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ARTICLE: MY SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE HUNTS: THE 2011 SEASON ROLLS ON
In case you missed the last chapter of my ongoing saga, here’s a summary of how my 2011 deer hunting season had went so far.
During my annual deer hunting to Oklahoma in October I took three deer during that trip, two does, 98 pounds and 84 pounds respectively and a six point buck that weighed 142 pounds. It had been a couple of years since I had scored down there and I came back with a vengeance that trip.
How could I possibly top that? I wasn’t sure but I was determined to do my best to take a deer during the Illinois gun season or at least get a good story of grief and woe out of it.
Preparations for the upcoming gun season were looking good until we made our usual trip two weeks before the season opener to check our stands and blinds, and to check our shotguns and scopes.
The stands all checked out but my weapon didn’t it. The scope wouldn’t hold zero for nothing. It surprised me that it was off to begin with but that is why you should always check your equipment. Every time I thought I had a good group to work with the next shot was four or five inches the other direction. I came to the conclusion the scope had crapped out and I needed to buy a new one.
I liked the scope I had mounted on my new CVA Accura V-2 muzzleloader I purchased last summer, a Nikon Omega 3x9-40, that I bought basically the same scope a Nikon Slughunter 3x9-40, for my Remington 12 gauge slug gun. They are great scopes and I recommend them highly. It took me less than ten shots of Remington Copper Solid slugs to get it hitting bulls-eyes at fifty yards. Thank goodness too. At $16.00 a box I had wasted a lot of shots trying to get the old scope reset. I didn’t want to waste any more than necessary shooting at paper. I wanted to use them shooting at something big, brown and fuzzy with stuff sticking out of its head.
I was ready to go!
For one reason or another we’re always running late on opening morning but this time everyone was up and ready to go on time so I made it to my stand on time.
The sky was just starting to turn light and it took some focus to watch a three point buck walk by my stand to my right and on across the field. That was a good sign.
The morning went on as I listened to shots being fired near and far. More far than near. Then around 8:40 I heard my son Josh shoot. His stand is several hundred yards away from mine up on a ridge. The battery on my radio was dead even though I had just taken it off the charger on my way out the door earlier so I grabbed my phone and texted him for details.
He answered back that it was a big buck and that he had dropped him. He had dropped him but not killed him as I found out ten to fifteen minutes later as I heard him shoot again. And then again a little while after that. He was worried the buck would bolt if he had gotten down out of his stand and went over to him so he kept trying to put him down from the stand.
About ten minutes after nine while contemplating whether to go help him out or not I heard some movement across the fence and out to my left. It was some deer coming through the brush. I watched them pass through the brush and when they passed behind a big Sycamore tree on their way out into the open I dropped to my knees and took a good rest on the side of my stand.
The first one out was a big doe. Bigger than the next two and I couldn’t tell about the fourth one. Deciding the first was the biggest of the bunch I put the scope on her and pulled the trigger.
It’s funny how you remember so much information in a split second. The doe was standing in the field about twenty five yards away and I remember in that split second of pulling the trigger she started to take a step forward and the slug hit her too far back.
She bucked and went down then immediately got up and took off the way she had been heading up a hill where she turned to the right, jumped the fence and stopped straight out from me about fifty yards away in a finger of trees bordering a field.
She stood there for a moment then fell down. Then immediately stood back up. I knew from that reaction and the way she had reacted to my shot that I had hit her too far back and looking through my scope at her my suspicions were confirmed.
As I was watching her run up the hill and jump the fence I glanced back to see what the others were doing. They stood there watching her. She must have been the leader because once she stopped they started off toward her following the exact same trek. Two of them even jumped the fence and went over by her. The fourth stood at the fence accessing the situation.
Turning my attention back to the doe I had hit I concentrated on putting her down. She wouldn’t present me with a broadside shot preferring to face my direction. So I put the crosshairs on her neck and pulled the trigger.
She went down like a sack of bricks, twitched once or twice and that was it. The other deer decided that was their cue to leave and exited stage left.
After saying a pray of thanks I sat back to absorb the details of what had just transpired and enjoyed a quick snack. Knowing she was down I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to go to her so I grabbed my phone and texted Josh to "Scratch one slick head!".
As I sat there thinking of the tasks ahead I saw the other does crossing through the trees and brush far out to the left and heading toward Josh’s backside. I grabbed the phone and texted him to watch his back as three does were coming up behind him. A minute or so passed and I was wondering if he had got the message when I heard him shoot.
He confirmed that the does had come up behind him and caught him by surprise. He took a shot at the lead one but wasn’t sure if he had hit it or not. But the buck was still there!
After field-dressing the doe I dragged her back under my stand and then texted Josh if he needed some help dressing out the buck and searching for the doe. He said to come on up so I took off on the four-wheeler in his direction.
The buck was down so we started a search to see if he had hit one of the does. After searching for thirty minutes or so we concluded that he had missed so we turned our efforts to the buck.
It was getting close to lunch by the time we finished so we headed down to the truck to check the score with Kenny and Timbo. Luckily I had brought my pack with my lunch in it instead of leaving it in the stand.
Opening weekend was pretty good. Kenny had an 82 pound doe. Mine went 80 pounds and Josh’s ten point buck weighed 144 pounds. Timbo didn’t get one opening morning but took a doe that evening. She tipped the scale at 90 pounds. Tommy scored the next day. Chris would have to wait until the second weekend to score. He took a spike buck.
Two weeks later I was back to try and fill my either-sex tag and since it was the start of muzzleloader season, my muzzleloader tag.
I was hoping that the second season was going to be as good as the first. Thursday evening I saw a buck I had captured on my trail cam. He’s at least a six pointer but with a weird rack. His right side looks like a typical antler but on his left side there are three tall tines all coming out of the base.
He showed up with about ten minutes of shooting time remaining across the fence and on the far side of the field to my left. In the waning light I just couldn’t get a good shot on him and didn’t want to try some stupid shot and miss. Besides it was opening day and I still had a couple more days to try and get him. He never showed himself again and I never saw another deer the whole weekend. I spent a lot of hours sitting in the stand, watching and listening.
Kenny managed to take another doe and like I mentioned previously, Chris took a spike buck. I had one more chance to fill another tag, the next weekend, the final weekend of muzzleloader season.
The next Friday I was back in the stand before first light hoping that something would come to the food plot and I could get a clean shot.
Hours rolled by with no deer in sight. Just squirrels, chipmunks and lots of birds. I headed in knowing that Saturday was going to be my last day to hunt. My sister was hosting her annual Christmas party that evening I knew I wouldn’t feel like getting up early Sunday after staying up late on Saturday.
Like many a hunter who has sat in their stand for days without seeing a deer it would have been real easy for me to turn off the alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. I already had taken four deer so I had to psych myself up and with dogged determination headed off to the stand.
I wasn’t out too long.
At six forty a three point buck came down the hill from the right across the fence. Making a quick decision I got a good rest on the side of the blind and waited for him to cross unobstructed in front of me. I stopped him with a whistle and shot him broadside around ten yards away.
He did that kick a deer does when you know you’ve hit them good and took off the direction he was headed. I could clearly see where I had hit him and knew it was only going to be a short distance before he crashed.
I watched him run through the brush and up a grown over path we had used to get to the power line clearing and the other side of it where Timbo was supposed to have hunted but didn’t. He made it almost to top and balled up.
I had to curse Timbo for not hunting his old spot because if he had the path would have been cleared of briars and thorns and I wouldn’t have gotten scratched and gouged. But I guess dragging the buck back through all of that was a good problem.
After looking the buck over I think it was the same one I had seen weeks before in the early light walking by my stand on opening morning. Kind of weird that the first deer I had seen would be the last deer I would see.
What a season I had experienced. It had taken a lot of hours and preparation but it was worth it. That’s the way deer hunting goes. You put yourself in the best position that you can and hope it all turns out okay. You can sit there for days and not see a deer and then, bam! There they are! And then, just as quickly it’s all over in the matter of a minute or two. But there’s no better feeling when it all comes together.
What will next fall bring? I am overdue for a real crappy season. Will next fall be the one? I guess we won’t know until I live it. Until the next chapter of My Series of Unfortunate Hunts stay safe and happy. – Jim Bob
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