41 Mag
Member
I learned that lesson back in my youth, when I was still young enough I had to hunt with my pop, to NEVER set your rifle out of reach. He scared the bajeebers out of me one morning after he slipped out of the stand to take care of some "business". I was only about 8 at the time, and after the report of his '06 bout rattled the windows out of the stand, he hollers back to me, well I'm done, but I wasn't really sure about with what.....and wasn't about to run out to see
That same lesson is the only reason this one is on the wall,
I would like to add another moment to this thread however.
Year before last on the last evening of the last weekend of archery season I was hunting at my friends place. It is right along a river and as such the thick rich bottoms produce some VERY nice bucks. Well that particular weekend the river was out of it's banks and as such I was hunting a thin strip of timber which was between the river and a pasture, hoping to intercept a big rutting buck as he traveled through using the strip for cover.
After sitting in my stand with two thermocells running and still be eaten alive, I decided I had had enough and climbed down about 45 minutes before dark. I eased out to the tree line and out in the pasture were 6 bucks of varied sizes all jostling around some dozen or so does which were out feeding. I immediately concentrated my attention on two of the bigger ones.
THe one was a nice young wide and high typical 8, and the other was a HUGE old 9 point which I recognized as the one my friend had lost the year before after hitting it directly on the should with his arrow. He was thick as a mule and easily dwarfed the others in both body size and antler mass. They were out about 100 or so yards and I set up in a fallen tree top which allow me cover but also a good shot if I could get one close enough. I hit the grunt call and quickly followed up with a doe bleat, which centered the huge ol bucks attention directly on my position. He stopped broadside at about 75 yards, while the 8 point slipped around him and headed on across the pasture. The big ol monarch was clearly the bull of these woods.
Well he looked my way as I hit the grunt once more only a bit lighter, then he looked over to the 8 point which was now approaching the end of the pasture and another wood line. Then he started to move my direction, as I was starting to shiver with adrenalin. About this time his abruptly turned and headed away towards the 8 point who was standing there looking back. As he approached, I caught more moment from the other tree line and what I saw next completely ruined me for the day, well the rest of the year for that matter.
Out of the wood line steps this young buck, with a rack like I have never seen before. It had to easily be 20" in height, but no branching simply two stubs with tiny points sticking out everywhere. The REALLY impressive thing however was the mass, as they were easily 2" or more thick and simply looked like two fat ends of a baseball bat sticking up from his head. It shook me up so bad I had to sit flat on my rear to even look at him through my bino's, and I had to rest my arms on one of the limbs of the fallen tree I was sitting in.
To me this was the ultimate buck of a lifetime as there is no other like it anywhere. This is what I hunt for year after year, and there he was only 80yds from me with nothing between him and me but 2" tall grass across an open pasture. I was a total mess.
this year on more than one occasion, my friend and his wife both claim to have seen him and he is much better than then. They however haven't given him much though only saying he is nice, but not what they are looking for. I could easily consider hanging up my bow or rifle after getting one like tht as I knoew for sure there would be nothing to top him. I nicknamed him "Stickers" as there is not much other way to describe him. You can be though he will keep me hitting the woods as long as I know he is out there, and they have also reported he has offspring as well.
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