Rol_P Busted by Big Buck!

NYDAN

Handloader
Sep 17, 2013
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Roland is here visiting and hunting with me for a few days. He still has his regular season buck tag and all I have left is the bear tag and antlerless deer tags. I already filled my two buck tags - one with the crossbow and one with the rifle.

Yesterday afternoon Roland went up on the hill behind the barn and sat in the "shooting hut" - a 6' x 6' elevated box blind in the middle of a large hilltop field. When he didn't come back to the house a few minutes after dark Tina asked, "What happened to Roland?" I flippantly responded that he got caught in the blind at the end of legal shooting time surrounded by deer.

Well, when Roland finally made it home he informed us that he had, in fact, had two groups of deer on either side of him. A total of 13 deer were within sight, and he waited until pitch black to get out of the stand.

This morning we went over to the "over hill" where we have several good stand including the infamous "gully stand" - my favorite. Roland opted to use "Roland's stand" - a 4' x 6' ladder stand located on a bench about 100 yards wide and 200 yards long. The bench is located at the southern edge of a wooded hill top bedding area. The stand is in a pine tree in the middle of the bench.

I went to "gully stand" which is a 4' square "Snap-Lock" blind on a 6' x 6' platform 20' in the air. It is my favorite stand with its awesome field of fire.

I got to the stand early and got all set up. As soon as it was light enough to see I could see a doe in one of the shooting lanes. I watched it until well past legal shooting time and it eventually worked it's way up and over the top to the north.

Meanwhile the turkeys to the southwest were yelping up a storm.

At about 7:40 AM - a full hour after daylight, I see a brown spot behind the apple tree in front of me. I think it is a doe and check it with the binoculars. Low and behold, it is a big buck. When it finally gets clear of the apple tree here is the shot I could have had. It is with in a few feet of where Caleb (Captain Cook) shot his buck on Thanksgiving morning.

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However, I don't have a buck tag.

I also had this wonderful shot:

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Of course, I don't shoot it and hope that it heads in Roland's direction. Well, knock my socks off it heads for Roland:

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And here he is just 50 yards from Roland's field of view.

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I take one last look at a flock of ten tom turkeys and start to pack my gear up. I expect to hear Roland shoot at any moment.

However, I look up and the buck trots back into my view, all alert and nervous. He obviously busted Roland. He turns and heads up into the bedding woods.

So I text Roland and tell him that he just got busted by a nine point buck (classic 8 point with one kicker point). He texts back that he never saw it......

Personally I had a beautiful morning taking pictures of the wild life.......

Dan
 
Dan's post is 100% accurate as far as the story goes.. :grin: Omitted is the fact the winds were in constant change this morning and the buck was not coming from the bedding area as I expected him to do. It was a wonderful day, Dan even went back to his house and brought us a wonderful lunch, eaten in the gully stand so as not to miss any action should the buck make a break from the cover.

Yesterday I was pinned down in Dan's shooting hut by 16 deer total, all does that were very at ease in Dan's field. They just started popping out of the woods about the last hour of shooting time.

Needless to say, I enjoy Dan's friendship and hospitality, but I am happy to see this buck grow another year if I do not have the opportunity to harvest him tomorrow.
 
Very cool! Isnt the technology we have available to capture and share this kind of thing wonderful. It does make me wonder how this story would have been told around the fire years ago..... Great story fellas- and a good hunt. CL
 
That is exciting for both of you. Sounds as if it was a fantastic time, even though the trigger was never pulled. Hopefully, tomorrow will be the day Rol connects!
 
Dan thanks for sharing the story and pictures.
Also good luck to Roland and maybe he will get a chance at the big boy.
 
Great story and photos. I wonder how many times I've been busted.


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Wow, nice buck in those photos! Roll with the Punches...... Right Rol_P Nothing wrong with letting them go, and grow as I like to say......... If more people did we'd all see bigger bucks!
 
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