Will I ever get my buck?

I have another deer story for you and it is from Susan (Camo1121) who is a friend of mine at my MySpace. She is 48 years old and is the mother of three children. She's also a grandmother to 3 granddaughters and 3 grandsons. Susan is quoted as saying, "I guess I can honestly say beside God, husband, children, grandchildren, brother and sister that hunting is her true love!" That is a sweetthing!

Here is the story behind her hunt: I will be starting this story two mornings before I got my buck. As I do every morning when I head to the woods, I sat with my husband, Richard, for a cup of coffee on the front porch to discuss what I am feeling and how the hunting has been going. This morning, I am very discouraged. I tell Richard I can see where the deer are coming in to the plot eating the Rica-Rack and other things I leave them to feast on, but that I am seeing nothing in the stand. While talking, I touch on the fact that I have missed more deer this year and also some of the biggest. We all know every one has years like this -- good ones and bad ones. Don't get me wrong, this year was not a bad year by far, not because of the deer I bought down. It has just been a fun year -- the laughter, the kids, and the pranks we pulled on each other. I would not want to trade it for any of my bigger buck seasons. The kids getting involved heavy this year was the best part of it all. Anyway, Richard tells me while I am sitting at the River stand this morning to check how both of them look after I get down and to do the same in the evening. This way, I could tell when they were moving. So I decide this would be my plan for the day. I went into my stand about 5:30 that morning, a little later than normal, to begin my morning sit. It was a beautiful morning, got to sit and watch my double white-tipped eared bobcat with her two babies, knowing I was going to take her out later on in the season. Yes, she would be stuffed and made into a beautiful trophy for my living room, and yes I would feel good about it due to the fact she had cost me some valuable meat this year. The only thing that had saved her this long was that the babies where too little to make it on their own. The sun came up, and I sat and sat with no luck - not even a doe. This I feel was another reason I felt there where big buck around because, it being heavy rut, the does' patterns were changing too. Any way, I got down and headed to check the feeding plot out. I see a lot of tracks, and I try to burn them into my memory so when checking in the evening I would know what was new or old. I also go over to the other stand located closer to the River and do the same with it. I return to the house to kill time till I got ready to go back out that afternoon.

It is about 2:30 when I go in to check the stands, and I don't see anything that impresses me. So, I go and get my stuff ready, spray myself down, and head for my stand. Again I sit and sit and nothing again. When it got dark, I climbed down and started heading for my truck. For some reason, I am bothered about the other stand, thinking maybe I should sit in it tomorrow evening. So, I decide to go check it to see if something might have came in. Boy, when I got there all I can say is the biggest smile came across my face. There right in the middle of my plot appeared the biggest set of rounded deep huff marks I have seen in a while. The big boy was coming in the evening in the opposite stand. That night all I could think of was that I would be setting in that stand come evening the next day. I could barely maintain, drove Richard up the wall. COULD NOT EVEN SLEEP. That morning, I didn't even bother going, just knew I would not even be able to sit that long, not doing nothing. Just trying to get the day to pass, I cleaned everything in the house. Frances was at the house, and I knew I had to go and work the stands that day. So, I asked her if she would like to go. she said yes and off we headed. It was about 10:00 that morning when we got out to the stands. We stopped first at the stand I had been sitting for the last two days. Now, you have to remember I had checked that stand that night and that morning and saw nothing. Well that had changed. Here in the middle of this stand was yet another set of tracks not as big, but rounded not pointed and deep, letting me know it was a heavy deer, more than likely a buck just like the other stand. Knowing I am about to bust with buck fever, all I can think about was I was going to sit at the one stand this afternoon and the other in the morning. I was coming out with two bucks, what a Christmas present. This was going to top the Christmas present Richard had got me a few years before -- my princess cut 1 carat diamond earrings. Anyway, it was about 1:00 when the worst call of the season came my way. It was from my oldest son, GJ. He was calling to ask if he could hunt with me at the River that afternoon. I know you are thinking what's so bad about taking your son hunting with you. You have two stands so put him in the other one. Well, it was not that easy because my oldest son is a big boy, around 6 feet tall, and between 230 to 250 pounds. The one stand I had been sitting in was too small, and I knew it would not be safe to hold his weight. I was not about to put his safety before my large buck. Yes, your right I put him in the stand I had waited to hunt all day.

Well, we got to the stands about 2:45. The funny part was he wanted to hunt the stand I had been hunting. I told him what I had seen at both stands, and he still wanted to hunt the stand I had been hunting. Believe me the little devil on my shoulder kept saying let him go. I knew better and sent him on his way to what I know now would have been my mega buck of the year. I headed off kicking myself in the butt and in a very little way wishing the buck might not walk in. I make it to my stand and climb in for what I know a long wait of anticipation and the dreaded gun shot that I had a feeling would be coming. I sat watching -- first, a raccoon so big I thought it was a baby bear coming in and then my white-tipped eared bobcat and her two babies. After they left, I was about convinced that I might have a chance to get that mega buck, when out of the blue sky, I just looked up to the heavens and said: Lord if it be your will let that buck come out. I love my son and would love to see that light of pure happiness in his eyes. No sooner did I say that I heard a gun shot ring out so loudly it made me jump in my own skin. GJ was so excited he didn't think about waiting to call my phone. He hit that button and yelled, "Mom I got him, he's a big one." I didn't even bother finishing out the set. I wanted to share this excitement with my first born, and it was worth every second. The statement living your life through you children was well understood this Christmas night. I will never forget the pride for my child I felt that night. He had taken a beautiful 155 pound, 8 point that night.

Well now, that was how and why I didn't get my mega buck. Now, I will finish up and tell you how I finally got my buck of the season. It was the next morning, and I knew I had to go to the stand I had sat in the night before. That is where I had seen the other tracks, but it was coming out some times after 9:00 a.m., but before 10:00 a.m. in the morning, or that is what my thoughts had concluded. So, I went to the stand a little later with plans to stay longer. I got to my stand about 6:15 a.m. and planned to sit for a while, and that's what I did. Come 9:00 a.m., I had started to perk up. First, a doe comes in and I lift my gun knowing rut is in, wanting to be ready to shoot in a hurry if necessary. I released my safety and put myself in the ready mode. Now, you will not believe what happens next. I see the doe look behind her I know something is coming up behind her. I'm ready and waiting. The buck comes in so fast, and the doe does not run forward. She makes the sharpest turn straight into the woods. I have never seen this happen before. Where she stood and how she turned, I never got a shot. I could not believe it. I knew at that second that God was testing me. I sat and decided I was not getting down. Instead, I started blowing my calls in ways I never had in the past. I'm not sure it was that or if he caught her hit it and decided to fill his belly afterwards. I sat and stared at that plot like a kid with his nose stuck on the window of a candy store, and it ended up paying off. I heard something first but not sure what it is. Then I see it first its nose and the beginning of a head. I can't even breathe at this point. My heart is beating so fast. I just knew that deer could hear it. Then, the horns appeared and by now my hands are shaking. I know I have to slow my heart down to make the shaking stop. By now, I know I will get a shot and eas shot at that. I have finally calmed down. I notice that he is only a 6 point, but his body is overpowering his horns. This deer is almost as big as GJ's 8 point. You have to understand that where I live the deer are so plentiful that they do not get as big as other places. A normal 8 to 10 point is about 120 pounds here. Well, this was a very big bodied deer for a 6 point, and I hunt for meat as well as horns. At this point, I decide I was taking him. I am waiting for him to take about four more steps where I could take a shot. I know he would drop in his tracks. I took a shot, and he dropped. So yes, I got my buck, and my son got his mega buck. Yes, I would not change a thing in the two best days of my 2007-2008 hunting season. Congrats to Susan and GJ on their bucks in our great outdoors!

Susan with her buck!