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Following a hunting trip to Texas, I headed to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for another deer hunting adventure. I know, it's a rough life. :)
It rained the entire way to North Carolina, clearing as soon as I arrived in Chapel Hill. The wind died down, the air became cooler. It was like Shangri-la for deer hunting! We all had high expectations as 3 of us headed for deer stands. Thane headed for the cedar stand, Chris for his blind (named for him, as he uses it more than anyone else), and went to my favorite blind, The Hotel.
Very early on, I heard a loud shot come from Thane's stand. I quickly received a text that he'd missed. Great start. Well, at least there was some activity. I soon noticed a doe in my field. She was kind of small and hidden in the tall grass. I watched her for a while through my binoculars and as she got closer, pulled up my rifle to take a look through the scope. What was this??!! There's two little antlers coming out of that doe's head!! Yep, this was the little spike that Thane warned me about.
As I'm looking at him, I catch movement to my left and see a nice sized doe moving towards the feeder. I ultimately had a great shot on her, but something kept me from shooting. I'm glad I didn't. As the sun was setting, a REALLY small doe came into the field directly in front of me and barely made it to the feeder; she could hardly get over the tall grass. She worked her way to the left of the blind and I decided to film her a bit as we approached the end of legal shooting hours.
As I'm filming, I noticed movement at the feeder and I look to see a big buck that appeared out of nowhere!! You can hear in the video as I wasted no time getting in a shot as I click off the safety and take the shot! I know I nailed him, as I've never seen a deer react so dramatically to a shot. His whole body shook and looked like he was lifted off the ground! However, it was an off-angle shot and I ended up missing his heart completely. He ran about 100 yards before lying down. We found him pretty easily, in spite of a lack of a blood trail. Amazing! He turned out to be a 9 point buck!! One of the only ones ever taken on this property!!
What a great way to start a hunt!! After gutting and skinning the deer (WAY TOO MUCH WORK -- this deer processor has it EASY! What are we paying him for?), we got a good night's sleep before waking to the 20 degree weather the next day.
Morning held a long, cold wait for exactly zero deer. This is hunting. LONG, slow waits with little movement or sound followed by short bursts of excitement.
For the afternoon hunt, Thane suggested I try the Powerline stand. It hadn't been used in a LONG time and we had to install a new floor just to hunt it. I waited, and waited, and waited. Several hours. Finally, just as shooting hours we about to end, a nice buck came into sight on my left. I wasted no time taking my shot, but all I saw was 17" of flame from the end of my rifle and the deer ran right in front of me and into the woods. I saw no signs of a hit and was sure I missed him. I slowly got my stuff together and headed out to get my Tink's Scent Bombs. As I was picking one up, I noticed blood on the leaves. I shined my light up into the woods where the deer ran and saw eyes!! I got him!! The eyes were so close to the ground, I thought he was dead on the ground. No such luck. He took off running as soon as I stepped into the woods. Ultimately, he ran for about 300 yards and we never found him, in spite of a good blood trail. The worst part is that I walked right by him several times that night, but didn't see him.
We ultimately found him the next morning, but other animals had already gotten to him. It was a very sad day and a difficult learning experience for me. STAY PUT IN THE STAND! Let the deer just relax, because no matter how good the shot (and I actually nailed him!), they will get up and run if you chase them!! A very tough hunting lesson for me.
Ended the North Carolina hunt with a skunking at The Hotel. Not great, but we made some awesome memories and had a great time. I can't wait for next season, whatever it may bring.
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DUNE BUGGY RACES WITH KID DRIVERS!by ufbuilder2,181 views
Great video, better memories
microbeerreviews 3 months ago
@microbeerreviews No question!
ufbuilder 3 months ago