HuntingNet.com Forums - First Buck Of The Year

I got a late start yesterday morning and arrived at the farm about 5:45 am. The horizon was getting light so I didn't have to use a flashligh to get to the stand. This wasn't too much concern because most of the deer I had been seeing were not coming to the field until after 8:30 am. I got to my stand, climbed up and sat down to get comfortable. A little after 7am I heard something coming straight up behind me. I turned to see if I could see anyting but the woods are still full of leaves here in eastern, NC so my visibility was cut to about 30 or 40 yards. As it got closer I could tell it wasn't one of the 5,000 squirrels that I had seen that morning. The sound would stop and then continue again. After about 15 minutes I could tell what ever it was had turned and was heading toward the swamp to my left and behind me. After another 10 minutes or so I could hear something walking in water. I listened and could'nt hear any duck squawking so I assumed it was a deer. I sat there for almost 45 minutes watching and listening but still could'nt see what was making all this noise.

What I did next, some of you are going to think is no big deal, but this was a first time for me and it paid off. I got down out of the stand and walked down the edge of the soy-bean field about 150 yards and entered a finger-slice of hard woods and pines between the field and the swamp. I was trying to get up in front of the deer and cut him off. As luck would have it the wind was blowing straight into my face. I discovered an area along the edge of the swamp that formed a dog-leg to the left and away from the field. There was water on both sides of a 20 yard strip of dry land so I figured the deer would cross here. I stood beside a couple of tress to help break up my outline and waited what seemed like an hour (more like 10 minutes). I heard something coming through the dry leaves and looked up to see a small 7 pointer coming straight to me. He was steady moving his head up and down and side to side looking and smelling. As he approached me I slowly raised the rifle to my shoulder and began to watch him through the scope. He got to within 15 yards of me and stiffened to a quick halt, BUSTED! He was looking straight at me. I then saw his front left leg twitch and I knew he was about to put some real estate between me and him. I snapped off a quick round from my 7 mag hitting him just left of his center chest. That 140 grain core-lokt soft point sat him back on his rear and he twisted and ran about 10 yards and fell dead.

I give credit to this kill of 10% skill and 90% dumb luck but the top shelf of my freezeer sure does look good.

Cloudwalker's Appalachian Trail Page