Well the 'G2 Sticker' buck is still alive and I did not see the mythical 'Tank' buck either.
Today I shot the buck I called 'Cheater'. No doubt about it. He was the #3 buck I had as a target buck. I had vids and pics of him all summer. Note: the location where I shot him today is about 2 miles from where I had most of the pics and videos of him.
So what happened today was this:
I found a wicked logging trail, that winds between cutblocks, with a big island of bush that it ran through.
At 9:00 I had a doe come out just 20 yards from me. As I grabbed the video camera to film her, I spooked the doe. When she ran away I definitely saw a fawn plus another larger bodied deer, and I thought I saw a flash of antler... dammit!
Well I moved on down the bush trail and I was sitting in a perfect vantage point. Just a wicked spot to catch deer walking the trail or crossing back n forth. I sat in that spot from 9:00 'til 11:30.
And then at 11:30 I just decided to go for an amble. Why? Well just my stupid luck kicking in again. :love0025:
As I was approaching a cutblock, just past where I'd seen the doe and 2 other deer earlier, suddenly there was a buck walking right toward me scent trailing.
I dropped to a knee and turned on the camera I have mounted on my rifle scope.
It was a super cool buck. Normal right side, left side was a non-typical club kinda thing that went straight up. Wow!
Immediately I decided to pass this deer up and just let him come towards me.
At about 30(?) yards he suddenly saw me, spun hard and bounded away into the cutblock.
Well what I didn't know was that the doe, fawn and the buck I'd seen at 9:00 were out on the edge of the cutblock. When the gnarly antlered buck ran, he ran right into them. As I hit the edge of the cutblock the 3 of them went bounding away.
The buck looked pretty good running away, but no chance for me to shoot, as they went up over a hill and out of sight.
I continued down the trail and 100 yards further, I saw the buck come back up over the hill and he stopped and was looking back to where I had been when the 3 of them ran.
I took a look and he looked 'good enough'. I didn't grab the binos and study him or anything. Took a good rest on a tree. I turned on the camera I have mounted on my scope. The deer is barely visible in the video, as he was a good 250 yards away. I never took the time to zoom the camera.
At my shot, I could not tell if I'd hit him or not, but I saw his tail give a little spin. Then he disappeared and I didn't know what had happened.
Well I went over there and he was stone dead. After I saw his tail do the little spin flip thing, he collapsed in his tracks.
My bullet entered right behind his left leg and exited in front of his right shoulder.
I guess I can still shoot haha.
I can tell you that when I fired on this buck I had no idea that is was 'Cheater'. It was just a good looking deer.
The browtines are distintive in how they laid out. The left browtine in particular, you can really see it, and then there's the extra point in front of the G2, which I called a cheater point, hence the name 'Cheater'.
This is now the third buck I've shot which I had pics/vid of prior to hunting season.
I am a lucky son of a gun...
