Tales From The Hunt

This is the tale of Mark’s hunt. Mark booked a 2 on 1 hunt with his 74-year-old father in mind. The plan was to get his father Gene a buck first then Mark would hunt. We had some close call and a few missed opportunities that led up to the last day or so of this hunt. After Gene collected a real nice deer it was Marks turn. We were looking for a great buck we spotted a few days back. As we glassed the general area, no luck finding the big one. As we entered a another drainage, we spotted 15 does hanging out around a hay stack. After closer inspection, I noticed a deer I had passed up last year. This buck was now of age and was a big bodied o-l boy.

I was excited to see this buck again! I had pictures of him and I also watched him shred a tree near the house we stay in. The buck didn’t have a big frame but he had a-lot of character. He also had some nice mass. As we watched the duck lay down in an open bowl with his many does, Mark was not totally sold on this buck. I let Mark look him over in my spotting scope and at the angle it was hard to make out the trash on bucks right side. It was the last day of the hunt so I urged Mark to hunt this deer. I felt he would like the buck up close! After watching the deer for an hour or so Mark decided to go after this deer.

The temp was around 4 degrees but the wind was starting to quick up. The wind direction was not perfect for the stalk but I felt we could still get him. We had to walk way around to stay out of sight. The wind was cold and walking was difficult on the frozen terrain. As we neared the spot I peeked over the edge. Deer where everywhere and nervous from our sent. We needed to hurry as the deer were leaving. A bunch of does came over the top that we where on at about 80 yards. I got Mark ready on his shooting sticks. We where out in the wide open! I hissed at mark, get ready!  I watched the buck come up out of the crack. He was the last deer to come. As the buck stepped out on top he looked magnificent! Mark took careful aim and planted the old buck right there.

It was brutally cold sitting on the frozen ground waiting for the buck to follow his does. Mark looked over to me with a big smile and said this was a good birthday. I said congratulations and happy birthday! As we approached the buck Mark could finally see why I liked this deer.