For those of you who are seeking some distractions from our daily ordeal I thought I might post a story about the largest deer I ever shot. Warning it's a long story like most deer stories.
For years I hunted deer in the big woods of north central PA. Shot my fair share but mostly small 4 and 5 point "Y" bucks, nothing to hang on the wall for sure. My father would cringe at this last statement, he hunted only for food - didn't gave a hoot about rack size.
I'm an avid ground hog hunter and hunt several farms in eastern PA. The farmers freely allow you to hunt ghogs but not deer. On this one farm I began seeing monster bucks in September. It was driving me wild. I finally approached the farmer in 2007 (w/ a dozen of donuts
) and politely asked if he would allow me to hunt deer after he and son had filled their tags. I even offered to give him the meat - that's closed deal. I wanted to shoot one nice racked buck before I pass on. To my surprise he agreed.
Wednesday the first week of the 2007 season the farmer called and said they filled their tags and I was welcome to come out and hunt. I positioned myself on top of a tree line hill watching two other tree lines that opened to a hay field. From experience this is where I saw some big bucks late in the day while hunting ghogs in the past.
At 3:30 PM I saw a large buck inside one of the tree lines to my left. At first I thought it was cow that had gotten loose but when I put the bino's on it I saw the enormous rack. I patiently waited for him to emerge into the hay field to give me a shot. I didn't move, didn't pee, didn't fart or twitch. Wind was in my favor and slight at best.
By 4:45 PM I was getting discouraged.
Several deer had emerged from the same tree line, even a few smaller but nice bucks. I went through the mental anguish deer hunters sometime experience - should I take one of the smaller bucks or wait for Mr. Big. I waited - but no Mr. Big appeared.
I began to wonder if Mr. Big had worked his way inside the tree line to another hay field over the hill where I was sitting. What the hell, I decided to check. I had good cover to approach the other field accessing it through a heavily wooded area.
At about 5:00 PM I saw Mr. Big working his way down the another tree line to my right. I set up with my shooting stick in the wooded area so I had a clear view of the hay field. It's getting late, only minutes of legal shooting time remaining. I can't take the shot since the tree line borders another farm which is posted. Finally he turns into the hay field directly in front of me, about 150 yards away - broad side. Perfect!
I take careful aim and send a 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter from my Rem 700 308. Nothing happens - I can't believe I missed - not off the sticks at that distance at a target that large. I crank another round in and take a second shot. That one got his attention, he jumped walked about 10 feet and fell over. I'm excited - really excited.
He's down!!
By the time I reach him it's pitch dark. He's a monster, nine point. Largest buck by far I ever shot. I figure since I'm giving the farmer the meat he can at least help me pull Mr. Big out. The farmer is milking cows. I inform him that I got one. He smiles - heard me shoot twice. I told him I missed the first shot but got him on the second shot. He says, "you shoot those ground hogs - you don't miss" - Ah I reply grimly, "everyone misses now then." I sure missed enough ground hogs over the years.
We retrieve the deer with his pick up. He has butcher shop. Field dressed it weights about 175 lbs. When we peel the hide off there are two shots about three inches apart behind the shoulder in the vitals! One shot was in the heart - the other hit a rib and glanced off it going out the opposite shoulder. I think the first shot was the heart shot - probably stunned him.
Now I've shot a lot of deer but I never hit one that didn't react it some way - i.e. jerk, run, fall over etc. Anyway the farmer is pissed - the presumably second shot mess up the shoulder meat big time. He said I didn't need a second shot. Well I don't comment - how was I to know the first shot hit when the deer didn't react. Anyway - the farmer gets over it and has permitted me to hunt deer on his farm ever since. Took a nice 8 point in 2011.
Hope you enjoyed the story. Wished I could post pictures but my old computer won't let me do it. Best wishes to all - stay safe.
For years I hunted deer in the big woods of north central PA. Shot my fair share but mostly small 4 and 5 point "Y" bucks, nothing to hang on the wall for sure. My father would cringe at this last statement, he hunted only for food - didn't gave a hoot about rack size.
I'm an avid ground hog hunter and hunt several farms in eastern PA. The farmers freely allow you to hunt ghogs but not deer. On this one farm I began seeing monster bucks in September. It was driving me wild. I finally approached the farmer in 2007 (w/ a dozen of donuts
) and politely asked if he would allow me to hunt deer after he and son had filled their tags. I even offered to give him the meat - that's closed deal. I wanted to shoot one nice racked buck before I pass on. To my surprise he agreed.Wednesday the first week of the 2007 season the farmer called and said they filled their tags and I was welcome to come out and hunt. I positioned myself on top of a tree line hill watching two other tree lines that opened to a hay field. From experience this is where I saw some big bucks late in the day while hunting ghogs in the past.
At 3:30 PM I saw a large buck inside one of the tree lines to my left. At first I thought it was cow that had gotten loose but when I put the bino's on it I saw the enormous rack. I patiently waited for him to emerge into the hay field to give me a shot. I didn't move, didn't pee, didn't fart or twitch. Wind was in my favor and slight at best.
By 4:45 PM I was getting discouraged.
Several deer had emerged from the same tree line, even a few smaller but nice bucks. I went through the mental anguish deer hunters sometime experience - should I take one of the smaller bucks or wait for Mr. Big. I waited - but no Mr. Big appeared.I began to wonder if Mr. Big had worked his way inside the tree line to another hay field over the hill where I was sitting. What the hell, I decided to check. I had good cover to approach the other field accessing it through a heavily wooded area.
At about 5:00 PM I saw Mr. Big working his way down the another tree line to my right. I set up with my shooting stick in the wooded area so I had a clear view of the hay field. It's getting late, only minutes of legal shooting time remaining. I can't take the shot since the tree line borders another farm which is posted. Finally he turns into the hay field directly in front of me, about 150 yards away - broad side. Perfect!
I take careful aim and send a 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter from my Rem 700 308. Nothing happens - I can't believe I missed - not off the sticks at that distance at a target that large.
I crank another round in and take a second shot. That one got his attention, he jumped walked about 10 feet and fell over. I'm excited - really excited. He's down!!By the time I reach him it's pitch dark. He's a monster, nine point. Largest buck by far I ever shot. I figure since I'm giving the farmer the meat he can at least help me pull Mr. Big out. The farmer is milking cows. I inform him that I got one. He smiles - heard me shoot twice. I told him I missed the first shot but got him on the second shot. He says, "you shoot those ground hogs - you don't miss" - Ah I reply grimly, "everyone misses now then." I sure missed enough ground hogs over the years.
We retrieve the deer with his pick up. He has butcher shop. Field dressed it weights about 175 lbs. When we peel the hide off there are two shots about three inches apart behind the shoulder in the vitals! One shot was in the heart - the other hit a rib and glanced off it going out the opposite shoulder. I think the first shot was the heart shot - probably stunned him.
Now I've shot a lot of deer but I never hit one that didn't react it some way - i.e. jerk, run, fall over etc. Anyway the farmer is pissed - the presumably second shot mess up the shoulder meat big time.
He said I didn't need a second shot. Well I don't comment - how was I to know the first shot hit when the deer didn't react. Anyway - the farmer gets over it and has permitted me to hunt deer on his farm ever since. Took a nice 8 point in 2011. Hope you enjoyed the story. Wished I could post pictures but my old computer won't let me do it. Best wishes to all - stay safe.
