It's been a long time coming!!!!!! UPDATE:

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raydaughety
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It's been a long time coming!!!!!! UPDATE:

Post by raydaughety »

I killed my first deer when I was 8 years old, and somehow nice bucks have always eluded me. Well up until today. It was the last day of muzzleloader season here in NC and I decided to give it one more go and wound up harvesting the largest buck that I have ever taken. I have plenty of pictures that were taken by a friend but I was only able to a couple on my camera so I thought that I would share one of them with you all. I will post the "good" pictures when I get them back and will share the amazing story behind this deer. Enough of that, here he is folks, he may be small to some folks but he is quite large for this area.
Image

He is 17" wide and 15" tall. He weighed in at 180 pounds. A good solid 8 pointer. I am one happy fellow :wink:

Sorry it took me so long to get the details of the hunt to you all but it's been a crazy week. I was hunting with Uncle Ellis on Friday and after he sat in our box stand that morning with no luck, we decided to go to the field where Tyler and I have been seeing the 3 bucks. The wind was perfect so we decided to check the scrapes around the edge of the field and found that they had been tended to not that long ago. I was going to sit in my ground blind and Uncle Ellis was going to sit in my ladder stand watching the cut over that the deer would have to come into before making it to me in the 1 acre soy bean field. I showed Ellis where he would be sitting and on the way back to the truck, we stopped at my ground blind so that I could show it to Ellis. When we left the truck earlier, I took my rifle with me but Ellis said that he didn't want to tote his so he left in the truck. We were sitting in the ground blind, just showing Ellis how comfortable it was. As I glanced across the beans, something caught my eye. I had no idea what it was but I knew that I saw something move. The thought of it being a deer never entered my mind as we had just walked within 50-60 yards of what it was that I was seeing when we were checking out the scrapes. After glassing the area again where I had seen the movement, I realized that was looking at the tips of his rack. Yep, that buck laid right there in the beans as we walked right by him moments before. It wasn't but a few seconds that I realized where Tyler got his buck fever affliction from :D . It seemed like it took forever for the buck to stand up but when he did, he had one thing on his mind and one thing only and that was getting out of that field as soon as he possibly could. He stood and kinda turned at the same time and I tried to hit him right behind the shoulder but hit him a little farther back than I had hoped. As I reloaded, Uncle Ellis started laughing at me because I was shaking so badly. When I was about to place the 2nd bullet in the barrel, he pointed to my boots and showed me where I had poured the powder charge down the side of the barrel instead of in it and the powder was piled up on the top of my boot :roll: . I sat back down and got it together as Uncle Ellis went for his gun. If he was not hit well, I knew a place that he would have to cross before he hit the big woods but I doubted very seriously if I could make the 150 yards walk in the cut over. Well, when I got to the spot where I knew that he would cross the old logging road, I looked up and saw his horns as he stepped into the opening. I let him have it again but when the smoke cleared, he was gone. I could hear him crashing in the thick brush. Uncle Ellis arrived a few minutes later with my truck and I got in and just chilled out for a while on the heating pad and enjoyed a couple of bottles of water. There was plenty of blood in the old road where I had hit him the second time so we eased our way through the thicket,following the blood trail. At one point I seriously thought that we had not waited long enough because I thought that I had heard get up. As I made my way to where I heard the crash there was a pool of blood on the ground!!! I just knew that he couldn't be far. I turned my head to tell Ellis that I had found the blood and when I did, I heard a load groan just about at my feet. He was in a ball about 3 feet to my right, looking at me. Although he wasn't going anywhere, I put another one into him. I was just in awe at the size of him. Uncle Ellis knew what this deer meant to me and helped me get down to the ground so that I could admire him and rest my back. As I looked at him, the first thing that came to my mind was my father. With that, I looked up into the heavens and said "I got him Dad, ain't he a nice one?" As I grabbed his rack I remember murmuring something like "I always wondered what you would look like". Of course I hugged Uncle Ellis and thanked him for "taking over" when Dad died. It was an extremely emotional moment for the both of us but I really wish that Tyler had been there. TYLER :shock: , I looked at my watch and realized that Tina should be on the way to the doctor's office with Tyler for his check up. He was so excited when I told him and begged Tina to bring him to the club when his appointment was over and of course she agreed. Folks, it has been a roller coaster ride since this time yesterday and I do apologize for the long post but I wanted you all to be there with me :wink: . All of your responses have been overwhelming. You guys and gals are the best friends that I have ever had and I just wanted to share this dream come true with you guys :D . Again, sorry for the long post :D .
Last edited by raydaughety on Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
God Bless !!!!!!!!!

Ray
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Post by sumner4991 »

Congrats Ray . . .good looking buck!
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wabi
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Post by wabi »

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!
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one shot scott
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Post by one shot scott »

Congrats Ray!!! I'd shoot that one too!!!!
raydaughety
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Post by raydaughety »

Guys, I am so happy. I was with uncle Ellis and Tyler was in school. I sure do wish that Tyler could have been there. I just can't put into word how great I feel right now. I'm pretty much a meat hunter but have always drempt about killing a decent buck and thought that it would happen in Texas but I was able to harvest this dude on my own, one on one and yes, he is one of the three bucks that Tyler and I have been watching since a couple of weeks before bow season. I can't wait to get the other pictures that my buddy took :wink: . They should turn out great :D .
God Bless !!!!!!!!!

Ray
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Post by Horizontal Hunter »

Congratulations Ray. That's awesome. What a nice buck.

Bob
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Rich
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Post by Rich »

Way to go Ray............CONGRATS on a fine buck.

Rich
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Post by old fart jim »

Congrats Ray, tell us about the muzzleloader, that's another passion of mine
time in the woods is time well spent
raydaughety
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Post by raydaughety »

old fart jim wrote:Congrats Ray, tell us about the muzzleloader, that's another passion of mine
We'll do Jim but I have to get some sleep :roll: . I'll update the entire story tomorrow :wink: . But here is one of the pictures that my buddy took.

Image
God Bless !!!!!!!!!

Ray
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Post by Kenton »

Awesome buck Ray, congrats.
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Post by R.J. »

Great looking buck Ray ! Congrat's !
See Ya. ... R.J. > " Remember , Trophies are measured by the time and energy expended to get them , not the size or quantity of the quarry "
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Post by Normous »

You two are going to need one of those hunters Visa Cards that rebate points towards a taxidermist.
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raydaughety
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Post by raydaughety »

I will take my laptop to the stand with me in the morning so that I can let you all know how I got him. I'm so sleepy I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
God Bless !!!!!!!!!

Ray
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Post by Norlander »

Ray,
I'm very happy for you my friend. That's a trophy most of us would be very proud to take, well, except maybe for Mike P and you know him and his "righteous indignation." :lol:
(I had to go back a lot of pages to find that term his friend Becker coined of he and Shrader -- Mike, I'm sure you KNEW that one would come back to haunt you :wink: )
That's a nice wide rack, Ray, and one you will undoubtedly cherish for a long time. May he be the first of many BIG bucks for you.
I look forward to the full story.
Cheers,
Jerry
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Post by saxman »

I'm so happy for you Ray
God Has Indeed Blessed You My Friend :D

The picture of you and the buck with your gun is Excellent.
Congrats again Ray
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