My first Excal deer! Plus my 2nd with the muzzle loader.

[LV2HNT]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I am very proud of that buck. He is a beauty for sure and his tenderloins are out of this world. I always wish I could have let them go to get bigger after the shot though. It is probably my biggest problem. I don't think I have ever had a year go by that I didn't have an opportunity at a good buck but I have had many years where I ended up skunked because I passed up the shots I was lucky enough to get, thinking that he wasn't the big one or he will be great next year.

I love it when everything happens fast too. I have much less time to look at antlers and get nervouse. I usualy know if I want to take him or not after one look and all I focus on after that is getting in position to shoot.

C.F. I was getting scared that I may be cursed after the nine pointer I got last year with only one small brow tine and a few more I saw this season with no good brows either, but my luck changed on Saturday.

I was out hunting from a ground stand in a small pine thicket when I heard a noise on my right. I looked over and saw a couple does heading right at me about 50 yards away. Then I saw movement behind them. I grabbed my muzzle loader got on my knees and looked back. There was a third doe and a good buck in the back. They stopped, probably because they could smell me, and started looking all around. I tried to find the buck in my scope but it was to thick, so I waited till I thought nothing was looking at me and stood up. From that vantage point I coud see the buck real good. I raised my gun and watched him through the scope because all I had was a neck or head shot which I won't take. It seemed like it took for ever plus I kept watching the buck and his rack, hoping he would give me a shot, so I became pretty nervouse. The first two does made their way to about 30 yards from me and the buck and doe were about ten yards behind them when they decided they had had enough, and bolted. Fearing I wasn't going to get a shot and they had made me out, I tried to stop them. They slowed a little but kept going so I tried again and they all stopped about 40 yards in front of me. I raised my gun and rested it on a branch so it was pointed at the buck. Unfortunately he had stopped behind a cluster of trees so I had no shot. I moved the gun to an opening in front of the trees to wait for him to step out. My heart was about to leap out of my chest and I got the shakes. I kept looking up at the does then the buck to keep track of everything that was happening when all of the sudden the does took off and started hauling out of there at full speed. I figured it was over but to my surprise the buck stayed... right behind the bunch of trees. I knew he was getting ready to take off too so I looked through the scope and started praying for a shot. A few more seconds passed and I see his chest come out from behind the trees and through the scope, then his shoulder, and I squeezed the trigger. I think he was just in the first steps of turning and taking off at a dead run when I got my chance. I took it and watched him run off after the smoke cleared followed by a fourth doe that came in behind them all. I reloaded and went looking for him. Blood was hard to find but I noticed a couple specks about 50 yards from the shot. From there it got better. I followed the trail for about 150 yards before I found him. That was with a heart shot too!

So I found my Trophy!!! He was killed less than a quarter mile away from my crossbow buck. They may share some of the same genes. It is interesting to see them both and compare the differences. This new buck is 4.5 years old which will give you an idea of why I wanted to let the first one go, only being 2.5, but I still found myself saying I wish this one could have made it till next year anyway. He seems like he may have been starting to grow some realy cool extra points like kickers and a drop down but I guess he won't have the chance now. It is always a gamble to be selective while hunting but it makes it so much more fun and rewarding when it works out. I had a nice 8 pointer in front of me for a while the night before but he was young. His rack was beautifull because it was snow white but it was a bit small. I thought about taking him but decided to pass which ended up being a good choice because I probably would not have gotten this guy the next day. He has the longest main beams of any deer taken so far this year (24.25'' they actualy cross in the front) and he has good mass, tine length, and symetry, but his spread is not great. I think I will probably score him as a doe for the contest but havn't decided yet. I would like to see how the typical/non typical disscussion turns out and I am not clear about how to measure inside spread yet. Do you measure from the inside of the main beams across the widest point or do you go from the outside of one beam to the outside of the other? I have one buck tag left and a little over a month so I am hoping I will find a buck with a good spread somewhere.

Anyhow, this is him. Congrats again to all who have gotten lucky so far and good luck to everybody.





8 point
113 lbs
4.5 years old
Taken with a knight muzzle loader @ 40 yards.

[R.J.]

Congrat's .... beauty bucks !

[DanO]

Tha's a nice buck and I think it's cool that you can display it in your backyard. Which looks to be quite developed and high density. I wonder how that would go over in alot of areas in Southern Ontario. Toronto??? for example!

I hang my deer in my garage but I'm in a more rural area of Ontario.

DanO.

[Boo]

Very nice animal! That last picture is a hanger just like the deer itself! Great smile too!

[saxman]

He's a beauty.
I like clean racks like that.

[taxman]

nice deer there. were they both killed at Quantico? i didnt know that they let you use muzzleloaders. i know that they have a slug season. as you can tell--i dont hunt there. my buddy killed a nice rack der there last saturday. he had to find it on sunday. a 6pt(no brow tines) 20" spread. only weighed 90 lbs he said.anyway-i salute you for passing younger deer in hoped of tagging a larger one..

[LV2HNT]

Thanks everyone.

Dano and Boo, I do live in a high population area. My house is in that development in the backround. I would have liked to have taken a picture in the field but I didn't have a camera. I had to go home and borrow my girlfriends camera to take a pic before I dropped it off at the butcher. I would have liked to cut him up myself and take a picture of him in my yard but I would have had to drag him 50 yards from my truck to the house right up the sidewalk by a bunch of other houses. I don't want to offend my neighbors, so that was not an option. So I drove behind the shopping center next to the development for a quick photo op and it was off to the processor. There were no people around and the view from the houses would have been blocked by my truck. I am glad you aprove of the pic because I wasn't too happy with it. It felt like I was doing something wrong by sneaking out to a place where there were no people and pulling him out for a couple of quick pictures on the tailgate. Still it is better than offending my neighbors or worse, their children.

Taxman, You are right. They are Quantico bucks. They don't have a muzzle loader season there, but they allow us to use muzzle loaders during the shotgun season. I am hoping to find one like your buddies next, but hopefully with a couple brow tines. I am glad he found him. I had to leave my buck over night last year and it sucked, but I found him the next morning before the cyotes so all was well. 90 to 110 lbs is average weight for a good buck this time of year because they have lost a lot of weight during the rut and the hunting preasure has them to the point where they bed down pretty much all day, instead of eating.