It's going to be hard to beat this one. I walked in to the bush at about 10 to 6 in the morning, Slowly making a scent trail as I went. I have been to my stand a million times over the last 14 years and could do it blindfolded by now, which is great because I opted not use a flashlight on the slow walk in as to not arouse any alarms to the unsuspecting whitetails on this opening morning. My stand is only a 10 min. walk from where I park so I was standing under the tree right at 6. I eased my way up the tree, taking pain staking measures to be as silent as possible with my hunting pack, cased rifle and folding chair all slung over my back.
AH, finally at the top, time to start to bundle up for the long cold wait. zip up the jacket, put on the balaclava slip in the shooters mitts and.... oh s..t! there's one under the stand not 30 yds. away from me! You little bugger you are waaaay! to early, I can't even take my gun out of the case for another 25 min! In the darkness I couldn't make out exactly what I was looking at but they didn't care much about me and with an explosive snort piercing into the morning silence they let everyone in the county know I was there.
SO much for the surprise attack. Finish gearing up, grab 4 of my custom loaded 130gr. 270 win hornadys and wait 15 min. for legal light to arrive so I can take my remington 700 out of the case. There was a little bit of snoe still on the ground but it had froze overnight and was very crunchy, which played to my advantage. What the hell is that noise in the distance? Crunch, crunch, crunch. Well that's either another guy trespassing on my property or there is a deer walking from the east towards me. The raking of antlers on some young saplings gave me the answer to that question.
What time is it? 6:30, I'm good to go but he's going to hear me un-zip the soft case, Gotta try though, slowly I opened the case just enough to slip the rifle out quietly, He's continuing to approach my stand. Those metallic cartridges sure don't sound natural, I'm going to have to make this count with one shot, no questions. I silently slipped one round directly into the chamber and slowly closed the bolt. I was live and ready to rock. I waited an eternity for him to clear the saplings and show himself (2 min.) and then there he was, broad side, nose to the ground and heading for the river. I beautiful big 8 pt. buck. This was a total gimme at 60yds. and at the crack of the rifle he put his tail up and slowly trotted into the thicket not 25 yds. away from where I fired.
??? What the F!!K, How could I miss, nothing in the way, rifle was bang on at sight in yesterday? What gives? I loaded the 3 loose rounds i had remaining in my pocket and sat down to sulk a little. Should I go down and investigate. I'm only into the season 5 min. I gotta wait, I have 2 tags anyways.
I sat there replaying it over and over, did i hit a branch I didn't see and deflect the bullet? Crunch, crunch, crunch. Holy s!!t there is another one coming from behind me (south) I gotta spin around. Spin around just in time to spot a wicked 10 pt. working his way out of the cedars and into the scrub brush to my left (west) I have 10 ft. wide shooting lanes cut into the brush so now I had to wait for him to enter one. Slowly panning along with him through the thick overgrowth I waited for him to walk out for the good clean shot. He poked his head into the shooting lane, just 2 more steps buddy. he turned and started towards me, head down meandering along the edge of the shooting lane. I kept panning with him. At 45 yds. he took a a sharp step to the left and gave me a sharp angle at the vitals, the bullet screamed to it's mark. He arched his back and kicked, running like a bat out of hell back intothe cedars where I watched him crash. Well now I better go and check the first shot because If he's down I'm done at 6:47.
I walked over to where I took the shot at the first buck. not 5 ft. from that spot I saw a splash of blood on the snow. He's hit. I followed the shining crimson red carpet into the thicket I watched him trot into and there not 8 ft. inside he was lying there.
2 big bucks in the first 20 min. of the season on opening day. I don't know when the horseshoes were put up my butt, but I sure am glad they were put there.
813
AH, finally at the top, time to start to bundle up for the long cold wait. zip up the jacket, put on the balaclava slip in the shooters mitts and.... oh s..t! there's one under the stand not 30 yds. away from me! You little bugger you are waaaay! to early, I can't even take my gun out of the case for another 25 min! In the darkness I couldn't make out exactly what I was looking at but they didn't care much about me and with an explosive snort piercing into the morning silence they let everyone in the county know I was there.
SO much for the surprise attack. Finish gearing up, grab 4 of my custom loaded 130gr. 270 win hornadys and wait 15 min. for legal light to arrive so I can take my remington 700 out of the case. There was a little bit of snoe still on the ground but it had froze overnight and was very crunchy, which played to my advantage. What the hell is that noise in the distance? Crunch, crunch, crunch. Well that's either another guy trespassing on my property or there is a deer walking from the east towards me. The raking of antlers on some young saplings gave me the answer to that question.
What time is it? 6:30, I'm good to go but he's going to hear me un-zip the soft case, Gotta try though, slowly I opened the case just enough to slip the rifle out quietly, He's continuing to approach my stand. Those metallic cartridges sure don't sound natural, I'm going to have to make this count with one shot, no questions. I silently slipped one round directly into the chamber and slowly closed the bolt. I was live and ready to rock. I waited an eternity for him to clear the saplings and show himself (2 min.) and then there he was, broad side, nose to the ground and heading for the river. I beautiful big 8 pt. buck. This was a total gimme at 60yds. and at the crack of the rifle he put his tail up and slowly trotted into the thicket not 25 yds. away from where I fired.
??? What the F!!K, How could I miss, nothing in the way, rifle was bang on at sight in yesterday? What gives? I loaded the 3 loose rounds i had remaining in my pocket and sat down to sulk a little. Should I go down and investigate. I'm only into the season 5 min. I gotta wait, I have 2 tags anyways.
I sat there replaying it over and over, did i hit a branch I didn't see and deflect the bullet? Crunch, crunch, crunch. Holy s!!t there is another one coming from behind me (south) I gotta spin around. Spin around just in time to spot a wicked 10 pt. working his way out of the cedars and into the scrub brush to my left (west) I have 10 ft. wide shooting lanes cut into the brush so now I had to wait for him to enter one. Slowly panning along with him through the thick overgrowth I waited for him to walk out for the good clean shot. He poked his head into the shooting lane, just 2 more steps buddy. he turned and started towards me, head down meandering along the edge of the shooting lane. I kept panning with him. At 45 yds. he took a a sharp step to the left and gave me a sharp angle at the vitals, the bullet screamed to it's mark. He arched his back and kicked, running like a bat out of hell back intothe cedars where I watched him crash. Well now I better go and check the first shot because If he's down I'm done at 6:47.
I walked over to where I took the shot at the first buck. not 5 ft. from that spot I saw a splash of blood on the snow. He's hit. I followed the shining crimson red carpet into the thicket I watched him trot into and there not 8 ft. inside he was lying there.
2 big bucks in the first 20 min. of the season on opening day. I don't know when the horseshoes were put up my butt, but I sure am glad they were put there.
813
Congrats
