Got back Sunday after a two day, 1550 mile drive....
Met my dad in SK for a deer hunt that he had gotten for my brother who bailed on my dad at the last minute.
The hunt was a bit tough, first two days didn’t see anything. My dad only saw a couple including a small buck. I think the first snow of the year had them a bit messed up and with the full moon, all of the tracks were being made at night. The rut seemed to be a little late as well.
So, the third morning I went out, refreshed the bait pile, some oats and a pat of alfalfa, not much if you ask me… and climbed up in my stand. After about an hour and a half, I saw the back and tail of a deer with its head down about a hundred yards out. We were placed on large clear cuts, not real conducive to archery hunting. I had heard a couple of wolves howling and a coyote earlier in the morning. I doe bleated a couple of times to see if I could draw the buck (at least I figured it was because it looked like it was following a scent) toward me. I had a finger of trees that came to about 60 yards from the bait and thought the deer might come through that area. Then, I noticed him looking right at me from back where I had first seen him. He had me pegged. Without binos, I thought it might be a doe as I could see no antlers. I grabbed the binos and saw through my shakiness that it was indeed a small buck. I figured I was not going to shoot him so I grabbed my bow with the camera attached to it and did a little videotaping. I wanted to get a better look at him so grabbed my rifle since I figured I could hold it more steady than the binoculars. I saw he was an eight point with a small but symmetrical rack. I decided not to shoot him. I watched him for quite a while. He blew at me a few times so I bleated at him. Finally, after what seemed about fifteen minutes, he turned to leave. He offered me a nice broadside shot but I let him walk, then he stopped and looked back at me, nope not shooting. He walked a couple of steps and stopped again, he looked back, maybe I should shoot him? Nope, not shooting. He took a few more steps and stopped. Maybe? No, put the safety back on… BOOM, down he goes. I think with my intensity I still had my finger on the trigger and when I moved to put the safety on, put a little too much pressure on it. Or, maybe, I am really not a trophy hunter. In WI or WA I would have been thrilled to tag this guy. Either way, I was done, except for the work.
I felt a bit bad as this was a really young buck and had some major growth potential. And, this would have been the perfect opportunity to hold out for a chance at a big one. But, I got my first whitetail buck in about 8 years, the last being a little nubbin on a CWD hunt in WI. It is the prettiest WT rack I have ever gotten.
They have weird color restrictions for jackets, no vests, jacket must be orange, red, yellow, or white and your hat has to be any of these but white.
Here he is.
