The Right Gear can Save Your Hunting Trip – Part 3

The next morning we got up well before dawn and jumped out of our sleeping bags to see how much snow had fallen. We looked out the door of my camping tent and almost a foot of fresh snow covered everything. The trees were absolutely beautiful covered with the fresh white snow. It was a picture perfect morning for deer hunting. This was going to be the day to get our bucks if it was going to happen this year. We dressed appropriately for the cold and snow, grabbed some hot coffee and headed down the hill with our deer rifles. The guys were going to head north where they had seen the deer running last night. I was going to head over to my favorite spot, an acorn forest to the west. I was positive that after all the fresh snow fell the deer were going to be searching for food.

It was still dark outside and that made it hard to find the acorn feeding ground. I found it at about 5:30 and set up my deer blind about 300 yards away. I didn’t want to scare any deer away before daylight so I crawled in my deer blind and waited for the first light to arrive. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop but as soon as the sun began to rise the woods came alive with the sound of all kinds of animals. I could hear many weird noises in the woods. If you’ve ever been there at that time, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. I got out my new buck grunt caller and got it ready to go. I double checked my rifle to make sure it was loaded and ready to go. Now all I had to do was wait for the big one. With all the fresh snow, I knew he was going to show up today.

As soon as daylight came, I heard a shot from the direction where the other guys were hunting. Maybe they had gotten one! I tried using my grunt caller to call a buck in but had no luck. About that time I saw a doe wandering around some brush. She was headed straight for the acorn feeding ground. Then I saw four more big doe coming down a hill beside me and they were also heading to the feeding ground. That was a sure sign that a buck would be around soon. During the mating season, the bucks will follow close behind the doe and check to see if they are ready to mate. The buck always stays behind the doe and shows up last. At this point there was nothing to do but wait so I took a sandwich from my picnic backpack and ate while watching the doe.

About an hour later I heard lots of noise coming from the forest on the back side of the feeding grounds. There was no doubt, it was sure to be a buck. Then suddenly I saw a huge deer coming out of the thickets and heading straight for the doe. As the deer got closer I could see antlers! It was an 8 pointer for sure. Then another deer came out behind the first buck and he looked like a monster. I counted 12 points. Today was going to be my lucky day. As soon as the two bucks got to the feeding area they began fighting. It was a spectacular sight that I had never seen before in the wild. The smaller buck lost his war with the monster buck and left the area. This was the time to shoot the monster buck that I had been waiting on. I had an open shot so I raised my gun, aimed for his chest and pulled the trigger. The monster fell to the ground right in this tracks. I had bagged a monster buck and had a great story to tell my children and grandchildren.