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Friday the 13th is my lucky day

Pathfinder27

New Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2020
Messages
14
Location
Northern Virginia
I went out on Friday the 13th for a last chance bow sit before modern gun season here in Virginia. I've been out to the piece of public I always hunt but hadn't really seen anything yet this year. I didn't get there to the woods until about 8 am and my primary parking spot was taken. I drove on to my alternate location and, luckily enough, it was available. I hadn't really scouted that area and was just winging it. I picked my tree solely based on what I could climb the easiest. I hadn't been in the tree two minutes when I saw two does charging in at full speed. They were coming down the trail I walked in, literally following in my footsteps. At this point I hadn't even ranged anything or set the range ring on my sight yet. It was thicker in there than I first thought and there were really only two shooting lanes.
Almost like it was destined by the heavens or something, a buck came in behind the does, changed directions and went to the primary shooting lane. I grunted at him, he stopped broadside and gave me a shot. I have no idea the range, I just kind of shot instinctively. He ran about 40 yards and expired. The whole hunt was less than 5 minutes.
I think he is the smallest buck I've ever killed but I'm totally happy with it because it's my first deer in the saddle. He has kind of a wonky left side with a large spike and has 3 points on the right. It was a year to the week since I killed my last deer and I was starting to think that I wouldn't kill a deer this year. That all changed and now I have some meat in the freezer again. I'm doing a DIY European mount. Hopefully that comes out as successful as the hunt itself.
 

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Great post and a perfect example for all of us that it doesn't matter how high the the buck scores....if it makes you happy shoot it.

Bonus on the funky antlers!!:)
 
Great post and a perfect example for all of us that it doesn't matter how high the the buck scores....if it makes you happy shoot it.

Bonus on the funky antlers!!:)
I’m a sucker for some funky antlers. Plus any buck with a bow is a feat for me. I’ll take 100 more like this guy if it meant ever killing a big buck again.
 
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