light enough to shoot, it
was behind too much brush to shoot, but it was only 20 yards away. Another deer came from my other side and joined it, a smaller
doe. If I was paying attention instead of watching the 1st deer, I could've taken it pretty easily. But, the 1st deer stood
there and watched me for 20 minutes, 20 yards away, and only twitched its ears occasionally. Talk about nerve racking! I could
hear my heart beating through my coat (it was pretty warm, though, I think it was around 22). Anyway, it just turned around
and walked away through too many trees to shoot, walking towards one of my dad's old stands, but he wasn't in that one today.
Then, for some reason, both deer turned to the right, and came through an opening. I let the 1st deer walk through, as it
was a little smaller, then the bigger one came through a little farther up, and there were a lot of branches in the way. I
found a little hole near it's shoulder, though, and squeezed the trigger. The rifle was still going up in recoil and I saw
it falling down, never took a step. The other deer stood in the thicket for a while, but never came down. I went and checked
my deer, when my dad came from my right and we gutted the deer out. I drug it down to my friend's house, talked to him for
a few minutes, and went back to my stand. I just finished a sandwich after I saw down again, and was putting the bag back
in my pocket, when I heard a crash. I turned my head to my left and heard a grunt, too. The 1st deer was a doe, but I knew
I heard a grunt, and looked for the buck. It came running right behind it, head down, and I knew it wasn't going to stop.
The doe came through an opening right in front of me, and I got my rifle on it waiting for the buck. It came through and I
shot. It did a back kick and I knew I hit it.
The doe stopped at the edge
of a thicket to my right, and the buck stopped a little farther away from me than that doe at the same edge. I was trying
to get another round into him, when i heard his death rattle, and he wobbled and went off into the thicket. I tried to get
a shot at the doe, too, but it went off through the thicket, never giving me a shot. So, I climbed down from the stand, hoping
I would find the buck right inside the thicket. I wasn't on the ground for more than 10 seconds when I heard my dad shoot.
I thought maybe my buck had gotten down to him and he took a shot at him as well. I started looking for blood where I thought
I shot, and there was none. Darn. I knew I hit him, but where was the blood. Well, I felt kind of stupid when I walked 10
more yards and found the trail, there was blood sprinkled about 3 feet wide, and I knew it didn't make it to my dad. It didn't,
I followed the trail about 30 yards and found a pretty nice 7-point. The doe that was with it ran down to my dad, and he got
it, too. It was a good day for both of us.
|
