So this morning I was back in the woods with the new TC Bone Collector for the first day of the Controlled Hunt. I was in my stand 1.5hrs before shooting light because I was hunting the bedding area, a thick tangle of a mess Chris and I have humped a few deer out of, always swearing to never do it again.
Right at first light I could hear an aweful racket to the west of me. It sounded like a hunter stumbling through the woods with no sense of direction or flashlight. I thought the day was done, but then 10 minutes later a fork horn comes in from that direction. I doe bleated to him but he didn't pay any attention. He moved off to the south and vanished.
Then the racket started up again. I thought it was weird that the fork didn't seem to be bothered by the noise.
Around 8:30a.m. I heard a deer walking in the flooded timber. I couldn't nail down the direction, so out came the bleat can again. Two hits on it and I could hear the deer getting closer. I looked to the west from where the fork had come and saw movement, then RACK!!!
Not a doubt in my mind that this guy was going to get a thump from the .50cal if he presented a shot. He came into 50 yards and stopped to look for the doe he heard. Then he did what so many other decent bucks have done to me over the years, he stepped behind some cover and went silent. I have had a few really good bucks do this to me in the past. They duck behind cover and head straight away, never to be seen again.
He stayed motionless for 10 minutes and then figured he wanted to give it one last look. He came out of the cedars and gave me a 30 yard broadside shot. Through the smoke I could see him run off and crash. He never got up.
This is my biggest deer to date and he has not come easy. Chris and I have hunted and scouted hard over the past few years trying to pattern the big boys and it is finally starting to pay off.
Not sure what he scores, but his G2s are huge. I'm not sure who won the tug of war on the way out, but my back will most likely be on the losing end in the morning.
Where he fell................
The happy hunter............
Chris gave me a BLOOD TRAIL ALE shirt last week and I told him I would wear it today for good luck. Chris, I'll take another dozen please!!!
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The racket that I heard was this fella tearing up the trees. When I first got up to him I could see a huge bunch of green shavings on his forehead.
Good luck to all that are still chasing deer. For me, it's back to work for another long haul until turkey season.
