My son, Dylan, age 14, gets in from school around 4pm. I told him this morning that we were going hunting again and that I felt like it was gonna be a good evening as a front was moving in! Well, we get on the stand down in the Honey Hole about 4:20pm. At 4:30 I hear a deer coming in. It is just that yearling doe. She is by herself and the rest of the gang in nowhere to be seen! I have to climb down the ladder stand because my back was hurting so, I climbed down and was hanging around the bottom of the ladder.
About 5pm, I climbed back up. I stood there until about 5:10 and it was starting to get dark some. Dylan said that he is about ready to go and I told him that I didn't think we were gonna see a buck this evening. Just as soon as that came out of my mouth, a deer walked onto the firebreak on the far end! It was about 80 yards and I was almost positive I could see a rack on it. Dylan looked thru the scope and said yea, it's a buck. It's a spike. Then he said no, it looks like a 4pt. and that he could see a fork on one side. He said that he wanted to take the deer.
The buck turned broadside and went up to the yearling doe and started rubbing his antlers in her face. She stepped back and he turned facing us and started eating corn. I gave him instructions on how to compensate for a quartering shot. Then he looked at me and said, "Dad, you are shaking the stand!" I told him my legs were cramping but, they really wasn't. I could regain composure so, I told him I was going to climb down out of the ladder stand and let him have it. So I did. I stood down there for I bet 10 minutes and BOOM! He fired! I heard the deer run but, couldn't see anything.
I got him down and then we proceeded out on the firebreak. As we got on the lane, a big bodied deer jumps out on the lane but, has it's head behind a bush. I was thinking it was the deer he shot at. The deer looks at us and then flags and runs. So, we headed back to the 4wheeler then ran to the house and told mom. We wasn't sure at this time but, he was confident that he hit it. However, I was wondering.
We get back down there and start looking on the lane and there is blood! I start shaking. It is dark thick blood, in spots for about 20 feet straight down the lane and ends. I thought well, quartering shot and this is the splatter. I then went back to where I first found blood and looked to the edge of the woods. Blood then more blood. Then bright red blood! Oh yea! Then blood all over the place. I was high steppen' then baby. I shined the light up ahead and seed DEER but, he didn't. I gave him the light and told him to blood trail it until he found his deer. He finished up the trailing from that point and found the deer. It was a nice 3pt. It was a BUCK OF A LIFETIME as that is his first deer ever! He put a perfect lung shot on the deer. Daddy is proud!
Here are the pics. I apologize because this cheap digital camera doesn't take good pics, especially at night. We had to get all kinds of lights on it but, here is what we have:
