I really needed to move a treestand on our northern ridge to have it ready for firearm season in a couple of weeks and this was my only chance to do it. He was fidgety and ready to get down, so I told him he could walk up the ridge with me (it is a hellacious walk) or I could take him back to the house and come back out. Much to my surprise he said “I’ll walk with you, I’d like to see it up there. Should we bring the rifle?” I replied that we should, “just in case…” Well we climbed the ridge and slowly worked toward the northwest corner of our property where my stand is located. We get into a white oak grove and the deer sign is off the charts. So beat down we are literally walking on dirt because the leaves have been trampled. By now the wind had picked up a bit and it was blowing right in our faces. I start walking through the thick underbrush and make my way to about 20 yards from my stand, when I looked to the left, 30 yards beyond and see a deer standing there. I was shocked!!! I stop my son who is 10 feet behind me and point the deer out to him. The deer’s head is behind a tree so I wave my son up to me. The deer finally picks his head up and I see antlers. I told Landan it was a buck and we get the rifle into position using a sapling has a rest. There is just no shot where he is standing. It is way too thick. I asked Landan if he could see the deer in the scope and he said yes, but the vitals were completely blocked. I told him to relax. The wind was perfect and he had no idea we were there (somehow…). We needed the deer to move about 10 feet to the left where there was a good opening in the brush. Suddenly he picks his head up and walks right to that opening, turned broadside and begins feeding again. I thought “there is no way this is happening.” Landan whispers, I can shoot him as I hear the safety click off. I hear him take a big breath and let out half then BOOM! The deer whips around hops the fence and I heard him crash. We have permission to hunt the neighbor’s place as well so I went to where he crossed the fence and found him just 30 yards past the fence. Commence the hugging, high fives and head shaking! I simply cannot believe it went down like that!
So proud of my little man. 8 hours on stand Saturday without a deer sighting and he was up and at ‘em ready to hit it yesterday morning. His persistence and patience were both rewarded with a cool 8 pointer. Kind of interesting too, the deer had MAJORLY injured his back left foot. He had completely lost his left toe, his ankle was swollen about the size of a tennis ball and his back left ham had significant atrophy and was about ½ to 2/3 that size of his right ham. No sign of infection or anything but he had definitely been through some sort of ordeal.
