I have had a great year hunting. My son got his first turkey and My daughter got her first deer. I however haven't had to many deer in bow range. Maybe 4-5. One was a decent ten that I ended up bouncing an arrow off something and missing him (clean miss fortunately) That was Christmas eve morning. So here in Ohio we had a bonus gun weekend. Monday was a washout so I decided to take Tuesday off and give it a go with the slug gun. I sat all day. Something I love to do but rarely get the chance to do. I saw 3 young bucks in the AM and nothing all day. At about 5 I have 6 does come into the corn field behind me. I was going to tag one of those for my neighbor but he ended up coming out into the field about 300 yards away. They didn't like it and took off from where they came. A couple minutes later I hear walking through water in the thick stuff to my left. It has rained so much it is a swamp in there. Anyway thinking something may be coming out into the field I turn toward the sound and got my gun ready. I saw a doe first then another. All heading right into my down wind. I knew I didn't have long. I was considering taking a doe again for my neighbor. Then I see tine behind them. I thought he was a decent 8 maybe in the 100-115 range. I wasn't passing him up. He stepped out in to the clear as the doe got my scent. She spooked (didn't blow but got nervous and backtracked) as I was getting on the trigger and stopped right in front of him. I was just about to shoot him. She took a step or two to the right and he did the same to the left. There were som many deer I made sure it was clear and pulled the trigger... He did kind of a back flip and groaned and kicked a little... I had to compose myself. If I ever don't I am quitting hunting.... anyway my neighbor text me and asked me what happened. I text him "buck down" It was 4 minutes after he spooked the 6 in the field off. I got down and went to my "decent 8". I have heard of ground shrinkage but I experienced the opposite. He's a main frame 11 I guess you'd say. He has a split brow and a couple stickers. 14 points and an 18 1/4 inside spread. And mass! He's a heavy mature deer and I am ecstatic. OK enough of me blabbing. Thanks for letting me tell my story... here are the pics........ my son with him shows the mass a little better behind my Grizzly 660 quad
Thanks guys. It was a cool hunt for sure. At 50 yards I'm glad I had the slug gun in my hands. I would have liked to got him with a bow but only had a few deer in bow range this year. Nothing I wanted to shot or had a shot at. Well except for the buck I missed..,. Gonna rearrange stands for next year and see if I can get closer. The property has no trees big enough for tree stands yet. (it was logged 5-6 years ago and they cut everything. Before we got it unfortunately) So I am stuck to tripods and ground blinds. But apparently it works sometimes. I just need bow range now.
Nice buck man!! On another note, in Ohio, party tagging is illegal so you might want to be careful about shooting a deer for the neighbor. Not trying to be a jerk or anything but just wanted to give a heads up in case you didn't know. Unless you were just going to give him the meat and use your own tag. That is legal in Ohio.Definitely a nice buck though.
It's the same in Pa, antlerless tags are license specific to the hunter. You kill a doe, you use one of your tags.
