My week started off a week ago Friday for our 3-day ML hunt. we got our doe tags from the landowner and I put mine to use the very first morning. 7:30 a BIG mature doe steps out of the swamp, I put the crosshairs on her left shoulder and squeezed. The deer ran 50 yards and piled up, DRT!
Swamp donkey down!!!
Our season closed for 3 days up there and reopens the Thanksgiving holiday for the early rifle season...
Well last year I put in a years request to have our family Thanksgiving dinner moved up a day earlier. A 134" bruiser was killed last year on turkey day while I was sitting at home with a turkey leg in my hand and it bugged me this whole year that I was missing on the peak of the rut...
Fast forward to this year....
Everything we saw the weekend before during the ML hunt indicated it (the rut) was about to bust loose.
I leave my place in N Fl at 5:00 Am Thursday and pull in the gate to the lease at 6:20. I really wanted to hunt another stand in the center of the property, but since I was a little later than I had wanted(couple extra bathroom trips needed that mornin gafter eating like 6 pounds of mom's dressing and giblet gravy) I hunted my stand that is within 100 yards of the gate and highway. Walked in at gray light. Hit my flashlight one time to make sure there were no bears standing in my food plot and got settled in....
At 7:45 I heard my buddy shoot. Said it was kind of a long shot and wasn't sure so he was gonna hang tight for a while. At 9 he texted me said he found it(3pt) and was headin to camp. Texted some of the other guys and only does and short spikes were being seen. Scratching my head wondering what is going on with the rut. Pulled out the blackberry for a quick game of brickbreaker, when something caught my eye straight in front of me.....ANTLERS!!!!!
I'm sitting in planted pines that run down to a small thicket that has a nice edge where the deer travel. Due to the height of the myrtles, all I could see thru my scope was antler. It was incredibly foggy and heavy dew. The sun hitting those wet antlers got my ole ticker racing. It took this deer 30 minutes to work his way down this edge and I was about to have a stroke waiting for a clear shot. All I could see was from the neck up and I could count 4 on his right side.
This deer sniffed every twig and blade of grass, chewed every limb, and made a scrape right in front of me, just taking his sweet time getting to wherever he was going. He worked way around to my right, and I switched my rifle around to shoot left handed(I practice this and recommend everybody do the same. 3 of the last 4 deer I have shot were left handed). There is a clump of myrtles that he got behind and I lost him for about 5 minutes. I thought he might have gone the other direction and was starting to feel disgust when he finally stepped out......
The next few seconds are still a blur. I don't remember aiming or pulling the trigger, it just sorta happened. All I know is the .243 spoke and the 85 grain Barnes TSX did its job. Deer hit the dirt, DRT. No tracking needed!!!! I hit him a little farther back than I had liked to, but it took out the back of both lungs and the liver was a bowl of soup. A lot of folks put down a 243. I can tell you that is 2 animals with that gun and load that have taken dirt naps without knowing what hit them
Not my biggest buck by any means, but probably one of my most exciting hunts ever. I was a bit disappointed he was not an 8, but I am still proud of him nonetheless. Hope yall enjoy the pics and story
Game camera pic of him on the ground and me walking up to him
Nice going Alen :toast . It's good to see you had a good hunt. :rock_on
SWEET! :rockon Congrats
Nice deer! :toast I wouldnt be disappointed with that one either
