I'm going to start by saying I'm not a very accomplished deer hunter. I started hunting later in life and while I managed to put an arrow through a doe on the last day of my first season the next few years have been devoid of venison. Oh I've come close. I've had three deer I couldn't recover. One because of a problem land owner and a deer I pushed in my inexperience. I've had two other's that two different mechanicals under performed on (I don't use them anymore). One of those deer I tried to track for two days unsuccessfully. Day one being to the end of the blood trail and day two being a grid search in the swamp during a rain storm. I've seen lots of deer, had moments where if I could have just been able to turn a little more I could have shot some beauty deer, and been convinced many many many times that raging herds of deer were coming at me and then watching the squirrels rampage by.
My frustration level peaked last year when, in a fit of despair and low self esteem, I didn't even get a deer tag.This year I vowed it would be different. I got my tag early so I could once again join Dythbringer in the deer bush. My wife pushed me a bit and made sure I finally caved in and got a shotgun tag and stopped relying solely on archery. I bow hunted deer a few times without success and waited for the controlled hunt.
A week before the season started Dythbringer asked me what my plan was. I said buck shot. He didn't like that idea and graciously offered up his muzzle loader. I had a limited time to zero it and come hunt day I opened a new box of powder. That proved to be a blessing and a curse all at the same time.I had two days to hunt and only one piece of bush that I had any idea about where to set up. I hadn't been in it for a couple of years but that's ok. Deer are dependable that way...until they aren't. What could go wrong? First gun hunt in a southern ontario forest that I haven't seen in two years? If you ask me it seems like the nearly perfect set up. :) So confident was I in my success I couldn't even be bothered to organize a tree stand. Pfft! hadn't got me a deer in four years anyway.
So off I trudge in the dark. A good hour before sun up. I got into the area of the bush I wanted. As usual my site selection was maybe a little stressful because it was dark but I eventually found a deadfall that I liked and set up my blind material and chair and hunkered down behind it. Not going to lie. I did struggle with the idea I didn't need to be within 20 yards of where I hoped to see a deer. I couldn't seem to figure out how to move to a better distance given I now had a muzzle loader.
Not long after sun up I realised that, much to my surprise, there was a bit of a ridge in front of me and I was on top of it. It was an interesting way I found out too. A pair of does popped over the top of it, down wind, and stared at me from 10 yards. I started to bring my gun up. It touched a twig as I took it off my lap. The little noise got a quick glare from the lead doe. I froze. A few moments later she relaxed and began to move again. I brought me gun up as she passed behind a small tree. Put my eye to the scope and...everything vanished into the fuzzy mass of undeterminable site picture of a 9X scope set on 9X. Crap!! Hadn't thought of that. (Dythbringer laughed really hard when he heard that part. Go figure) I could pretty much make out the tip of a hair I just couldn't tell if it was on an ear or where I needed it to be. By now the doe is looking again. She hadn't seen me move but she seemed to know something was different. I knew there was no way I could adjust the power at this point. I opened my left eye, tried to get my bearings and bring the cross hair to bear. When I thought I had it about right I let lose and with a belch of smoke and flame the saboted round went sizzling out. Screaming over the top of her and I watched as they bolted for the deeper forest.
My Frustration was palpable. I called a friend of mine who eats and breath deer and left a dejected message on his voicemail. "I can't kill them with a bow and I can't kill them with a gun. I think I might have to quit and just chase ducks." There may have been an expletive or two thrown in but I can't say for sure. :)Out of the bush I came and off to a friends back yard. At 80 yards I was at least 6 inches high. There may have been more expletives. Several hours later I was fixed and ready to head back for the bush.
It's amazing how you can improve your set up in daylight. I moved deeper into the bush and set up so that I was about 50-60 yards from the forest edge and could see a gap in an old stump fenceline deeper in the woods, the ridge the does cam over and the ridge a little farther away just in case they tried to sneak along it and go around where I had been in the morning. I set up between two trees looking back towards where they had been heading in the morning in a spot I could see a lot of different potential entry points. Nothing! Now what do I do?
Dythbringer and I discussed the situation. He thought I should try it again as it may have been a morning only spot and that if I hadn't heard her snort or weeze she may settle down and come back. So the plan was set.Sunday morning broke crisp and cold. I wasn't feeling so hot and was tired. Almost didn't get out of bed. After hitting the snooze button once I finally convinced myself that I stood a chance and that today could break the curse. Of I headed for the same spot I was in the night before but this time I didn't have the same wind as i had the previous morning. It had essentially reversed.
As I got within a few yards of where I had sat I saw a massive rub on a largish pine tree. My spirits lifted. That had not been there. I made sure the scope was set to 3 and not 9X. Set up exactly as the night before but with my back to the other tree and facing the direction the does had come the morning before. Shortly after dawn I was rewarded with hearing a snort and the sound of running feet leaving the bush along the ridge bottom I had thought they might have used to get around me. I figured she winded me and bolted. Not the result I wanted but I was proud that I had guessed right about what she might do if she came back. Shortly I heard the sound of shots in the distance along the travel route she most likely took to get around the field. Good thing I saw that rub. Now maybe a buck will show up.I shifted myself slightly to watch the area of the bush the buck came through to make the rub.
Just before 8 am I heard a noise on the other side of me. I turned and could see a deer picking it's way across the edge of the bush at about 60 yards. As it's head moved through the trees I saw what appeared to be a small set of antlers through the tangle of trees. As he walked behind a large tree I stood up and shifted slightly so I would be ready as he emerged. It was looking like I was finally going to get my first buck. As spanned the gap betweeen two larger trees I put the cross hairs on his ribs and dropped the hammer. He vanished behind a puff of smoke and I saw him briefly as he bounded over the ridgeline. I was stoked. I reloaded the muzzle loader and texted the word "Bang!" to Dythbringer. Like a good friend by texting back that he was ready to track if I needed him.Track? I have a gun not a bow? I watch the TV shows? What's this track thing of which you speak. I walked elated over to the site of the shot to find...nothing. No blood. No deer. My heart stopped. How could I have missed that shot?? I looked around and still no blood. The panic began. I looked harder. The expletives may once again have been voiced but I really can't recall.
Finally I reached for the phone. Dythbringer calmed me down and sent me back to the impact site. Finally. A small smear of bright red blood on a stick. Nothing else though. Dyth started to get dressed and told me to come out and meet him at the truck. When he arrived the tracking began. it was painful. The first drop took us a long time to find as did the second and third. Eventually the deer hopped some deadfall into a grassy swamp and the blood poured. Dyth rounded a corner looking for my spindly little baby buck when suddenly I heard him start to get excited. I may have misjudged the deer. I rounded the corner and there he was. He wasn't a little squidgie thing after all. We lifted his head, snapped a pic, tagged him and dragged him. Finally I had another deer. I had a buck and the deerless curse had been lifted.
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