jlingle
10-28-2008, 07:58 AM
I hunted over a little wheat patch yesterday evening on an old family place here in SW Oklahoma. I've never taken a good deer off this place, but I know they've been here. The first good one we ever saw there was about 15 years ago & he got hit by a car. After that, it was several years before anymore big bucks were spotted, but I learned how to hunt at this place. I shot my first deer there with a bow in '95 and I called up my first turkey there as well. I have other places that I hunt that hold much bigger bucks, but this place has always held a special place in my heart.
I intended to sit in a box blind there yesterday, but when I got there, the box had blown over. Bummer. So I just backed up in a tree row about 50 yards from the wheat and took a seat. It wasn't long before I saw a doe and a yearling come in, but something spooked them & they ran off. The doe was at least 100 yards directly upwind of me, so there's no way she winded me..... didn't know what to make of that one. Those were the only deer I saw until just before dark. I looked to the south, and saw a deer coming down off the hill, making his way my direction. I got the binos on him and saw that he was a shooter. I didn't have a shot in that direction because of all the brush on the ground between me and the deer, so I had to wait several minutes for him to get clear. He finally got clear of the brush, but started leaving the food plot. I grunted at him with my mouth to stop him & he complied nicely by stopping and turning back broadside, and I took a shot with my muzzleloader. I could tell immediately that he was hit hard. I tried to follow him with my binoculars to see him go down, but couldn't see him very well through the smoke from the shot. I thought he made it to the trees, so I took my time reloading & going to check for sign. I needn't have worried, because he was about 20 yards from where I shot him, piled up in the tall grass. He's a mainframe 8 with a broke brow tine, and he weighed in at over 200 lbs. Not a monster, and definitely not the biggest I've taken, but he's the best I've ever shot on this particular property & I'm very proud of him. My grandma would've been pretty excited to know that I'm seeing deer like this on the old family place.:wink:
I intended to sit in a box blind there yesterday, but when I got there, the box had blown over. Bummer. So I just backed up in a tree row about 50 yards from the wheat and took a seat. It wasn't long before I saw a doe and a yearling come in, but something spooked them & they ran off. The doe was at least 100 yards directly upwind of me, so there's no way she winded me..... didn't know what to make of that one. Those were the only deer I saw until just before dark. I looked to the south, and saw a deer coming down off the hill, making his way my direction. I got the binos on him and saw that he was a shooter. I didn't have a shot in that direction because of all the brush on the ground between me and the deer, so I had to wait several minutes for him to get clear. He finally got clear of the brush, but started leaving the food plot. I grunted at him with my mouth to stop him & he complied nicely by stopping and turning back broadside, and I took a shot with my muzzleloader. I could tell immediately that he was hit hard. I tried to follow him with my binoculars to see him go down, but couldn't see him very well through the smoke from the shot. I thought he made it to the trees, so I took my time reloading & going to check for sign. I needn't have worried, because he was about 20 yards from where I shot him, piled up in the tall grass. He's a mainframe 8 with a broke brow tine, and he weighed in at over 200 lbs. Not a monster, and definitely not the biggest I've taken, but he's the best I've ever shot on this particular property & I'm very proud of him. My grandma would've been pretty excited to know that I'm seeing deer like this on the old family place.:wink: