Hunting Luck Under Difficult Conditions

In anticipation of the 2015 hunting season, my son and I began packing for opening weekend at least a week early.  The truck was loaded Friday morning so we could quickly leave that day after work and start our 2 1/2 hour drive to the deer lease.  

Our plan was to stop briefly at McAlister’s in Temple for a couple of sandwiches before finishing the 2.5-hour drive.  We talked about the expectation of cooler weather for the weekend as we ate.  My son, who was only 13 at the time, realized he did not bring near enough cold weather gear.  Despite packing his own gear for countless cold weather BSA camp outs, he was not as prepared.

As we left McAlister’s, we noticed a Ross Dress for Less store in the same shopping center as the McAlister’s.  We searched the store but found no jackets which fit.  We settled on a second hoodie which was somewhat thicker and could be used as a second layer while hunting.  While not the best option, we decided it was adequate and continued the trip.

The night before opening morning, everyone on the lease can be found checking and comparing game camera photos.  I joined in as my camera card was pulled earlier in the evening by a fellow hunter.  Hope was low for an impressive buck as game camera photos from my hunting area contained at best a small eight point.  Regardless, we were optimistic and my son and I looked forward to hunting from the stand I built the season prior.

My uncle Ralph suggested I hunt an extra deer stand he added a few months prior.  The stand was setup with a corn feeder but no game camera.  As a result, we did not know if deer frequented the area but not have much to lose.  His only words of caution were to bring a can of wasp spray as he had not checked the stand in a few months. 

After some deliberation, I decided to hunt my uncle’s extra stand.  We discussed the location of the stand on the 1,000-acre lease.  The directions to locate the stand seemed simple enough but being new to the lease I was a little uneasy about finding it in the dark the following morning. 

We woke early the next morning and drove to an old barn which was the starting point of the directions the night before.  As my son and I started the expected 300 yard walk to the stand, it began to rain quite heavily.  Within minutes, I began to question the decision as we were both quite wet with no deer stand in sight.  We eventually located the stand after walking near 10 minutes in the rain. 

My son waited with our gear under a nearby tree as I checked out the stand.  Frustration increased further as I checked the inside of the stand with my flashlight and found it filled with yellow jackets.  The cold kept them huddled in the nooks and crannies along the ceiling.  I debated heading back to my stand to try to salvage the morning hunt but decided with the rain it would not be worth it. 

As the rain continued, our best option was to kill the yellow jackets.  We could then potentially still hunt and get out of the rain.  After using almost a full can of wasp spray, the floor of the stand was covered with dead yellow jackets.  I brushed them from the stand floor to the ground outside and very hesitantly crawled into the deer stand with my old son. 

The stand began to warm up as the sun rose.  The warmth brought the remaining yellow jackets to life and they could be heard buzzing along the ceiling and corners of the stand.  My son and I were at full alert alternating between watching for deer and yellow jackets.  There were many more yellow jackets than deer but thankfully it was still cool enough that they crawled the walls where they could be easily killed rather than flying around.

Between bouts with yellow jackets, a large buck chased a doe across the top of a nearby ridge.  I reached for the binoculars to get a better look just as my son called out beside me holding his ear.  The buck distracted us long enough for a yellow jacket managed to sting him on the ear.  We handled the yellow jacket and after a quick check of his ear found the buck and doe he was chasing were long gone.

We watched carefully for the buck to return for the next hour.  There were other bucks which arrived with a few does but they were not as impressive as the buck from earlier in the morning.  My son was eager to get a buck and we discussed the option of taking another deer visible instead of waiting for a chance at the one we saw earlier in the morning.  Since it was the first hunt of the year, I was not ready to compromise and it was still early in the morning so we waited.

We watched as the deer in the field begin to lay down as it continued to rain lightly.  The rain paired with a headwind were working in our favor to keep the strong smell of wasp spray from impacting the hunt.  My doubt of seeing the early buck began to grow when he suddenly appeared at the top of the ridge again.  He appeared in a small gap between two shrubs looking in the direction of the stand.

He quickly vanished earlier in the morning and I expected the same this time.  I skipped reaching for the binoculars and went to directly to the rifle.  He stood proudly between two shrubs with his head held high.  Even without the rifle scope, his antlers looked like a crown on his head and was larger than any other buck I’d seen in my short time hunting.  The situation was almost unbelievable at the moment. 

I collected myself and prepared to shoot the buck.  He was quartered towards me at almost 200 yards.  I considered waiting for a better shot but did not want to miss my opportunity.  I aimed carefully but when I pulled the trigger only heard a slight click. I removed the round and found the rifle had misfired. 

My mind returned to when I was hunting years before at the same age as my son.  My rifle misfired then when attempting a shot with one of my father's rifles.  I assumed then it was a problem with the round and attempted another only to have it happen two additional times.  The last attempt resulted in a slightly delayed fire causing a bad shot on the buck.  Young and inexperienced, I went after the buck to put him out of his misery only to continue to experience misfire problems.  Following that hunting trip, I decided against hunting for the next twenty years. 

I loaded another round and refused to be distracted by the oddity of the situation.  I regained focus, pulled the trigger, and a loud bang filled the deer stand.  The buck spun around quickly and sprinted off out of sight into the shrubs.  We watched carefully but did not see him emerge from the shrubs.  We waited a long 30 minutes questioning if I had by chance missed the buck before leaving to check.

We went straight to the stop he stood when I took the shot.  We found blood there and more in the middle of the shrubs which were immediately behind him.  We walked the ridgeline looking closely for more blood but found none.  We walked all along the top of the ridgeline as I refused to accept that I missed. 

In the end, we returned to where he stood when I took the shot.  As I looked back toward the stand attempting to determine were I went wrong, I saw the white belly of the buck.  He entered the shrubs and then headed down the hill towards the stand.  He fell only 40 yards away in a place blocked from view by a large tree.

My dad was finishing with his morning hunt when I texted him about the buck.  He quickly came over to assist in loading up the buck.  The rain made the field quite difficult to cross in the truck so we drug the buck almost 125 yards to an area where he could be loaded into the truck.  We then quickly returned to the house to discuss the morning hunt with others. 

While sharing the story with everyone, a family friend who hunts with us suggested I take him to the Cabela’s in Waco.  Cabela’s was offering a free shoulder mount to the best buck taken opening weekend.  I doubted the buck would be the best in the area despite being my best buck.  In the end, I decided it was worth the drive.

I placed the buck in the freezer for the remainder of the day and that evening.  The next morning, I loaded him into the back of the truck and headed to Cabela’s.  They measured the buck in the parking lot of the store and told me at that point I had the largest buck entered at that point.

The next several days I waited rather impatiently for the outcome of the contest.  On Monday evening, I was called and told I won the contest and would receive a free shoulder mount from Fortson’s Taxidermy. 

Fortson did an excellent job on the shoulder mount and the buck now decorates the wall in my living room.  He is positioned in the same way he was that morning at the top of the ridge.  My son an I relive the hunt each time we look up at him and it will be a great hunting memory we keep forever.