1998 started out
with a promise of disaster due to unexpected surgery and
resultant difficulty in shooting my bow. I had booked and
made partial payment on several hunts before I was aware
that the surgery would be required.
As you can see, the year was not a total disaster! Read
on for the story of this buck and more photos.
Another
View

I had two buck tags while hunting at a
camp that had a "one Buck" policy. On the sixth
day of the hunt I became aware of a vigorous buck fight
taking place behind my stand shortly before daylight. As
the morning lightened I could see two very large bucks
tearing-up the hillside eighty yards away.
Just after daylight a doe-fawn dashed past my stand to
the right with a small one-horned buck in pursuit. The
two larger bucks broke off their fight and one of them
took up after the doe. He passed my stand at full run
within three yards but did not give me a shot
opportunity. But I could see that he was a tremendous
buck! He chased the one-horned buck away and herded the
doe into a thicket about fifty yards from me. Then the
buck that he had been fighting tried to sneak into their
love nest. This buck was smaller in body but had a larger
rack.
The fight resumed with a fury and continued for another
twenty minutes or so. The larger bodied buck was doing
triple snort-wheezes and was clearly the dominant buck
--- even though he had a smaller rack!
Soon the doe tired of this and casually walked away. She
stopped every ten yards or so and urinated. The big
bodied buck followed and also stopped at every spot she
had scented. Each time he lip curled and made a low
guttural groan, like a drawn-out grunt. When the doe
stopped twenty yards in front of my stand, I knew I would
get my opportunity --- I got ready. The buck soon
followed and as he strethed his neck and curled his lip
my A/C/C arrow zipped through his lungs.
I immediately knocked another arrow but the buck made an
obvious death dash into the brush about forty yards away.
As I tried to compose myself I heard a noise in the
leaves to my left. Turning slowly I saw the other,
larger-racked, buck. I studied him for about thirty
seconds. He had a massive near-perfect ten point rack
with heavy bases, thick, long beams. His G-2's and G-3's were in
excess of a foot long and there were no obvious
deductions. He would easily score in the high 180's! He didn't have a clue that I was there as I
drew my bow and held my sight on his vital area. This was
my first hunt in this camp and it ocurred to me that I
wanted to be able to return to hunt here again --- I let
my bow down!
The
outfitter later told me that I should have shot the buck!
More Buck
Photos
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