Well Mr. Polk, it goes a lot like this....
After ringing in the new year with friends and family, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the 2nd day of January, 2012, than in the woods chasing the elusive whitetail. It’s this chase that brought me face to face with big nasty. The morning brought cold temperatures escorted in by the previous days dry cold front and strong north winds. The winds kinda stuck around though and had deer movement quenched a little for the otherwise beautiful cold morning. Between daylight and 8:30 I’d only seen one small deer, which turned out to be an 8 point, and watched him feed for several minutes on the acorn flat I hunted nearby. Shortly after, another deer was spotted slipping along the edge of a rim adjacent to a creek bottom. The deer acted extremely nervous and edgy, which I attributed to the wind, which by now has increased in velocity to a steady 15mph from the Northwest, occasionally gusting to at least 50. It was about that time that I caught movement in a tree top in a cutover to my north. From the top emerged 2 does, working their way up a ridge into a neighbors pasture only to disappear from sight. Being the great hunter I am, I quickly dismissed these deer as being bedded in the top, not once thinking that a monster might have been pushing them from a distance…. WRONG! The difference is this time when I caught movement, the deer was on the edge of the pasture, and the sun gleaming off his antlers made it look like he was carrying a Cypress tree above his ears. I actually think it was a nice 5 year old 10 point we’ve gotten a few pictures of but are attempting to let him grow one more year. We’ve actually started seeing a significant difference between 5 and 6 year old bucks, with the 6 year olds adding 20 to 30 inches of antler…. Or that’s what it looks like in the pictures any way, judging deer we’ve got a history of pictures with. Anyway, this deer raised his head and galloped through the pasture, apparently chasing after a doe, and taking with him any hopes I may have had on ending his life prematurely. That’s ok, he wasn’t the deer I was hunting anyway. The deer I was after was a big heavy horned main frame 8 point, with a 3 or 4 inch kicker coming off his right G2. This monarch has struck so many poses for the cameras in daylight as well as dark, it’s almost like he was on a schedule. I just figured I’d wait him out…. Besides, it’s just now 9:30 or so. After seeing these deer, I decide it’d be a wise idea to turn my attention to the cutover instead of the acorn flat I just knew the big 9 would use as his point of interest. Remember, I am the great hunter here! Well, my instincts proved true, as I began seeing deer move and feed through the cutover, but no big bucks. All said, I believe I saw 5 different bucks and 6 different does make their way through the cutover and out of my life…. It’s about 10:00 and the deer movement has absolutely stopped. With a huff and a groan, I turn my head in frustration back to the acorn flat only to catch movement within 30 yards. Like a banana dipped in liquid nitrogen, I froze…. Only my eyes moving to get a better glimpse at the deer I knew would be the big 9 with the kicker. When my eyes beheld him, I realized that right there within 30 yards, I’d let a true 1 year old cowhorn spike slip right in and get downwind of me! HA….. little sucker never knew I was around. I guess the bath worked after all! It probably didn’t hurt that the 15mph wind had now turned into a steady 25-30mph, with some gusts reaching 100. The minutes ticked by, and after not seeing another deer by 11:00, I decided I’d had enough, and that until the wind subsided I had better go get some work done, or at very least grab a bite to eat and watch some of the great football games.
You’d think that folks would schedule football games at night and wouldn’t try to interfere with perfectly good days of hunting, fishing, trapping, 4-wheelin, snorkeling or any other outdoor activities many of us hold so dear. Guess we’ll blame it on the media or something, cause it sure ain’t the boys in the SEC…. they’ll play their game at night on January 9, and I guarantee that once again an SEC team will walk away with the BCS National Championship to their name, carrying on a tradition for another year.
Like I said, you’d think folks wouldn’t interfere with hunting like this, but it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, and with 3 different bowl games going on, time kinda slips by. It’s tough when you’re stuck in the middle of the swamp with games on 3 different channels, trying to be a remote control guru only leaves you frustrated, with lots of down time between channels. Next thing you know, sandwiches are long gone and it’s 2:30. So much for the middle of the day hunt. Missing that part of the day may not be that big of a deal anyway… that wind which was blowing steady at 25-30mph aint quit yet, but the 100mph gusts have settled to no more than 60. With the winds still rocking along pretty good, and the way deer movement had subsided in the woods, I figured a nice, lush, green food plot would definitely be the place to hang my hat that afternoon. Deer wouldn’t be nearly as skittish, and would come out early into the food plots to feed up prior to the cold blustery night ahead of us. I’d by in a stand by 3:00, and figured I may even get off a shot on the way… I am after all, the master of this domain!
FOUR O’ CLOCK…….. ain’t even seen a squirrel. I’m worried that me and Toto may not be in Mississippi any more after these gale force winds lay down. .. IF they ever lay down. About 15 or 30 minutes drag by, look at my watch FOUR O’ FIVE… five stinkin minutes. You know the cow that flies by on that Twister movie…. Just passed by me. I’m seriously beginning to question my hunter abilities, and it’s now 4:30.
Getting close to 5:00 and I can’t hold my eyes open. Been up and gone since 4 something this morning, and ain’t seen a deer (or anything else for that matter, other than that one cow) since 10:30ish. You know how it is when your mind starts rambling and you start thinking about all the other crap you could be doing instead of whatever it is you’re doing at this very moment. Well, I start thinking about fishing. WAAAYYY too windy to be fishing, and since I really don’t have any other hobbies and sure don’t want to be at work right now, I guess I’ll sit here and look for the next cow to fly by, cause I’ve done concluded that I’m not going to see another deer on this day.
Quick nap later, it’s 5:05. Five minutes may not seem like that much, but I’m revived. Feel like a million bucks now and am going to concentrate and focus intently for the next ever-how-long-it-is until dark, to see if I can spot that cow again.
5:10 and I just heard something. A bird! Big deal right…. Heck yeah!!!!!!! I actually heard a bird over the 95mph winds that had threatened to relocate me somewhere else just a little while ago. There it was again. Whew, I may get a break after all. Probably means I ain’t gonna see that cow again, but I’m thinking I may at least see a squirrel now, and can almost guarantee I will be able to walk back to the golf cart without being in danger of being blown into the next county.
5:15…. I think I may have actually seen a deer. I did… I did taw a deer (think Loony Tunes). Sure enough, a big ol’ nanny comes easing into the food plot. Here comes another one… and another… and another. One minutes time and I’ve gone from seeing squat to looking at 4 deer. 2 of em are does and 2 little ones, and I’m sitting there judging the size of their backstraps, cause by now, I’m MAD. I ain’t killed a deer since somewhere in the first gun season (pre-December) and am in desperate need for more meat. My wife says just to raid her Daddy’s freezer, but she just don’t get it. It’s a pride issue, and at this moment, the biggest doe at the other end of this little stretch of grass is really looking good to my pride.
Being the great hunter I am, I choose to defer the shot just a second or two since I had seen that one beautiful specimen of a deer earlier in the morning come in after those 2 deer in the cutover. It’s funny how things like that stick with you and make you a better hunter. I still remembered that very encounter, and it had been almost 8 full hours or so…. I’m pretty proud of myself for that.
Anyway, into the plot enters another deer. And another and one more. All does, but since those winds have now all be quit blowing altogether, I hear a distinct sound. It was a grunt, and it’s repetitive and it’s getting closer. That’s right, ol’ mister bucky is grunting his way directly into this field and into the line of fire. Well, here comes a doe busting into the field around 200 yards or so away, and this buck is after it. I ain’t lying, he wanted this chick. All these other deer just look up and watch the show as this deer chases this one hotty all around the plot. Apparently he thought she was hot anyway, cause she was the apple of this dude’s eye. I’m thinking there’s 8 does watching this one buck chase this other doe around the field and I’m just sitting there hoping he’ll stop so I can tell exactly what he is (although I pretty well knew he was safe).
Earlier in the year, we’d burned the plots off and this one at one time had a strip of privet growing in the middle through the length of the plot. Not sure if you know what a deer looks like when he stops moving in a strip of once alive, burnt, now dead privet, but he frickin disappears. Finally, the sucker moves and I start seeing headgear. He’s an 8 point, with some weird stuff going on, but clearly an immature deer and definitely not a shooter according to those high standards we try to uphold!!!!! So I’m back to looking at some of the does and wondering which one has the biggest backstraps and I notice movement once again from where this other buck had entered the food plot. I see horns and a big deer coming in the field and another deer behind him. Well, being the great hunter that I am, I immediately lay my gun out the window of the stand and look to the deer that still ain’t in the field completely. You know if a big buck comes into the field and another deer is behind him it’s GOT to be another buck and there’s probably about to be a WWE cage match go down right smack dab in the middle of this field, and I’ve got a front row seat.
It’s a doe…… a stinking doe behind a jolly old giant.
Being the pretty amazing hunter I am, I take interest once again in this buck. He’s BIG…. I mean BIG. Looks like a brahma bull up there and starts absolutely ripping up a cedar tree along the edge of this field. Sounds like a logging operation as he’s de-limbing this thing and me and every other critter around are watching him. This other buck is especially watching him as he finally decides that he’s thoroughly killed that poor little cedar and begins to walk towards this other 8 point. About 3 steps is all it took and the young fella decided he didn’t want none. I’m outa here dude and he quickly exits left. Now it’s me, a scared 8-point who’s took cover at the other end, but doesn’t want to totally walk away from the hot chick he was so intently chasing, 8 or 9 or 10 more does and little ones and this big buck.
Now when I say big buck, I’m really just talking about the physical stature of this critter, cause he certainly won’t set any records with his horns, but his backstraps and hind quarters were BIG.
I’m in a zone now, and have pretty well all but skinned him out before I even pulled the trigger. All he has to do is turn sideways and that’s it. Close the curtains, Katie bar the door, he’s outa here, game over…. You get the idea. Well, dude just keeps waking straight towards me. He’ll act like he’s gonna turn sideways and change his mind. Just keeps coming my way.
It’s amazing how this stuff happens and the amount of time it takes, cause it ain’t even 5:20 yet. All this in 5 minutes.
Finally, after an eternity, or at least 45 seconds, this sucker turns sideways and starts making a scrape. Now he’s a brahma bull throwing dirt in the air. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder, slide the safety off on the Browning, and slowly squeeze the trigger. I guess I was a little closer to the scope than I should have been, cause it turned my hat sideways. No harm done, and I got to see him go down. He went down where he was standing and didn’t even think about going any further. After the other deer watched him taking a nap for a while they decided to exit premises.
I get down, going to look at him, praying the whole time that he was as big and old as I thought he was, not knowing what I’d do or how I’d feel if he got little the closer I got. Thank goodness, it wasn’t an issue, and I may have killed the oldest deer ever killed on the property.
January 2nd was a pretty good day….. Wonder where that cow ended up?
If this doesn’t get published on the Buff Pad and I get advance notice of publishing, I’m gonna be real upset
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