Archery season I had numerous encounters with mature bucks. Many of you know, on Halloween, I got an arrow in one. He ended up surviving the hit. I killed a coyote, a longbeard, a doe and a gray fox with my bow. Passed on several bucks.
Rifle season came..The opener I passed 2 small 1.5yo bucks. Don't know where the bigger bucks were..Noone from camp seen any of them.
At home pushing with a few buddies, I passed on several more small bucks.
Many of you know I whiffed a 20yd shot with a scoped rifle....I'm still dumbfounded lol. I don't know what happened.
After that, I hit another buck. I am certain I hit behind the shoulder but I know he was quartering away. I am betting he was quartering away more than I thought and I was too far forward...Long story but he got onto land I can't access. He traveled far enough and didn't bleed a ton I'm not certain that shot was fatal enough to recover. Very possible it went between the shoulder and rib cage and left him very sore. I was sick. Disgusted.
Flintlock season came. It's my favorite season and favorite weapon. Last spring I spent 5 months building a rifle. It turned out to be very accurate. I was happy with how it turned out for the first rifle I built.
I hunted 2 days at my buddies camp. Lots of doe...A couple small buck...We never seen a decent buck..I never got a good shot at a doe..If I did it wasn't safe or I couldn't be sure it wasn't a button buck...
I came home and hunted with a buddy...A doe and her little one came up to me...I centered the sights on the doe and touched off the flintlock. She went 50yds down the hill and collapsed. My first deer with the Flintlock I built!!
This Sunday I knew I had to see a doctor...My ears hurt for about a week and we're now on fire...Being New Year's day, nothing was open.
Monday I woke up and went to the Doctor. Took longer than expected but of course, double ear infections. Called my buddy and told him I was running late. I knew Tuesday was a washout so I was hunting lol...
2nd push of the day he wanted to push a pretty dang big block...I told him it's gunna take a lot of luck for it to work with 2 shooters and 1 dog in woods that big...
I sat and had 8-10 doe come by. Figured with all those doe I better hold my fire...
They all went up the hill to my left. I kept seeing deer dancing around up there...I didn't think much of it..Figured it was the same doe I already seen.
Deer started coming off the hill back to me. First was a cow of a doe. She saw my breath and got antsy. Sights on her chest about to touch off the gun... Debating if I wanted to take a doe or not..Another doe came...More deer coming.
I realize one has antlers...Wait! The entire hill of deer behind her has antlers!
She is NERVOUS. Head bobbing and stomping. I remained as still as possible.
She trotted a bit to my right and was real nervous at that point. The high humidity and misty fog kept my scent pooling I think..
I know the first buck or 2 was small. I honestly can't tell you how many buck I could see...
I focused on what looked to be the biggest...I could see his left side looked BIG. Looked like a half rack.
I didn't care...A mature buck in the late Flintlock season is not easy to come by in PA.
Don't know why but he came to about 30yds and stopped when he realized the doe was nervous. He should have seen that long before and never came to me..
I verified he had 3 legal points shoved the brow tine and touched the gun off.
The humidity and lack of wind kept the plume of smoke in my face. Through the smoke I thought I saw him topple over.
I take my time and clean and reload my rifle.
My buddy showed up and we snuck over....Sure enough he was down!!!
He ended up being a 4x1. Broken off right side leaving about a 6" stump. G2 on the left side was broken. His beam is around 18" and had he had the other side and it grew about the same width, he'd been around 20" inside. Measured from the inside to center of his skull is just over 10".
I couldn't get over the body size and lack of good rack. Even if he had both sides, he'd been pretty "scrappy" no mass or tine length. His body was that of a mature 3.5+to buck. His feet were big...
Don't know why he grew a scrape rack but I am confident he's 3.5+yo.
I was thrilled. Not many bucks get killed in Flintlock season here. He is my 3rd. My buddy and I make a pretty deadly team. He is a heck of a deer dog...And I have a knack for finding the spot to get em killed. I sat at that spot because it was the top 1/3rd elevation...There was a saddle up the ridge..The spot was covered in buck sign...
Not sure my season is over...I have 2 more days and 2 doe tags...But being my buck tag is filled, I consider it over and on a very high note.
Thought you guys would enjoy the story and recap...Maybe learn from it...When a season of lows and blows hit you, press on and get through it. It can turn around in the blink of an eye. I am the type that gets upset and frustrated by the lows. Getting a shot at a mature buck in PA isn't an every day occurrence. To get a shot at 3 and blow them all...I was crushed. Beating myself up. Looking back I'd still take all 3 of those bad shots. I'd aim a little different in hindsight...But I don't feel any were bad shots that I shouldn't have taken. Lots of lessons learned.
