Tree stand was letting me down

John Y Cannuck

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I had seen one deer all of first week from all our various stands so I took a wild step Saturday morning. I grabbed my folding chair, and my cap light, and headed our an hour and a half early with a pretty good idea of where I wanted to be, but never been there before. I crossed a small swamp in the dark, and made my way along the back side of it to a spot backing on thick stuff, and overlooking hardwoods, where I knew I was close to a couple of trails. I parked myself under a few Balsams, conveniently pruned for me by moose.
Checked my watch, had an hour to legal. Looong wait, Checked again, ten minutes into legal. Looked up, and a big buck had just "appeared".

I got the '94 up, and found the front site invisible, still too dark to shoot. Legal light is to identify your target remember, i could easily do that.

so I waited, he went behind a big rock, and was doing doing something over there, I figured 50 yards away.

Gradually the light improved, I could see the front sight, but only the arse end of the buck. I slowly leaned to the side, and as i did so, he began to move. Crap, he knows somethings up!

He turned, and walked behind the rock again, emerging on the other side, BANG! He jumped forward, and vanished. I ran toward him a few steps hoping for another shot. He was gone! Vanished without a trace, I listened, not a sound. DAMN F"N Ghost deer! CRAP!

So, from where I saw him last I walked a circle looking for his track. Light was gradually improving at this point. And I knew I had to wait when found his track, but where was the track?

Completed the circle, without finding the track. WTF?

I decided to go back to my seat and re-envision the shot. I looked back at the stand, and there he was. My track circle had been too large, he had fallen to the 30-30 within two bounds of where he stood. The vanishing act, was because he bounded down slope from me.
 
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Weight by girth said 244lbs live weight. It predicted 110lbs of meat. We got 120, and we cut about ten pounds of fat off his backside. He had a half dozen holes in his hide from fighting, hair pushed right through the hide, but not yet infected. I never did see this other buck.
I saw about half a dozen deer over the week and a half i was in camp near Minden. I was driven to leave by snow depth. The camp is a long ways back in the bush, and the trail is a tough one when wet, snow makes it worse.

I dragged him about a hundred yards across the swamp, then went out and got the ATV and trailer. The trail is far too muddy to even consider dragging a deer down it. The trip out, i managed to avoid using the winch, but there was a lot of spinning, some side slipping, and a few times i had to back down and take a second run at the hills. Hauling a full trailer makes it a challenge. I hunt alone, so no second machine to winch to, sometimes finding a winch spot can be a challenge. i carry extra cable to extend my reach.
 
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congrats, i'll be eating my tag too. the neighbour got the 8 pointer i was seeing on the cam. maybe something will come up during muzzle loader but i am staying in today.
 
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