Post by nhunt46051 on Nov 19, 2012 9:45:37 GMT -5
Last week I asked for some advice on where to sit opening morning. I really wanted to hunt the field edge and try to catch something crossing, but really knew my better spot would be in the middle of the woods overlooking a deep bottom with ridges on both sides. Everyone on the site confirmed this. Opening morning came without much action, got a couple glimpses of what I thought were does, but they were gone before I could make them out.
Then around 10:40 I heard a bunch of ruckus and caught a glimpse of a doe trotting around and upon further inspection she had a buck in tow. I just got a quick glimpse of him while they were still in some pretty thick stuff. She made a couple laps around the bottom and was slowly working my way.. When they got a little closer I finally got a quick look at him and instantly knew he was a shooter. She proceed to keep running laps from one side of the bottom to the other, coming as close as 20 yds and as far as 100yds. I was having a hard time keeping on the buck through my scope and he was not paying a bit of attention to my grunts and eventually me yelling at him trying to get him to stop. Finally about 80yds out he paused behind some thick stuff looking for the doe and I knew as soon as he took another step he’d be in an opening. As soon as he took that step I squeezed the trigger on my Knight Muzzleloader. He kinda jogged off about 40yds and stopped looking around.. I thought I might have missed, but then he did what I call the sideways death run, over a little ridge in the bottom and disappeared.
I tried to give him some time, but I just couldn’t stand it after about 15 minutes, still shaking from the adrenaline rush. I started unhooking everything and making my way down the tree. I was freaking out and was not 100% sure I hit him or how big he actually was. I slowly made my way over and once I got to the spot that he stood when I shot him I could see him piled up, after examining him through my scope I knew he was done. What an exciting 5 minutes watching him. I was very proud and happy to take this buck!
Then around 10:40 I heard a bunch of ruckus and caught a glimpse of a doe trotting around and upon further inspection she had a buck in tow. I just got a quick glimpse of him while they were still in some pretty thick stuff. She made a couple laps around the bottom and was slowly working my way.. When they got a little closer I finally got a quick look at him and instantly knew he was a shooter. She proceed to keep running laps from one side of the bottom to the other, coming as close as 20 yds and as far as 100yds. I was having a hard time keeping on the buck through my scope and he was not paying a bit of attention to my grunts and eventually me yelling at him trying to get him to stop. Finally about 80yds out he paused behind some thick stuff looking for the doe and I knew as soon as he took another step he’d be in an opening. As soon as he took that step I squeezed the trigger on my Knight Muzzleloader. He kinda jogged off about 40yds and stopped looking around.. I thought I might have missed, but then he did what I call the sideways death run, over a little ridge in the bottom and disappeared.
I tried to give him some time, but I just couldn’t stand it after about 15 minutes, still shaking from the adrenaline rush. I started unhooking everything and making my way down the tree. I was freaking out and was not 100% sure I hit him or how big he actually was. I slowly made my way over and once I got to the spot that he stood when I shot him I could see him piled up, after examining him through my scope I knew he was done. What an exciting 5 minutes watching him. I was very proud and happy to take this buck!
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