Your Best Deer Stories From All Time...

[halfnelson]

So since it's pouring here , it's a good time to reminisce over some old time hunting adventures from your past...here are a few of mine, and if you have pictures, post them.

Tall Rack 8 pointer:

Had a shot at him downhill from a high ridge, he was with a group of does and crossed a stream and was standing still for a few moments.  I put the crosshairs on him and squeezed off a shot.

It was a quartering shot, down hill and I must have just nicked the brisket...he took off, and I tracked him all afternoon and even jumped him out of a bed.  Very little blood.  I was really disgusted, and went out in the next morning sitting on the ridge overlooking swamp and hardwoods.  I see a deer out about 100 yds going around the perimeter, I grunted and he came in for a good broadside shot at 65 yds.  It was the same buck, and sure enough grazed him in the brisket.

11 pointer:

Was hunting across a stream in thick woods and about 4:15 a buck comes down off the ridge above where other hunters are hunting.  I see an open spot out where he should enter into out at about 60yds away...I put the scope there and when he gets to the spot I give a mouth grunt and he stops long enough to make a shot.  He jumps , turns around and starts back up the ridge!  I figured I  better get over there right away, because it would be getting dark and he might run all the way back up by other hunters.  I get over there, and see where I hit him, a patch of hair and dug up leaves from him jumping... I follow up the hill about 20 yds and there he is laying on his side!  All I could do was think "Amazing" and Thank God after counting the points!  Now to get him out of there and across the fairly large stream.  I called my BIL, and he came and helped me...I gave him my hip boots and I just got wet with regular boots (who cares at that point)?  We had a whale of a time getting him up to my SUV with the rack on the back.  Taxidermist said a good thing you didnt ruin the cape, you'd be paying big time for a new one.

 

 

 

[wolc123]

I have many (most of which have been told on this site multiple times) , but this one is my favorite.   

2nd best 8-point:

The buck on the left was my best 8-point until Nov 2, 2019 (see new #1 in crossbow harvest thread).   I have always been a meat hunter.   With two button bucks taken in the morning on opening day of gun season in 2012 (one by me and one a "gift" from a friend), already hanging on the meat hooks in our garage, I was not overly excited about the afternoon hunt.   The gunfire had sounded like WW III back behind our house that morning, and I did not expect to see anything back there in the afternoon.   With the two heafty bb's in the garage, our meat situation was in decent shape (kids were small and did not eat a lot back then).  It was still opening day, and I had not heard too many shots across our road that morning.   

My wife had talked me into driving over to the friend's house to pick up the second bb (she really loves those).  I hung it up next to the other one out in the garage and ate a quick lunch.    With about two hours of daylight left (I always check sunrise/sunset times for the area on hunting days), I grabbed my grandad's old Ithaca model 37 16 gauge and headed for my stand in the woods at the back of a long field across the road.    It was boring up in that stand and even the squirrels were not moving.  The only thing I saw was another hunter slowly moving across the back of the woods.  I passed the time by reading a book up in the stand.    

As dusk approached, that book slipped out of my hands and fell to the forest floor, below my hang-on stand.   There was a small clump of mature pine trees in the middle of an oak woods, and the stand was up in one of those.  That allowed me to see over the brushy thicket that surrounded the base of the pines.  I checked my watch and saw that I still had a few minutes of legal daylight.    Not really needing more meat, I decided to pack it in early.  I carefully climbed down the pine tree, with my loaded pump gun on the sling (sorry safety police).   

Just after my feet touched the ground, I heard crashing sounds all around me in that little thicket.  A flock of turkeys had descended right on my position there.  Some were only 5 feet away.  Suddenly the buck's head and neck appeared from behind a bush, about 10 feet away.  I quickly aimed at the base of the neck and fired, dropping him dead there in his tracks.   I looked at my watch an there was just under a minute to go.  It was pitch black dark by the time I finished dragging him to the edge of the long field.   I left him there and went back to my barn for the loader tractor and a flashlight.

I have no doubt that wise old buck (probably a 3.5) was using them turkeys as scouts to make sure the "coast was clear" before taking up a position in that thicket.   Had I still been up in that tree, the turkeys (with their sharp color vision) would have spotted my blaze orange camo jacket from a mile away.   There was not much they could do for him while I was on the ground in the thicket, where the visibility was limited.  They all flew away when my shotgun fired and the buck tipped over.  

       

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by wolc123

[Daveboone]

I rarely shoot two bucks in one year. About 2007, I was lucky enough to shoot a nice four point with my muzzleloader on my inlaws farm. I was quite happy with that, but still had my regular season tag, and a long season. Best of all worlds, I happily continued to hunt whenever I had a chance, but has happy in knowing I had meat in the freezer. 

The week end after thanksgiving, a couple friends called and asked me if I wanted to join them that Saturday hunting on their families land outside Cazenovia. Sure thing. That morning was cold, brisk, clear as a bell with about 12" of fluffy snow having fallen over the past few days. I decided to bring my in line mL again. 

First thing in the morning, I was posted overlooking a hardwoods, with a lot of track going through it. I didn't see anyting, but it was as beautiful a day as you could imagine, sun shining on me, the fresh snow sparkling like diamonds, and plenty of squirrels and chicadees scurrying about to watch. I didn't see anything, but still was enjoying myself. About 9:30, Jack wandered over, and took me to a new place overlooking a couple stone walls intercepting in an open hardwood. Again I settled down on my little stool, leaning back against a tree and was perfectly happy to contemplate a nap, when I caught movement out of the corner of my right eye.

Sneaking along the stone wall parallel to where I was, a nice buck was busily following a scent, as evidenced by his busy nose stuck way out in front. I instantly saw he was bigger than my earlier four point, so I brought up my rifle and as he was passing between two trees fired. after the smoke cleared, I could see him still trotting about fourty yards strait ahead of where he was, then pile up. Walking up to him, I was surprised with his size, but his antlers were buried in the snow where pitched head first.

I grabbed an ear and lifted his head to find a fine high tight 11 (maybe 12) point, face andneck swollen from the rut. An absolutely splendid buck. Although I had shot bigger and more perfect, he is by far my most favorite, largely due to that splendid day. Thank goodness I had plenty of help dragging him out! He was aged at 4 1/2 years, wt 218 (dressed). He is the only buck I had mounted.

 

[wolc123]

10 hours ago, Daveboone said:

I rarely shoot two bucks in one year. About 2007, I was lucky enough to shoot a nice four point with my muzzleloader on my inlaws farm. I was quite happy with that, but still had my regular season tag, and a long season. Best of all worlds, I happily continued to hunt whenever I had a chance, but has happy in knowing I had meat in the freezer. 

The week end after thanksgiving, a couple friends called and asked me if I wanted to join them that Saturday hunting on their families land outside Cazenovia. Sure thing. That morning was cold, brisk, clear as a bell with about 12" of fluffy snow having fallen over the past few days. I decided to bring my in line mL again. 

First thing in the morning, I was posted overlooking a hardwoods, with a lot of track going through it. I didn't see anyting, but it was as beautiful a day as you could imagine, sun shining on me, the fresh snow sparkling like diamonds, and plenty of squirrels and chicadees scurrying about to watch. I didn't see anything, but still was enjoying myself. About 9:30, Jack wandered over, and took me to a new place overlooking a couple stone walls intercepting in an open hardwood. Again I settled down on my little stool, leaning back against a tree and was perfectly happy to contemplate a nap, when I caught movement out of the corner of my right eye.

Sneaking along the stone wall parallel to where I was, a nice buck was busily following a scent, as evidenced by his busy nose stuck way out in front. I instantly saw he was bigger than my earlier four point, so I brought up my rifle and as he was passing between two trees fired. after the smoke cleared, I could see him still trotting about fourty yards strait ahead of where he was, then pile up. Walking up to him, I was surprised with his size, but his antlers were buried in the snow where pitched head first.

I grabbed an ear and lifted his head to find a fine high tight 11 (maybe 12) point, face andneck swollen from the rut. An absolutely splendid buck. Although I had shot bigger and more perfect, he is by far my most favorite, largely due to that splendid day. Thank goodness I had plenty of help dragging him out! He was aged at 4 1/2 years, wt 218 (dressed). He is the only buck I had mounted.

 

That is a cool looking buck.  I had a very similar 12-pointer mounted back before the wife and kids came along.  It had been killed by an automobile, on the road around the corner from our house.  The driver of the wrecked car did not want it,  and a buddy from the town highway department got it for me.  It seemed a shame not to have such a beast mounted (it only cost $125 back then), and it yielded over a hundred pounds of boneless meat.  One of the points was broke off in the crash, but the taxidermist repaired it for me.  Earlier that year, another buck had been killed at the exact same spot, and the driver of the van that hit it was killed in the crash.  

I am waiting for an 11 pointer now, to complete my collection of 6 to 12 point shoulder mounts (only the 12 was a car-kill).   I still have my gun tag, so you never know, this might be the year.