Deer (General) Season 2011/12

During the season opener in November I passed on some does - waiting for one of those bucks I scouted during the summer, but that did not happen. Made another trip the middle of December and hunted "hard" as Mike Hanback would say for 4 1/2 days. The first morning I saw and filmed about 8 jakes that come within 30 yards, but I didn’t have my shotgun. When the general season is going on, I have to lug 2 to 3 guns around to cover all my bases. For deer I like my Remington 700 in 30-06, for turkey I use my Benelli Nova, and for the opportunistic hog, I have an FNAR in .308. This morning I wasn’t prepared and deserved what I got – nothing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytq3hSlOss

However, as luck would have it, I spotted 2 hogs and took the lead one out at 45 yards with a nice shot right behind the ear. Only read on if you like bloviating!

 I passed on a nice doe that afternoon, and would not see another deer until Sunday morning right before I called it quits. By Saturday evening, Anders, Mike and John had all scored a deer; all bucks. I felt pretty down on myself and began to think I blew it by not shooting the doe I had passed on earlier and that I would go yet another year without deer meat in the freezer.

When Sunday rolled around, we typically only make a morning hunt, pack up camp and are on the road by 2:00 PM. Pretty much everyone came back to camp and started cooking breakfast around 8-8:30 AM, I decided I would give it until 9:30 AM and that I would just have to accept defeat.
Sitting in my G-3 blind, I got up to stretch around 0915 hrs, after a few side bends and squats, I headed back around from the back of the chair and paused to peek out the East facing window. The sun had already broken the horizon and I wasn't staring directly into the sun, but I squinted and thought I had spotted some movement on the East/West sendero just off to the south side in the brush line. It was a buck and he was walking right up to me and had no idea I was there. He was good sized most likely a 3 1/2 year old with two spindly antlers on his right side and a "spike" on the other side; why wait for the extended season? We had also captured several (4-5) spikes on the trail cams and the rest of the hunters took 2 spikes and a doe, I felt I was going to my management part as well. The winds were calm out of the East, he was grazing on some swamp donkey put out on Thursday and whatever the wild hogs left for him; it was his last meal.
He began to turn to the right and came right across the sendero at a snail’s pace, my heart was pumping, finger getting itchy, yet he was still quartering too much to me. He took a few more steps, got about as broadside as he ever would and I gave him a grunt, he stopped, looked at me and I sent the round down range. I hit him hard with the -06, but not hard enough, he kicked up and when I expected him to fall, he bolted into the brush and my heart sank. I waited a few minutes, gathered my gear, chambered another round and went looking for blood.
I did find blood, but it didn’t look like a double-lung shot; got one lung and came out the liver. I thought great, now he’s going to die on someone else’s land and I’ll never find him. I got on the radio and the gallant search party arrived to help me track, the blood trail stopped at the sendero and it was anybody’s guess where he went. We searched in 20 -30 yards and I spotted him in some low ground where he took his last breath. I was both sad for him and elated for me at the same time, he wasn’t a trophy, but he was a magnificent creature and went down fighting. I hunted hard until the last few minutes and I would not strike out 2 years in a row.   Thanks Mike. 

http://www.mikehanback.com/aboutMe/index.cfm