SO CLOSE !!!!!

[silent sniper]

Well guys to start off if I had done a few minor things differently I would be holding the antlers of an absolutely beautiful 150 inch buck. But none the less this is how it went.

  The evening started out for the most part uneventful. Other than a few nice fox squirrels holding my attention I never saw any deer. 15 minutes before dark I decided to slowly still hunt my way back. Well not 15 steps from where I had been sitting I look down into the swamp to see a bruiser of a buck watching over a hot doe. I quickly ducked down and pulled out my grunt tube. A few grunts and a snort wheeze and things went wild quick!
   
  I heard thrashing and sticks breaking as a buck; not the one I was trying to call but another one, was working its way out of the swamp towards me. I ducked down and waited. The breaking sticks sounded more like an incoming moose than a buck. After a few tense minutes it makes its way within 35 yards of me but is in the cover of the swamp and I cant see it. This is when the next twist of events happened...
   
   I was going to leave as it was 5 minutes till dark when I hear the first buck and the doe coming towards me from the swamp. The doe cuts past to my right at 15 yards. The buck was close behind. It was quite dark and I couldn't shoot that far so I wanted to get the buck closer. I had an shot window on a trail 7 yards away. If the buck came in my opening I would be able to shoot him. I gave him a few grunts and he whipped around and came quick! I wasn't ready for what was going to happen next.

  All I could see was a dark body and antlers moving towards me. He came in so quick I didn't even have time to raise my bow. In a second he was standing there, 7 yards away, looking for whatever made the grunt. I was astonished and overwhelmed by his size that I couldn't think. I froze and hoped he would continue down the trail so I could get a chance to raise my bow. But the chance never came.

   My problem was that I had grunted at him when he was only 15 yards away. He knew exactly where the grunt came from and made a bee line for it. He saw that there was no deer and left after eyeing over my leafy outline for a good 20 seconds.

  Surprisingly I am not the least bit upset I didn't get to shoot at it. Now I wish I had been prepared for the shot but I am happy with the outcome. It just takes one instant like I experienced tonight to keep someone hunting all season hoping for another chance. It is a marvelous and exciting tale of the "one that got away". I will be after him again and next time, I will be ready!

It is things like that that really make hunting awesome! The actual kill is just icing on the cake.

Good luck getting a shot off at one of those bruisers!

Bisch

[oldskool]

YOU are getting some great training Taylor.  

[daveycrockett]

     Fun ain't it??

[woodchucker]

Kinda EXCITEING when they end up in your lap, isn't it?????  

Many years ago, I dicided to try "Rattling"... It was all the rage in the hunting books, but mostly down south, Texas way. Never done up here in the north country...

There was a swamp in a farm that we used to hunt as kids. In a small dry open "hump" kinda clearing, I had put an old wooden apple crate at the base of a big swamp maple to sit on. The clearing was about 10 yards acrossed. I snuck in there in the early afternoon and got set down. After about an hour, I picked up my antlers.....

Bang, Crash, Rattle-Rattle, I hadn't even hardly started, when I heard ths crashing commotion  coming through th swamp on a dead run!!! I'm SURE it was one of the big bucks that we had seen during the bow season...

All of a sudden he busted out & was right in the middle of the clearing, not 5 yards away. And he was looking for a fight!!!!! I froze & darn near crapped myself!!! There he stood, ready to turn SOMETHING into a pin cushion!!! I didn't dare move & never even picked up, let alone draw my bow...

In what was probly minutes,that seems like hours..... He was gone!!!

[Bernie B.]

Great story!  That's what keeps us going back again and again!  Thanks for sharing your excitement!

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[Jayrod]

Best of luck scoring on that booner but encounters like that you will never forget in life!!I LOVEEE NOVEMBER!

[John146]

Originally posted by Bisch:
It is things like that that really make hunting awesome! The actual kill is just icing on the cake.

Good luck getting a shot off at one of those bruisers!

Bisch

This.