Ave Maria pass on the last morning of season. I only had about an hour to hunt and I initially thought he was part of a trio of does, but he was with two buttons and when he came in, I kinda just got the tickle. That “shoot eem” tickle. I like venison and though I’d resigned myself to 3YO bucks or better, that tickle came over me so hard that I got surging buck fever from this 1.5YO. So I shot him.
I actually made a low shot at first, looked like heart but down by a couple inches (or so I thought). Came back after 4 hours and lots of chores, he was still alive with two broken front legs, leaking all over the woods, and (I found out later) had a small gash in the outer muscle of his heart. So I left him for another 4 hours and took care of more honeydo, then went back out a half hour before sunset to the gps tag where I last saw him. I circled around and told my neighbor “he should be within 30 yds to your right” and before I could look that way or finish my sentence, my neighbor said “there he is” and he was maybe ten steps away. He stood-ish up, couldn’t get his bearings, and I prepped to shoot him when he passed to my left but he didn’t stop until he crashed about 40 yds away into a dry creek bed. I stalked maybe 20 yds and he freaked, stumbled again, so my neighbor flanked him from a wider path and got to my 12:00 on the opposite creek bank, effectively pinning the buck between us at 20/20 yds. I got to where I could see him laying and trying to make his legs work, distracted by my neighbor who was now just outside my downrange, and the buck turned just enough for me to loose a second bolt through both lungs and out the base of his neck. He died 3 minutes later and I gutted him fresh.
I’m stoked on him. Not the quality placement I thought the initial shot and blood trail indicated, that deer lived for 8+ hours and 200 yds with two broken legs, a hole in his brisket, and a gash in the wall of his heart. I am forever thankful that I was able to get a second shot in him and that almost 100% of the meat is salvageable. I also thought he was a spike but it turns out he was a dink-8 with two broken points lol. I think I’ll name him “The Big 8”…My oldest daughter wants to put his skull on her dresser. Totally cool. As always, I recovered him while wearing the
@Jefferson10940 special under my plaid.
Oh, and fun fact: this was my first season tagging out. Bucket list item checked.
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