Mistaken identity, and owning it.

[Cvanheel]

So I spent two weeks of vacation up in northern MInnesota rut hunting. The hunting up there is tough but rewarding. The Thursday of the second week I found myself hunting in between some swamp bedding, and a field edge that the does had been hitting hard. crawled up in my tree around 2pm. Fifteen minutes later a giant doe had snuck into 13.5 yards, and I sent one threw her boiler room. About 40 minutes before shooting light ended another deer made its way through the area. The area i was hunting is a 3 deer harvest area so, I figure i'm going to shoot this doe as well, and fill my freezer. Deer stopped at 30 yards perfect broadside shot. I sent the arrow, and i'm telling you as a person who enjoys the flight of the arrow this shot was a thing of beauty. The deer mule kicked ran 30 yards looked around like she was confused then dropped. I sat till dark then crawled down excited that I had just scored my first double with archery equipment. Walked over to the arrow from the second deer grabbed it then made my way to where the second doe had fallen. As my light hit the deer I noticed that the neck looked larger then it should. Then my light caught the glint of antler. As I picked the deer's head up I am stunned to see that on the left side of his head he has a 5 in forked horn, and he is busted off on the other side. My immediate reaction is slight disappointment in myself. I should have seen the rack, And Minnesota being a one buck state means my buck hunting is over for the year. I sat down next to that little buck, and replayed the entire hunt over in my head. At the end of the replay I am left smiling at the memory of the amazing hunt, and I decide right then that I'm just as proud of this deer which I have since named G2 as any other deer I have ever killed. I am going to boil down the skull and hang him on my wall right along side my other bucks. I have decided that even though I love chasing big mature bucks that every deer deserves the same respect, and excitement that a big buck would get, and if I ever forget that or don't feel that way anymore that I will hang my bow up forever. Anybody else have a story about personal growth when it comes to hunting?

[Kraftd]

Going through something similar at the moment.

I have two archery buck tags in IL every year and one in WI. Halloween I filled both of my IL tags with a 1.5 year old 8 pointer and a scrappy 2.5 year old 6. My plan was to hunt WI hard for the remainder of the rut with a bow, and then buy a WI rifle tag and keep at it.

Kids schooling has been so off and on and workload at work such that I have only been out twice since then. Then yesterday found out my nephew's nanny has COVID and the kids were together earlier this week, so can't risk spending the weekend in our cabin with my dad and the kids and I, as he's 72.

So here I sit, a great spot in IL ten minutes from home that would let me get out a couple of times in the next few days, but I'm tagged out. If I knew how it would have all played out, I'd be sitting on a tag still for sure and hunting local. I could certainly go out on some WI public with my bow, but that is a much larger time comittment, and don't want to leave the wife with the kids when this was supposed to be her annual weekend off during hunting season.

But, I have a freezer full of meat, still get to spend time with the wife and kids. Can probably get a little duck hunting in. We're still healthy, and I'd rather be here than not have meat for next year in the freezer. So, part of me wishes I still had an IL tag, but, no regrets.