Outdoor Snooper: Buck season - opening day

The opening day for buck season is on the way, and for most deer hunters, this is a very special time of the year. A year of waiting for the season by all hunters, with weeks of planning by camp members, and the final days of scouting by the local loners reaches its peak, while on stand moments before daylight. All the buck are near and continue to stay there until the first shot is fired.

For most hunters, the first day will come and go without tagging a buck, however, for those who are fortunate enough to see a deer and bring it home, there are stories to be told. Two friends of mine were involved the first day with situations that would be hard to imagine.

The first hunting friend was alone and had taken a stand next to a thick ravine, and like the rest of us, endured the rain, wind and an increasing chill that was the weather of the day. In due time, he noticed a deer milling around in the ravine some 80 yards away. After several minutes of watching the deer. he identified the deer as a buck, but a good shot was impossible! Finally, the deer turned, walked away, and moved into the opening, and the hunter fired. Walking to the spot and searching for awhile, he couldn’t find any sign of the deer being hit, so he concluded that he had missed his shot.

Disappointed, he returned to his stand and continued the hunt. After an hour, he watched another hunter moving slowly in his direction. The visiting hunter walked to the stand, and asked if he had shot a deer about an hour earlier. My friend said that he had, at which time the hunter said the deer was lying dead some distance from where he had shot it, so he took him to the downed six-point rack buck. As the hunter turned to walk away my friend thanked him, realizing that he was fortunate to have come across a sportsman who wasn’t satisfied to tag a dead deer, but he also had an interest in finding the hunter who was the real owner.

My other friend also had endured the morning wind and rain, and had to move his stand as the wind shifted with a change in the weather. His new location put him near a rock wall and in short order, he saw several doe moving on the other

side of the wall, followed by a buck. The only part of the buck he could see was the head and neck. When the buck stopped, he fired and the buck also disappeared.

As he walked toward the wall, he noticed another hunter on the other side of the wall, approaching him from the right. The two reached the deer at the

same time. As they looked at the buck, both mentioned they had only seen part of the neck and head when they fired. In short order, they realized they had both fired at the buck at the same time. The friend of the other hunter came along and said he only heard one shot. Upon examination, they found the deer had been shot at twice, once from the side and the other shot from the front. Both hunters were more or less in shock! There was no flip

of a coin. The other hunter said to his friend, “Let’s go,” and they walked away.

My friend, who had previously shot a number of buck, was left standing over a deer he didn’t want, however he couldn’t let the deer go to waste. He tagged the small, eight-pointer, but he felt great disgust as he dragged the deer to his truck and he hopes no other hunter would have to go through this very disappointing experience.

See you next time.