Saturday I shot a doe in Maryland in the morning. Today was opening day in Pennsylvania. I was ready to shoot buck or doe, as I have expensive tags to fill, and didn’t shoot anything in Pennsylvania last year. Early, about 6:40 a.m., I had a deer come across the field in front of me, casually grazing and walking in the grass. I couldn’t tell what it was, other than an adult deer. I thought it was a doe, and was getting ready to shoot, but then I saw a glint of antler. Damn! I had to figure out if it had 3 points on one side, the legal minimum now in PA. It kept moving along, slowly, then went through the fence and that was when I could tell it had a nice basket rack. It was now traveling though, between me and the pond, walking. I got it in the scope, then grunted softly. Didn’t stop. I grunted more loudly and then it did stop. I was a bit too far back on it, so I swung the rifle forward a bit, and squeezed. He took off into the woods and down the hill. I heard him crashing through for what I guess was about 30 yards or so into the woods, and then it was quite again. Awesome, I thought, he’s lying down there waiting for me. I didn’t want to get out of the stand and mess things up for Dom, and I wanted to see what else might come along. A couple little ones came right underneath me, and that was it. About an hour later I got out, went down to where I thought I hit him. Nothing. Went to the woods where he went in, walked back and forth, nothing. Did a grid search in the field, nothing. Not a drop of blood anywhere. Went into the woods, and I could see clearly where he went straight down the hill, stiff-legging it and skidding. Nothing. A clean miss. Damn.
So I took the long way out of the woods, came back up the hill, went back and looked again, still in disbelief. Oh, well. Hooked up with Dom and we started heading back. Near the top of the road, I spied a nice buck heading down into the field at about 75 yards. We couldn’t shoot because he was right in front of the neighbors’ houses. We watched him work down behind a rise — just antlers over the hill, then disappeared — and waited for him to come out the other side of the rise. Meantime, we moved down some, I laid down on the ground and made a shooting rest with my pack. He crossed over and went into the field we call the oat field, even though it hasn’t been planted in oats in some years. It was 350 yards or more, but we each took a couple shots; it was, after all, a really nice buck! No luck, of course. He continued trotting into the woods, right underneath the stand I had been in an hour earlier.
So I took the long way out of the woods, came back up the hill, went back and looked again, still in disbelief. Oh, well. Hooked up with Dom and we started heading back. Near the top of the road, I spied a nice buck heading down into the field at about 75 yards. We couldn’t shoot because he was right in front of the neighbors’ houses. We watched him work down behind a rise — just antlers over the hill, then disappeared — and waited for him to come out the other side of the rise. Meantime, we moved down some, I laid down on the ground and made a shooting rest with my pack. He crossed over and went into the field we call the oat field, even though it hasn’t been planted in oats in some years. It was 350 yards or more, but we each took a couple shots; it was, after all, a really nice buck! No luck, of course. He continued trotting into the woods, right underneath the stand I had been in an hour earlier.
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