Very Good Morning

[davisd9]

Hello.  I have a good friend that always sends an email of his adventures in the great outdoors and I enjoy reading them so much that I decided to give it a go.  

Today being the opening day of rifle season here in Upstate South Carolina and great friend and I decided to take the day off and get to the woods.  I orginally was just going to hunt this afternoon, but going Saturday to do so finishing touches to get ready for today I started thinking that I wanted to take the day off.  I already had two buddies that had killed bucks so the fever was starting to grow in me and I went ahead a took the day off to get into God's beautiful creation.

The land is a new place that some fellows from my church and I found last minute and jumped on.  It is a place of beauty with a variation of hardwoods and pines and a powerline running through it.  There are a couple of creeks that run through the property.  It is a hunter's dream.

The morning started early as I woke up at 4:30 am.  I went through my hunter routines of trying to make sure that I could mask my scent as well as possible.  Body soap, laundry soap, and etc was in this routine.  This being new land I was not exactly sure how long it would take me to get there so I left the house at 5:10 am.

I arrived at the property at 6:00 am, pulled into the gate, and waited on my friend to arrive.  As I was waiting I was deciding where I would sit, the oak bottom I had earlier decided on or would I change my mind.  The wind was perfect for the orginal spot with it blowing in my face and taking it back to the road.  We had walked this bottom this past Saturday and there were at least 5 different types of oaks in the bottom so with the wind and the acorns I decided that this is where I would sit.

My buddy arrived around 6:20 and we got our rain gear on, it was a light drizzle to a soft rain.  At 6:30 we were headed to the stands.  Got in my stand and set up by 7:00 am.  As I sat in the stand the wind was blowing causing the stand to move and creak.  I was not comfortable in the stand so I got down around 7:30 and found a spot on a ridge overlooking the bottom where I could see clearly.

After getting settled, I caught movement to my left about 45 yards away.  I could tell it was a deer and had a big body on it.  Since I had got doe tags I decided to at least get the rifle ready just in case.  After a minute of two the deer lifted its head and I could see it was a buck.  I could easily tell it was a decent six point and decided to fire.  After the shot rang out the buck took off down the ridge toward the bottom and disappeared.  I set my rifle down and walked to the area where the deer was and no blood.

At first I decided I missed but then I remembered a conversation that I had earlier in the week in which we said you should always make sure it was a miss.  So I started walking the area and I found turned up leaves.  I followed them down the ridge and stepped over a log when movement infront of my to my right caught my eye.  It was a small doe standing about 30 yards aways looking at me.  I was watching her making sure not to move when suddenly something to my left caught my eye.  There was a buck laying down about 30 yards ahead.  This could not have been the same deer because it was so much larger than the deer I shot.  

Then the deer stood up and wobbled.  It caught himself from falling took a step or two and wobbled again.  Seeing this it must have been my deer, I was shocked.  I slowly backed out when the doe walked away.

I did not have my rifle with me so when I backed out I went to get it. When I got back I needed to leave my rifle at the car and went back to see if I could find blood where the deer was laying. When I got to the spot still no blood. I walked a little following the direction where I thought he was going.  About 20 yards I stopped and spotted him laying again with his head down about 10 yards from me, but he picked it up and layed it back down.  I backed out giving the buck his last moments in peace.

I contacted my friend to let him know the situation so he got down and started toward me.  I am bad about pushing a deer instead of just leaving it alone so I decided to walk to my friend to give the deer time so I would not be tempted to push it.  Met up to my friend and we went to the cars to put our stuff down so we could drag the deer out.  When we got back to the last spot I saw him he was gone, but as week came upon him I saw him laying on the ground about 20 yards away.  The beautiful animal had expired.

After a long drag out in which I quickly learned I am out of shape we got my deer in the back of the truck.  One thing I forgot to mention at the beginning of the email is that everytime I get in a stand I ask the Lord to let me see deer if it is in his will and if it is in his will for me to harvest one then I am ever grateful.  I feel silly and guilty asking him this, but it says in the bible that we should pray like a child and that we should treat him as the Father he is and we ask our early fathers for many things throughout our lives.  This morning was proof that if you ask he may decide to bless you.  Hope that you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed experiencing it.

[Basser69]

Nice read and that is a stud of a 6 point. Congrats

[vaturkey]

Great Story !! Congrats on a nice buck !! 





                 vaturkey   

[nctrkyhntr]

 

[hookedspur]

Man thats a good 6 point .

[drenalinld]

Great buck and great story! Congrats!

[davisd9]

Thanks to everyone.  Just re-read the story and no matter how hard I try I make grammar mistakes.  I knew I should have waited for my wife to get home before I posted it.   

[davisd9]

Thanks for your kind words Mr. Theron.  Kind and helpful men as yourself help inspire me to try and act as you.  You are truly a class act that I hope people will think of me in the way they think of you.  You have always helped me when I asked and never complained.  Most of the time you went out of your way to give me advice or help.  Those words coming from you mean so much.  I understand we have met through the internet, talked on the phone a few times, and hunted together once but you are truly an inspiration and someone I look up to.  You are the BEST Turkey Hunter is SC and maybe the country and that is only a small reason of why I look up to you so much!

[870BkWht]

Donald,  Congrats on really nice buck.  Thanks for sharing your pictures and story.  Its funny that you mentioned praying for a deer.  Just this past monday I prayed for the opprotunity to shoot a deer with my bow and 3 came in, but didnt stay long enough for the shot.  Yesterday I prayed yet again for another deer, but I was more specific asking God for a deer to come to my stand and stay long enough to make a accurate killing clean shot.  He answered my prayer.  Congrats again. 

[flintlock]

Way to go!!!   God blessed you for sure.   

[dirt road ninja]

a great deer to remove from the breeding pool.

[turkey slayer]

thats a stud!

[MarkJM]

great story, sounds like a gut shot from the way he was acting. He has a nice dark face to go with a very dark rack!

[davisd9]

He was quartering away when I shot and the bullet hit about 2" behind his last rib and lodged inside the skin just behind his shoulder.  It did hit the gut but it it one lung also.  Good diagnosis!

[jde]

Great read and Congrats on a very fine buck..