Ok guys, before i get bashed, i emailed rob and told him i took this deer on the 14th of this month, but couldnt post the pics cause i lost my camera charger. That being said, here he is along with the story.
On Friday, 11/14, I had to go help my brother get some paperwork squared away in out shop. By the time that all ended, I had about an hour of light left and there is a tiny strip of woods that connects an airport and a golf course, a highway for the deer. I wasn"™t planning on going and hunting that afternoon, but at the last minute I said why not. Good thing I did. I knew from hunting there two other times that there was 2 grey fox running around back there and really wanted to take one. I actually came to full draw 5 or 6 times a week earlier on one of the fox but it was simply too dark. Anyhow, in my mind I wasn"™t expecting to see a deer, but was hoping for a shot at a fox. After I got dressed and was walking down the path, I came around a bend in the cattails that we walk through and spooked off a nice 8 point which was under my stand. I said to myself that figures, my shot at a nice buck for the year and I was 10 minutes late. I was pissed. I climbed in the stand and knew that the fox wouldn"™t show till last light so I was just watching the birds and squirrels when I heard something in the cattails behind me. I turned to see the cattails parting like the sea, but I couldn"™t see a deer. It was walking right towards my stand, but at about 40 yards out, it turned and walked to my left. Now it was in some real nasty thickets, and I still hadn"™t seen the animal. It was on a steady walk the entire time, but it was simply too thick to see anything. Finally it crossed a small opening and I saw only one side of the rack and said im taking it if I get a chance. He made it to about 50 yards away when I finally saw his entire body and that is when I grunted to him. He instantly stopped when I grunted and looked my way. I grunted again and here he came, head down plowing over the cattails and thickets in his way. He finally got out of the thick stuff and had all branches in his rack so I couldn"™t tell how many points he had for sure. He trotted 4 steps from my stand when he stopped and looked up. There was no time for me to draw on him since he was coming at me. He needed to take one more step but he didn"™t, helooked up and froze. A half second later he turned and made three leaps away from me and instinct took over and I drew down on him. He then turned 13 yards or so from my tree and turned broadside to look at what I was. That"™s all I needed and the arrow was on its way. I heard the hit and could have sworn it was a perfect hit, but he didn"™t mule kick, he simply took three more small hops away from me and was standing in a shooting lane looking around.I was saying to myself how the heck could I have missed, so I slowly started reaching for another arrow when all of a sudden he took a deep breath and I saw a red mist come out of both sides of him. He then fell over dead about 20 yards from my stand. It felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I started calling everyone I knew to tell them the news. I called my brother who I was with earlier and said, " Nick, can you bring the truck over, I just shot a nice 8 pt" he was all pumped up and started to say congrats to me, when I had to cut him off. "œNick I have to go, here comes a fox!" The fox came to about 8 yards out and I pinned him to the ground. One of my best hunts ever, and it was all on a night when I wasn"™t expecting to even hunt.
NJ Buck Down
