Hunting where I usually hunt, but due to a 2 year old and lack of daycare, I was unable to get out and scout. I know, not an excuse, but sometimes life gets in the way of hunting. So on opening day, my kid brother and a buddy from work (BatMan) met up and we headed out to my normal stomping grounds. I had shot a 3 X 3 blacktail last year in the area, so I figured it would be a decent place to start (turned out it was). We hiked and hiked and hiked. When we finally got to the area where I wanted to be.. Uh Oh, new logging trail. The area that I had wanted to hunt was completely destroyed! That's what I get for not being able to scout the area. We hunted for the rest of the day and jumped 1 doe. Allot of pressure but once we got off the logging trails it wasn't to bad.
Stayed out that night and Holy Schnikies did it get COLD. Next day, up and running after a peanut butter sammie and an energy drink (stove taking to damn long for my percolator). Out we went again. My kid bro found a great area that we later named Ewok Village because it was pretty damn overgrown and looked like something out of Star Wars. ALLOT of sign! Close enough to hear the road, but really thick stuff getting back into it. Great spot with a water source, trail, cover, and a HUGE fern patch all overlooking a meadow. Man was it nice. Ewok would become a common place for us.
I was on my own and could only hunt until around 12:00 the next day. I didn't see anything, but I found some other spots that had promise. Opening Weekend turned into our scouting trip.
We went out a couple more times. I forgot when it was, but as BatMan and I worked our way through Ewok, I heard it. Walking, a little jump, twigs breaking. Yeah it was a deer. I looked to my right and saw horns! Raise my rem 770 .300 Win mag up and assumed what I thought was a good shooting posture. Good sight picture, Safety off, Squeeze...... BANG! Smoke cleared, and the 3 point I was shooting at took a few more steps forward, uninjured. I guess I should say that the range was about 30 Yards. Well, I figured that I didn't have my face close enough to the scope. Hmmmmm Same sequence, but with my face closer to the scope... Another round chambered, good sight picture, trigger squeeze.. BANG! 2 Very distinct things happened, My Tri=pod and sling fell off my rifle (using a standing stance not resting rifle against anything). The molded front sling holder had busted. Oh, and the Deer... Took off. My buddy came over the hill and was wondering where the hell the deer was. I had missed. Range on the 2nd shot, about 35 yards.... No blood, no sign of the deer being injured, NOTHING. We spent quite a while tracking and looking for that BT, but in the end, it was the one that got away.. Well maybe not the one.
Next day I went back to the range and walked my scope in from 25 to 100 yards. Kill Zone pretty much every shot. I had just had a massive attack of Buck Fever and MISSED.
A few days later, we were in a different area, driving the truck and heading to a nice little spot to get out and hunt.. BatMan Yelled DEER! and sure enough, Deer about 20 yards off the side of the road (Buck and Doe). Bat jumped out assumed a similar standing posture. I assumed a rest, but it was his deer, his shot (especially since this was his first hunting trip). He went through his sequence, BANG! The Buck jumped and froze. I had it in my sights, but thought it was going to collapse, because Bat couldn't have just repeated what I had done earlier... Well I lifted my rifle and I swear that Buck flipped us off as he bounded away never to be seen again! We found a couple of deer hair and are guessing he dropped his rifle before he shot. No blood. We tracked it for a few hours, went to another area and were pretty pissed off at ourselves.
Before I get asked, Yes, I am a newbie hunter. This is my 4th year. I have taken 2 BT's and 2 Elk. Not allot of experience, but enough to recognize what I did wrong. Well we didn't tag a deer this year.. But we still had Elk coming up and we learned a very VALUABLE lesson...
BUCK FEVER SUCKS! and SCOUT SCOUT SCOUT!!!!!! It was a stupid way to learn, but one neither of us will ever forget.
