Well, after a stressful first half of the week at work, I took Thursday off and hunted nearly all day, taking two short hour and half breaks at mid morning and mid afternoon. I slept thru a good portion of my middle of day hunt, since the wind was cool, the sun warm, and I was in my very comfortable Summit Viper. I tightened up the saftety harness so I couldn't lean too far left, right or forward and let the zzz's wash over me. It was a great hour long nap. Don't know what I missed, and really don't care.
In my evening hunt I went to a much less comfortable stand and didn't see hardly anything except a fox that didn't have its winter coat on yet, but looked very healthy. However, just as it was getting too dark to see,about 7:30, I hear a small tinkling of antlers behind me and just beyond a large clump ofsmall treesthat I couldn't see through for the leaves. My first thought, as it usually is, was that someone else was in the woods with me and they wererattling. I thought, "Gee, how did he get there without me hearing him?" and then as I thought about it more, I thought, " And why would he start rattling now when it is so dark?"
As I was processing all of this in my slow mind, a second, and louder, rattling rang through the woods, with a lot of leaf and twig rustling and snapping. I now began to believe it was two bucksso I startedto judge if I could get a good shot offwith the diminishing light conditions. Not being able to distinguish my sight pins when I held my bow at arm's length, I decided I couldn't so I just sat there and listened, hoping they would fight themselves out into the open where I could get a look at them. It was still light enough that I would have been able to make out their racks. The clacking 'sounded' like they belonged to big bucks, not the higher pitched tinkling that smaller racks make. These were deep, reverberating 'clacks'.
Well, they never did fight their way out from under the canopy of those small trees, but the final flurrish is worth noting. After an on and off sparring match that lasted about 15-20 minutes, it sounded like either a winner was determined or they both gave up on it. I then heard one of the deer walking towards my stand under the small trees, and just as he was reaching the edge of them, I heard the other buck start following him. This caused the first buck to stop, then I hear it let out a loud snort- wheeze, turn and charge the other buck with a
Loud clack of antlers when he reached him. There was no more noise that I could hear after that. I wondered if they knocked each other out.
After fifteen minutes orso, I slowly climbed out of my stand and walked in the opposite direction towards my truck.
It was one of the coolest things I ever heard. I just wish I could have seen it.
Oh yeah, as I was driving down my driveway on the way home that night, a decent 8 point steps out in front of my truck. He wasn't quiteout to his ears, maybe an inch short of them, but he was kind of tall. His mass wasn't so great either. I would have guessed about 100", more or less. I doubt I would shoot him just yet. Maybe later in the season. I'm not sure. I think he's only 2 years old.