When we arrived the deer were not in the fields we had been seeing them in. So we split up and began to look in other areas nearby. My buddy went to a different area thinking they might be hanging out somewhere different due to the pressure we put on them a few nights earlier. Sure enough, my buddy spotted a few bucks and thought he may have located the buck I had missed. I quickly drove over to where he was and got the spotting scope out to take a look. Once I had the buck in the scope I was pretty sure it was the same buck.
With only 30 minutes of light left before shooting hours were over I made my plans and began the stock. I followed a fence line out to where the buck was laying in the corner of a field. As I approached, a couple of does spotted me moving closer to my target. They got nervous and began trotting across the field alerting all the other deer. I quickly made the decision to jump out and get the buck in my scope. I stepped out into the field he was laying in and saw him standing up staring right at me. I settled my cross hairs on him once again, but this time I decided to wait for a broadside shot. He finally turned and started to walk away as I squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out, but the buck didn ' t go down. He flinched, but I don ' t think I hit him. I chambered another round as the buck slowly turned the other direction and started walking away again. This time I took my time and settled in right behind his shoulder. I squeezed the trigger again and the buck hit the ground. I did it! I shot the buck I had missed just days before. As I walked up to him I could not believe how big the buck really was! We knew he was a good buck, but there was no ground shrinkage on this guy! In fact, it was quite the opposite. He got bigger the closer I got. He was a big 3X3 with eye guards! He ended up taping out at 27 " wide and grossed 165 " with 35 " of mass! An awesome buck for sure! To say the least, I was extremely happy that I stuck it out.
Thanks to my good friends for getting me on this buck and helping me fill my tag in 2012!
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