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11-05-2010, 10:35 AM

#1

RonPenner

Typical Buck

Join Date: May 2009

Location: Manitoba

Posts: 669

Manitoba Buck Down!

I’ve been spending far too much time on airplanes and not enough time in a tree stand so yesterday I was sitting in my office when it occurred to me that it was time to get out there, I got out late and bumped about a dozen deer on my way in including a pretty nice buck. I’ve been seeing many of the deer move from the north, usually a string of does followed by the bucks, problem is that often I lose light before they’ve all come by so I decided to move along the river to the north. I have had several successful hunts from the ground so I slipped up from the river bottom and took a position about 6 feet back from the field edge, tucked behind a large oak tree. I cleared the leaves and branches from the area so I could move about if need be, I had the perfect wind NW, would make winding me almost impossible. I wasn’t there 10 minutes when to the north I saw deer start piling out of the woods, they were about 300 yards away. I could see several really good bucks, they were posturing and locking up, it was clear that one of the deer was the boss as he chased several bucks around. Several of the bucks were chasing the does around so I felt pretty confident that if the does started working my way, the bucks would follow. I debated doing some rattling when it appeared that they were not going to work my way but decided that with over 40 deer out there, the silent program would be better, especially since I was on the ground. I then noticed that several of the does were feeding in my direction, didn’t take long and they were heading right to me, I had several does walk to within a couple of yards of me, I leaned up against the tree, put my head down and didn’t move, just like turkey hunting only in this case the turkeys had four legs and fur. I had several decent bucks follow the does, as luck would have it, one buck, about 120”er decided to head down to the water just north of me for a drink, he then decided to take the narrow trial about 20 yards behind me, I was sure it was all going to be over, this is where I was hoping that my super anal approach to scent control would pay off. He cut my wind and stopped, sniffed the air and then just meandered on by, whew!!! I had my eye on a great 4x4 that I’ve been watching for a couple of years, super tall but narrow, would likely score in the 140’s. I decided that if he came into range I would take him, well he did come into range but with about 15 other deer including a 5x5 that was grunting and chasing everything in sight, I had to let them walk by, no chance to risk moving. I slowly look north to see if I had missed my opportunity for the night when I saw the boss headed my way hot on a doe, she ended up walking so close to me, probably 10 feet away, he decided to stay away from the bush a bit and after she passed I had to draw and get ready it was going to happen fast. At 35 yards I grunted and he stopped, I released and he jumped, I heard the sound of the arrow sliding through the deer, he took about 10 steps and just stood there wondering what happened, I debated taking another shot but decided to wait it out. He stood there and looked back, the doe came back to him and started freaking out, she circled and snorted, then one of the 5x5’s did the same, he went up to the buck and started freaking out, ran past me, grunting and wheezing, guess they both sensed something bad had happened to the boss, he stood there and suddenly tipped over, he was done!!
It was one of those nights that you dream of (actually every night in the deer woods is a great one) and I was fortunate that everything worked out. I didn’t weigh him but he’s a 300+ pound deer, had to get a buddy to come help me pull him to a place (about 500 yards) where we could winch him up on to the Rhino, almost killed me but it sure was worth it.
Off for 6 days of muzzleloader/rifle, hope to have another story to tell.

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