the story behind that Buck ....
First day of PA Rifle season .... Novermber 29, 2005
no snow on the ground ... kool late fall early winter day
Temps were in the lower 40's to mid 30's F ....
I was in an elvated stand (treehouse type) in an old Oak tree ... located on an hedgerow .... covering an open field in front of me ... woods behind me ...
and hayfields on the sides ....
I had seen 24 deer since the start of the day ...
I was in no hurry to get my Deer since I could get both a Doe and Buck
and I could hunt the 2 weeks of the Deer Season ....
it was late afternoon .... around 2:45 pm EDT .... it was getting colder so I had my shooters gloves on ... covering my hands .... hadent seen a Deer in about hour ... the Deer i had seen were in groups of 5 or more seen at a time ... I had my gun in my hands with the scope turned down on 3 power ... its a Ruger Mark II SS in Remington .260
I was watching to the side of me at the time ... and scaning the field in front of me left to right .... this field is about 300 yds long and boxed shaped ... but with a roll to it .... it has hedgerows on its sides left and right seperateing the fields ... woods on the lower side and the hedge row wiidens to woods in the upper right corner ...
When all of a sudden this Buck comes out of the upper right corner in the top of the field .... He was running Belly to the ground as fast as he could go ...
I saw him as soon as he entered the field .... but i didnt expect him at the time ... he was by himself ... and he was spooked .... dont know by what ...
but he hadent seen me ....
I fumbled to get my shooters gloves open ... finally did .... got him in the scope ... and I geuss he was about 250 yds away ... running ... I dont like running shots myself ... I geuss I had Buck fever too ... missed the first shot ... but the scope got me ... just above the nose ... didnt pay much attention to it at the time I was jacking in another round to get another shot ... the Deer was still running Belly to the ground and down the length of the field along this hedgerow ... he got about 150 yds away and I got him back in the scope and I hit him with my second shot ... He bolted like they do on "Buckmasters" .... so I knew I had hit him ... but he didnt go down ... he kept coming ... by the time I got my thrid shot in the chamber he was only about 50 yds from me off to the right still in the field but almost ready to enter the hedgerow to go over to the next field .... I jacked in the thrid shot placed it on him again and fired .... hit him again but he still didnt go down right away .... I called for my bother on the 2 way radio he was the closest to me ... he asked if i got one and i told him i got one hit and hes BIG .... he came right over to me ... we tracked it form where I shot at him the second time and sure enough I had blood ... we followed it to the third shot and had more blood ..... he entered the hedgerow and went into the next field beside where I was setup .... it was a field of overgrown Golden rod
which hadent be mowed yet ... my brother and I trailed him into the Golden rod and we found him in a heap about 50 yards into the Golden rod ... I was PSYCHED it was my personal best a Large 8 pointer ... we gutted it out ... and at this time i finally noticed the blood dripping down my nose ... my brother laughed out loud and said ... "scope got you huh" ... I reached up and felt it ... I said "ya" ... "BUT I earned this one" ... and we chuckled ...
we loaded it on the 4 wheeler and I brought him back to camp ....
It was my first Buck since the year 2000 ... and I was estatic ... I had never gotten a BIG one like this .... my usual Bucks are 5 pt'ers or a small 6 ...
I got picked on about getting "scoped" but i fired it right back to them saying how they all had done it before and it was my first time ... and I earned this buck ... they got quiet ... and went out hunting again ....
They hadent gotten theres ... I had gotten mine ....
I had him mounted and when I get a good pic I will post it here ...
cant wait till this years Deer season ... im psyched already about it ...
it doesnt have to be a Buck for me either ... we hunt for meat for the freezer
but I love to get outdoors and enjoy my quiet time on my deer stand
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Mike Colegrove
Laceyville , Pa
Member of BOC since June 2005
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