Pic of him last year. He has been avoiding the cameras well this year.
I had been talking to some people that told me about some trail cam pictures they had of this deer heading into a public swamp. The direction of travel that this buck took gave me the idea that he was using a bedding area where I had shot a buck 2 years ago. I knew how the deer used this bedding area but the whole idea was to get in super quiet. This bedding area consists of a few small trees and cattails 2 feet over my head. So I slipped in last night and got set up. Sitting there, I was wondering my chance of actually seeing this buck. About 20minutes before closing I all of a sudden heard water trickling to my right. This deer was bedded right there and just started moving. As all you swamp hunters know it’s hard to find a deer in cattails and when I did he was at 20 yards coming right at me. One glimpse and I knew it was crazy horns. I had a tough decision to make. Shoot him on the spot or try to get the camera on him and then shoot. He got closer and I decided if he busted me I could get a few shots off as he ran away so I grabbed the camera. I was trying to find him in the viewfinder when he looked up and me…….
Here is what I should have done. I should have stood dead still and he maybe would have slowly turned around instead of running and I could have gotten a great walking shot at less than 20 yards, but here is what I did……
Pulled the gun up to my shoulder as fast as I could and got off 3 shots and he was back in the thick. STUPID MISTAKE!! I never touched him.
I was ticked about it and I still am. I should have never messed with the camera but oh well dwelling on it is not going to put him down. It’s a good feeling to have it all come together like that and all I can do is keeping trying. I’ll be back at him in this same bedding area with the muzzle loader but I need to let this bedding area cool for now. I did see two other bucks in this same exact bedding area last night. Its amazing how the hunting pressure shoves the deer so deep but exciting because I was able to use it to my advantage
I lit up a field last night that he hangs in and he was out there so that was good to see that I did not wound him. IF anyones interested I can post the video up sometime. Its not a very exciting video becase I never got the camera on him. You can hear him run off and then the gunshots. THe way the deer use this bedding area and how its laid out is very creative and Neat. If I ever get the chance Ill post some pictures up of how the deer use it.
