A day in November

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They say that the truth is stranger than fiction, and I would agree with that in some cases. A deer hunt that I experienced on a Bloomville timber company lease, a few years ago, was just such a case.

It was a cool, clear, November morning, and I was running a little late as I slipped into a tripod stand overlooking the "honey hole." The stand was set up against a small gum tree, at the end of a long narrow food plot.

It was already daylight, and I hadn't been there more than five minutes when a little doe came in at the far end of the food plot, about a hundred and fifty yards away. She worked her way down the plot taking a bite here and there, and looking back over her shoulder occasionally. The wind was in my face so I knew she couldn't get my scent. When she was about thirty yards from the stand she stopped and looked back again.

A big buck walked out at the far end of the plot and stopped. He was facing the stand and staring intently at the doe. He was an old buck with a wide seven-point rack. He started walking slowly down the plot, never taking his eyes off the doe. I had him in the scope, but didn't shoot as long as he was coming my way.

I noticed the doe out of the corner of my eye moving closer, and I was worried she would get too close, and bust me. About that time the buck stopped out at sixty yards, still looking intently at the doe. I figured it was now or never and put the cross-hairs on his chest and squeezed the trigger. When the rifle roared, he just wheeled around and ran into the woods on the right. The doe ran back down the food plot and into the woods where she had come from.

Excitement and bewilderment flooded over me, and I wondered "Did I miss him?" I had taken my time, and steadied my aim from the stand's rail. I knew that my sights were dead on him, but he showed no sign of being hit. I decided to wait a while before getting down to look. In a few minutes I saw another buck at the far end of the food plot. It was a little four-pointer and I watched him through the scope as he walked down the plot toward me. When he got close, he stopped and appeared to be looking intently at something.

Looking up from the scope I saw what he was looking at. The seven-pointer that I had just shot at was walking across the plot from the right, at about twenty yards. Now remember, I'm in an elevated stand looking down the food plot through a rifle scope at the other buck. I was amazed and wondered "Had I missed him, or was he wandering around mortally wounded? Why would he come back and walk across the food plot after I had just shot at him?" I guess the rut just makes them crazy. I put the rifle up hurriedly, and fired at him again.

He just ran on into the woods on my left. He was so close I could hear him walking, and he was coming towards the stand! He walked back up to the edge of the food plot about ten yards away and stopped. He was looking out at the food plot, toward the last place he had seen the doe. When I moved to point the rifle at him, he looked up and saw me in the stand. He turned and started walking back through the woods. He was so close and the woods were so thick I could barely see him through the scope, but I shot again anyway. He ran on without showing any sign of being hit.

By now, I was so frazzled I couldn't think straight. I thought "That deer must have been out of his mind. Didn't he know that he was being shot at?" And, I wondered "Why was I missing him at almost point-blank range? Had my rifle sights gotten knocked off somehow?"

So here I was sitting in the stand with all these thoughts running through my mind, and I look up, and see another buck coming!

"Haven't these deer heard me shooting" I wondered. "Where were they all coming from? Were they looking for that one little doe?" This buck just skirted the end of the food plot and went on into the woods on the right. I sat there and thought to myself "Maybe he will just circle around in the woods and come out in the plot closer to me." And he did! I could not believe what I was seeing.

This buck was an eight-pointer, and was bigger than the seven-pointer that I had been shooting at. He had the most perfect rack that I had ever seen, a very beautiful set of chocolate colored antlers. He walked out into the food plot and stopped broadside at about sixty yards. Almost exactly in the same spot that the seven-pointer had stopped at earlier. I took my time, put the cross-hairs on his front shoulder and fired. He wheeled around and ran back into the woods on the right.

Another miss! I thought I saw the bullet hit in the woods over his back, but I wasn't sure. Of course, I realized by now that something bad was wrong with my rifle. It wasn't shooting where I was aiming, but what to do? It wasn't doing me any good to sit up there in the stand and miss everything.

About that time, I heard a buck snort-wheeze in the woods to the left of the stand. I reached down and got a pair of rattling antlers and grunt call out of my back pack. I rattled and grunted to simulate a fight, and see if any of the bucks would come back out. Nothing happened, so I turned to put the horns and call back in my bag. The big eight-pointer was standing in a logging deck about thirty yards behind me. He saw me when I moved and ran back into the woods.

That was it! I got down from the stand. I couldn't take it anymore. My head was just swimming with all that had happened. I knew that I had just experienced one of the most amazing events of my life. I felt disappointment, but I knew that I was fortunate to have had such an unusual day in the woods. I know that I will probably never experience anything again, like that day in November.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.