Michigan Hunter Scores Trophy Buck
by Max August
As I walked to my stand on the snowy crisp morning many thoughts came to mind of seasons past and the current season that was about to start. I reminisced about all the deer I had taken over the many seasons. My first deer that I had taken was a monster 200 pound plus mangled 8 point that had just about killed my brother and I as we struggled to get him out of the woods on a rainy evening. I remembered the 6 point that I had hit a little low in the chest cavity with my shotgun and had to track him for miles till we could put one of our last shells in him to stop his run. It was kind of strange that each and every kill came to mind as if it had happened yesterday. I had never had so many clear thoughts like the ones I was having this opening morning, it must of been some kind of precursor for what was going to happen, as all the long years of hunting were about to pay off big time.
I settled into my blind and stoked a nice fire in my newly added wood stove and pulled out my little television to watch the morning news and weather for the hour before opening shooting time. I was still reminiscing about seasons past and became more anxious by the minute for the sun to come up and the season to begin. The not knowing is the best part of the wait. Will I see a buck? Will he if I see one give me a shot? Will the shot hit the mark?
Every hunter quizzes him or herself in the minutes before the season starts. That is just human nature and I believe it helps the hunter to become better the more every situation that can occur is run through the hunters mind. I liken it to a sports athlete visualizing his performance just before they compete.
The coffee tasted real good this crisp morning and I could feel my senses begin to sharpen as the sleepiness wore off. Out the back of my blind I could see the east sky begin to lighten as the season was very close at hand now. I put my television away and loaded my gun and set it against the front of the blind and gave it a final check to make sure it was secure yet easily accessible. I wanted to be standing and comfortable and ready shortly before opening to give myself time for my eyes to get used to the morning light. As I stood up and got situated next to my fire I could feel the adrenaline and anticipation that had proceeded every opening since I began hunting with my dad many years ago. As my eyes began to adjust to the early morning light I could see shadows of deer crossing the field in front of me and I hoped they would come back out of the woods later so I could get a good look at them later. I began hearing a few shots coming from the east of me and I knew it was about time to be real sharp as opening day was now upon me. I checked the time and it was after official shooting hour, one-half of an hour before sunrise and the shadows were becoming clear very rapidly as the sun rose.
I intently watched the field in front of my blind that always was lighter earlier than the edges of the woods to my sides. I was just about to pour myself another cup of coffee when I caught some movement in my peripheral vision to my right.
As with every deer that I have taken time seems to stop at the initial site of an antlered deer. This time was no exception. I quickly turned my head and saw a large deer to the right of my blind. He was skirting the edge of the woods along a small ridge. I wasted no time grabbing my gun and carefully put it out the shooting window so as not to make noise and spook the animal.
By the time I trained the scope on the deer he was quartering slightly away from me and all I could see of him was his rear hind quarter and his antlers sticking up from behind the small ridge.A loud voice inside my head yelled knock him down! and I placed the cross hairs of my scope high on his hind quarter and fired.
I remember thinking as I racked a new cartridge in my gun that I would probably have to chase him down and finish him off due to the poor shot selection I had. The impact of the 150 grain bullet had lifted the animal and literally spun him 180 degrees and he was quickly dragging himself back the way he had came and instead of him leaving our property he was heading straight towards my dad`s blind. I would have had a real tough second shot as he entered the woods and knowing he was heading for dad I elected not to shoot a second time.
I waited for the familiar pistol shot from my dad's direction as I figured the deer would crawl out in front of him and he would finish it off. The seconds seemed like hours and then the minutes seemed like days and no pistol shot. I began to question what had happened and I reran the events of the morning through my head. I marked the spot that he had stood when I shot and second guessed my choice to fire. A half an hour passed and I still heard no shots from my dads direction so I decided it was time to check out what had actually happened to the deer. I put on my coat and gloves and began to head for the impact spot that I had marked in my head. It did not take long to find a small amount of blood. I slowly worked my way down the blood trail it was not a heavy trail but good enough that I did not need to squint to follow it. It did not take long to find the deer laying dead on his side in the swamp. The bullet had hit the main ateries in the hind quarters and the animal had quickly expired. I carefully worked my way around him to make sure he was dead. One of the old tricks I had learned was to poke the eye ball with the barrel of the gun and see if it moved, if it did not move when touched the deer was dead. I did this in my normal after kill routine and the deer was definitely dead then my entire attention turned to the massive rack. I did a quick count and decided he was a ten point. Part of the rack was buried in the ground. I was very excited now. It was by far the largest rack I had ever gotten. I went to my dads stand which was only 50 yards away and I knew he would want to know what I was doing frogging around in the swamp. I gave him the keys to my truck and told him when he went home for lunch to bring my truck out and we would load the deer up.
I slowly made my way back to my blind. Once there I got the camera and knife and made my way back to the deer to field dress him. I rolled the deer over and became even more excited to see two more points that I had not noticed on first inspection of the rack. Now I was really excited I had no trouble quickly dressing the deer and while dragging was a chore it was not far to the edge of the field.
Dad showed up with the truck shortly after noon and we hoisted the large deer with great effort up into the bed of the truck. We headed for the D.N.R. check station and I was surprised with the attention the deer got as I opened the tailgate other hunters left their deer to see mine. The reaction at the processors was even greater as some 20 hunters waiting in line left their deer on the ground and flocked to my truck and asked to hear the story of this large deer.
After waiting the 60 days for the antlers to dry I had them scored by Commemorative Bucks Of Michigan and the tail of the tape is as follows: The antlers scored 131 and 5/8's. It was the 52nd largest taken in the county it was shot in. It was 191lbs. field dressed. It was an extremely wonderful experience to have gotten this trophy and I can not wait till this seasons opening day to try for an even larger animal.
