Off the snide!

I had a terrible season this year and had just 1 more hunt left to finish the season. St. Vincent Island was my last chance at bagging a buck for the year. My goal was 1st legal deer to come by was getting whacked. Minimum buck is at least 1 forked horn. I had hoped that I would get a doe permit but wasn't drawn again. :taz Got to scout the day before the hunt and found a couple good spots tore up with rubs and scrapes. They were in rut and I had my hopes up again. Picked a good looking spot to hang my climber on the edge of a swamp area next to some scrub oaks that were dropping. Climbed up to check out the view and clear some limbs. I'm just eyeing the area from about 25' up when about 75 yds out a buck with at least 5 points without seeing brow tines comes by so I'm pumped about the hunt the next day.

Next morning comes and we get out to the stands late but get up the tree and set just as the sun was peaking out. Till 10 o'clock we only heard about 4 shots but between 10 and 10:30 we heard 4 or 5 more. Neither of us had seen a thing. We had planned on climbing down about 11 to meet up and have a bite but texted each other and decided to sit it out till 1 or 2. What a good decision that turned out to be.

Right at 12 o'clock I catch some movement to my left and look over to see a pair of forked horns a 100 yds out turning into the swamp and heading right to me. As soon as I saw the forks it was go time. :phear I never looked at the rack again. I couldn't get a good view of him the whole time but could get a peak here and there and could see the bushes moving the whole way to me. As I was watching I realized that he was going to get to a head below me and have to go left or right but either way was going to pop out in the open within 40 yds of me. I watched the bushes moving and he got to that point and chose to go to his right which would put him directly below me. I pulled up the gun and put the scope on the opening I expected him to pop out at and as soon as I saw shoulders I let the big dog bark. He took a 1/2 second to react but then he took off through the water right below me. It was then that I realized how wide he was at the shoulders. This was a big bodied deer for the area I was in.

He only ran 20 or 30 yds to about 10 yds to my right and just stopped in the open water and looked around. That was when I got my 1st clean look and realized this was a good deer. As he just stood there I saw no sign that he was hit. I started to panic at the thought that I had missed and scrambled to get another round out of my pack and get it loaded. Just then he took a step and his left leg buckled and I knew I had hit him. I stopped trying to get another load in and watched as he took another step behind some palmettos and he buckled again but this time went to the ground. He reared back on his hind legs and did a back flip over onto his side and he was down but I couldn't see him. I quickly put another load in but never had any other movement out of him. I put out a quick text to my buddy telling him " buck down! ". :clap

I packed up everything and made the climb down. I made my way around a thick head I was sitting over and found my way into the swamp where he was at. Through all of this I had still never really looked at the rack. I came around some brush and saw him laying there in the water and felt a sigh of relief that I was finally off the snide and didn't get skunked this season. As I reached him I realized he was a decent 8 point. :rockon Just to the outside of the ears and perfectly symetrical. Tines weren't too tall but they told me later that is an island trait. My best buck to date! I grabbed him and began the drag to get him out of the swamp. I got him over to the trail I came in on and snapped a few pics on my phone and got to field dressing him. On this hunt you have to field dress them before bringing them out. As I started to gut him I realized that I didn't get a pass through. There was not 1 drop of blood anywhere on this deer with a Hornady SST. Only 1 small hole going in with no blood even after dragging him a ways. As I was gutting him I found the bullet just below the skin. I had shot him just above the shoulder but at the angle I was at it passed right through the heart and stopped just below the ribs. His heart was just obliterated. Just as I got done my buddy showed up. It's only a 1 deer hunt so I told my buddy to sit here cause I know there is at least 1 more buck in the area.

We hadn't brought the game cart out to the woods but had left it at the check station. :pinch I made the long walk to my bike and then the long ride back to the cart. The GW will pick you, your gear and your game up on the main trail if you bag one so I got them to meet me in an hour at the closest spot where I was. I got back to my deer with only 15 min to load it up and get to the road. I packed up my stand and put it on my back. My buddy climbed down and helped me hoof it back. When I got there they were waiting thank god. I never would have gotten back to clean it and get it on ice in time. We weighed it out at 115 lbs dressed. The island biologist said it was probably about 165-175 lbs on the hoof. He aged it at 4 1/2 yrs.

I cleaned him and headed back to camp to get some ice on him. Poured myself a rum and coke and sat back and enjoyed the moment. It was then that I realized through all the excitement of the moment and in my rush to get back and get him on ice that I had only taken a few pics. Oh well, I had a few and he was in the cooler. I headed back to the island in the boat to pick up my buddy at dark. We hunted the next morning and he didn't see but 1 doe and decided he had had enough and was ready to get back home. All in all I enjoyed this season but wasn't happy that I was gonna get skunked. I really look forward to this trip each year and this time not only did I get to hunt at a unique place with some good buds but I got to bag a nice buck to boot and get off the snide. It was a good end to the season and I'm already pumped to get back for next years hunt. I got a call from a buddy when on my way back that had checked it out and said the island record weight for a whitetail was 161 lbs. I don't know how they could really document it but I may have even got lucky enough to have gotten the heaviest one on the island to date! Just icing on the cake. I haven't figured out how to post pics from my phone yet but will try to get them on my computer and post them up later. If anyone can do it I can send them by text or email.