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Confronting Deer Envy

TNSTAAFL said:
Opening morning of gun season this past Saturday. I set up on skinny public with a tower blind on private not too far away. May not seem like a great choice but I had limited options that day and no idea if the old tower was in active use or not. Just after shooting light a rifle crack rings out and I see a deer come bounding by my stand 40 yards away. Moving too fast to see antlers but looked like a good sized deer. Disappears in brush before I can do anything. Guy walks out from tower to search. Figured my hunt was boogered. Half hour later he comes to my stand to ask if I saw it crash. I decide to offer to help search. We grid search and find the buck which was a beautiful big 8 pointer, probably 185ish lbs (New England style measurements here). For VT, and for me in particular, it was a monster. I've never seen a buck that big in person, hunting or otherwise. I helped him drag it out and made some cool memories and a new friend in the process. He shared lots of info about the land and other nearby spots.

The fact that I chose a tree within 40 yards of the biggest deer of my life is cool. The fact that it didn't come home with me for sure evokes natural human jealousy and disappointment. The memories and cameradery I experienced are priceless to me.

In the end, I realized that one of my favorite parts of hunting is the story telling I get to do with friends and family. I left that field Saturday with as exciting of a story as I've ever told.
(FYI there's lots more to the story that I didn't share here for breavity's sake).
Click to expand...
I like a good story. Lets here it.
 
CooterBrown said:
I like a good story. Lets here it.
Click to expand...
Ok. You asked for it. Can't promise it will live up to the hype, but it was amazing to me!

When I first got down from my tree, the hunter says "I know I hit that deer hard. Double lung for sure! .270. Thing was a giant 8 pointer...had to be over 200 lbs! I don't know why I can't find it."

I text my brother who was hunting to our south to come help with the search. We make small talk until he gets there and then we set up our grid pattern. I pull out my phone to turn on tracking on OnX. I explain what I'm doing and my new friend who is a little rough around the edges, and very old school scoffs and says "we ain't gettin' lost in there!" I opted to stop explaining the purpose of the tracking software (but quietly kept the track running).

We start into the brush. It's mostly waist high grass with some taller thickets here or there. He mentions a man made pond and climbs up a bank to take a look saying "deer often go to water when hit!" I'd heard that myself and figured it was a good place to check, but no dice. We reorganize to continue the grid search. We're about 15 yards apart working our way through the grass. It's thick and high enough that you really might miss a deer laying in it if you don't stay close together. Hunter is on my left and my brother is to my right as we plow through the stuff. No blood or signs of disturbed grass. The deer was bounding its way through so there is no obvious trail to follow.

We actually only are at it for a few minutes. Just long enough to get a little more separated due to thickets we were checking. Probably 25-30 yards apart, when I hear "There he is!" from the hunter on my left. I breathe a sigh of relief and yell to my brother to stop searching and come help with the deer.

At that point I turned to walk toward where the hunter was looking as he creeped closer in the waist high grass. Suddenly the grass explodes as the deer leaps up out of its bed fleeing from the hunter and bounding in my direction and to where we came from (towards the pond). After two big leaps it stops broadside in front of a thicket no more than 5 yards from me! I feel dumb saying this but I had no idea what to do. I didn't see any wound or blood and I was just mesmerized by this huge animal with a full rut neck and huge (to me) rack standing so close to me. The hunter was blocked by the thicket the deer had bounded from. I yelled "Do you want me to shoot it?!" Sounds so dumb, I know. He says "yes" so I pull up my scope and my heart is beating so fast all pulses blend together or it has just seized up. As I struggle to collect myself and put the crosshairs on his vitals he takes a couple of wobbly steps and enters the next thicket that leads to the pond. For some reason I can't bring myself to pull the trigger once he is in the thick brush and at such a close range, in an unsettling situation. I really just froze. I watch him sink down almost like an elevator and disappear in the grass and brush and saplings.

I can't see him anymore and I start to panic that he is slipping out to the pond and out of there to a nearby swamp. My mind processes no wound or blood, but the stumbling....I yell to my brother to move back toward the pond and cover the exit to the swamp so it can't get away. He's a new hunter and was a little unsure of what I was saying (and probably rightfully nervous about 3 armed men in a phone booth with a big antlered animal!). I had to softly yell and point several times to get him to understand what I was saying.

Meanwhile the hunter has made his way to me and wants to know where the deer is. I say "He's right there" pointing at the nearest sapling just five yards in front of us. He looks perplexed and says "Where?"

"Right there!" I explain emphatically pointing at the sapling. The hunter is totally baffled and after a long pause says "You can see it?". To which I respond "Well....no, but I'm telling you he is right there!" I lean back and wave my brother further on to cover the back. I tell the hunter "Hes either laying right by that sapling or he has snuck out the back to the pond!"

The hunter eases forward to cover the remaining yards. Again the grass is so high you can't see two yards in front of you. I wave and yell to my brother to move around...heck , I wanted to run back around the pond myself but I was the only one who had seen the deer so I felt obligated to mark its last known location.

In my peripheral I notice the hunter raise his .270 and, bang! Then silence. My mind is expecting this deer to blow outta there again, but there is nothing but the echo of the round and the lingering smell of smokeless powder, like I had just shot my own rifle. The hunter just stands there and after a pause that felt like eternity I say "Is he down?". He says "Yep! Shot him in the neck!"

I walk up and here is this beautiful, beastly, rutted-up 8-point buck, losing its life in front of my eyes. Visibly warm breath still puffed out its nose and mouth as its rear leg kicked and twitched and its body convulsed. It was a powerful moment as I watched the puffs turn to a steady heat stream and the animal go still at my feet. I know what we do in this hobby, and I have no moral reservations about it. Still, it was a powerful moment that connected me to my inner nature, to my ancestors, and to the natural order of the universe in a way I had not previously experienced in my life. Like I said, powerful stuff.

It was my brothers first official gun season hunt. He's an AOH guy also. Trying to learn from a lowly 8-year AOH'er like me. It was pretty awesome that he got to experience this all, see the field dressing live, and help with drag.

Thanks for providing a place where I can share this story and thus process my thoughts and feelings about it a little more. I really appreciate you guys and gals and the roll you play in my life. I wish some of us were a little more then just "Manbook" friends, but I'm grateful at least for that.
 
TNSTAAFL said:
Ok. You asked for it. Can't promise it will live up to the hype, but it was amazing to me!

When I first got down from my tree, the hunter says "I know I hit that deer hard. Double lung for sure! .270. Thing was a giant 8 pointer...had to be over 200 lbs! I don't know why I can't find it."

I text my brother who was hunting to our south to come help with the search. We make small talk until he gets there and then we set up our grid pattern. I pull out my phone to turn on tracking on OnX. I explain what I'm doing and my new friend who is a little rough around the edges, and very old school scoffs and says "we ain't gettin' lost in there!" I opted to stop explaining the purpose of the tracking software (but quietly kept the track running).

We start into the brush. It's mostly waist high grass with some taller thickets here or there. He mentions a man made pond and climbs up a bank to take a look saying "deer often go to water when hit!" I'd heard that myself and figured it was a good place to check, but no dice. We reorganize to continue the grid search. We're about 15 yards apart working our way through the grass. It's thick and high enough that you really might miss a deer laying in it if you don't stay close together. Hunter is on my left and my brother is to my right as we plow through the stuff. No blood or signs of disturbed grass. The deer was bounding its way through so there is no obvious trail to follow.

We actually only are at it for a few minutes. Just long enough to get a little more separated due to thickets we were checking. Probably 25-30 yards apart, when I hear "There he is!" from the hunter on my left. I breathe a sigh of relief and yell to my brother to stop searching and come help with the deer.

At that point I turned to walk toward where the hunter was looking as he creeped closer in the waist high grass. Suddenly the grass explodes as the deer leaps up out of its bed fleeing from the hunter and bounding in my direction and to where we came from (towards the pond). After two big leaps it stops broadside in front of a thicket no more than 5 yards from me! I feel dumb saying this but I had no idea what to do. I didn't see any wound or blood and I was just mesmerized by this huge animal with a full rut neck and huge (to me) rack standing so close to me. The hunter was blocked by the thicket the deer had bounded from. I yelled "Do you want me to shoot it?!" Sounds so dumb, I know. He says "yes" so I pull up my scope and my heart is beating so fast all pulses blend together or it has just seized up. As I struggle to collect myself and put the crosshairs on his vitals he takes a couple of wobbly steps and enters the next thicket that leads to the pond. For some reason I can't bring myself to pull the trigger once he is in the thick brush and at such a close range, in an unsettling situation. I really just froze. I watch him sink down almost like an elevator and disappear in the grass and brush and saplings.

I can't see him anymore and I start to panic that he is slipping out to the pond and out of there to a nearby swamp. My mind processes no wound or blood, but the stumbling....I yell to my brother to move back toward the pond and cover the exit to the swamp so it can't get away. He's a new hunter and was a little unsure of what I was saying (and probably rightfully nervous about 3 armed men in a phone booth with a big antlered animal!). I had to softly yell and point several times to get him to understand what I was saying.

Meanwhile the hunter has made his way to me and wants to know where the deer is. I say "He's right there" pointing at the nearest sapling just five yards in front of us. He looks perplexed and says "Where?"

"Right there!" I explain emphatically pointing at the sapling. The hunter is totally baffled and after a long pause says "You can see it?". To which I respond "Well....no, but I'm telling you he is right there!" I lean back and wave my brother further on to cover the back. I tell the hunter "Hes either laying right by that sapling or he has snuck out the back to the pond!"

The hunter eases forward to cover the remaining yards. Again the grass is so high you can't see two yards in front of you. I wave and yell to my brother to move around...heck , I wanted to run back around the pond myself but I was the only one who had seen the deer so I felt obligated to mark its last known location.

In my peripheral I notice the hunter raise his .270 and, bang! Then silence. My mind is expecting this deer to blow outta there again, but there is nothing but the echo of the round and the lingering smell of smokeless powder, like I had just shot my own rifle. The hunter just stands there and after a pause that felt like eternity I say "Is he down?". He says "Yep! Shot him in the neck!"

I walk up and here is this beautiful, beastly, rutted-up 8-point buck, losing its life in front of my eyes. Visibly warm breath still puffed out its nose and mouth as its rear leg kicked and twitched and its body convulsed. It was a powerful moment as I watched the puffs turn to a steady heat stream and the animal go still at my feet. I know what we do in this hobby, and I have no moral reservations about it. Still, it was a powerful moment that connected me to my inner nature, to my ancestors, and to the natural order of the universe in a way I had not previously experienced in my life. Like I said, powerful stuff.

It was my brothers first official gun season hunt. He's an AOH guy also. Trying to learn from a lowly 8-year AOH'er like me. It was pretty awesome that he got to experience this all, see the field dressing live, and help with drag.

Thanks for providing a place where I can share this story and thus process my thoughts and feelings about it a little more. I really appreciate you guys and gals and the roll you play in my life. I wish some of us were a little more then just "Manbook" friends, but I'm grateful at least for that.
Click to expand...
Great stuff. I'm glad I nudged you to post it.
 
What frustrates me is being forced to pass on bucks that I would be thrilled to take because of other people's rules.
 
I hunt to enjoy the outdoors and time with my son and because I like to eat venison. I would rather see my son or friends take a big buck. I have taken some good bucks over the years now it time for me to enjoy when others do.
 
Don't be envious. Get out there and get after em. That's the only answer.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
So where was the deer hit in the first place for it to react like it did? Just curious.
Click to expand...
If this was for me... funny you should ask.

We had a real hard time verifying where he was hit originally. There was no clear entry wound (aside from the 2nd, gaping neck wound).

There was what kind of looked like an exit wound around his scrotum. It was at least all bloody and ripped up...maybe if he was jumping through brush he tore it? I don't know.

The other thing we noticed was one of his rear legs appeared broken. It was laying at a weird angle and when you yanked on it, it felt broken up high somewhere, but there was no obvious entry there.

The guy didn't seem too interested in figuring out how his "double lung" shot went wrong. He just went about field dressing the deer.
 
I've come to the conclusion that their are so many variables out of your control. You need to take the attitude of just enjoying your time out there and being content and patient that your time will come. It's easy to get discouraged as most of us know it's usually a slow process. Keeping your expectations under control will let you enjoy the whole experience much more
 
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