A Shot In The Dark

The first day of deer season 2018 was definitely one for the books. Myself, Rob, Robert, Vince, Craig, Dan, Teagan and Aiden headed into the big woods at 5:30 AM. I had decided to set up on the “Jeep Trail Valley” side of the “First Finger” (as we have named them) just below a dip in the ridge or “saddle” of the finger. My decision to go here was only after considerable deliberation between myself, Rob and Ken on Sunday.

I made it to the top of the saddle and began to break right down the ridge a hundred yards or so.I planned on going to the spot I had cleared just two days prior. When I was about 100 feet from my anticipated spot, my headlamp caught eyes looking at me just 40 yards to my right. It was raining, and while I didn’t want to get soaking wet, I didn’t want to spook the animal either, in the hopes it could be a deer, or even a buck. I snuck another 10 yards to a hemlock and perched below, my eyes still on the animal. With my light on the unknown creature, I awaited light.

The animal did not seem to be threatened by my presence, so I turned off my headlamp and readied my gear. Holding my gun, I peeked through the scope at 6:50 and could make out the outline of a deer. Check. As the darkness around us slowly turned to light, I could see the deer working its way back uphill, yet coming closer to me. 35 yards. Slowly but surely as the light came in so did my scope’s focus. As the clock stuck 7 I had just realized the deer beginning to circle me was a buck. Check. As I shifted to keep the tree I was leaning on between myself and the deer, I could make out a “Y” in the antlers. 30 Yards. At this point I had shimmied so far around the tree that my .308 is above my shoulder and I am leaning way out to my right to see through the scope. The deer was now standing broadside looking directly at me. Finally, enough light entered my scope to make out about a 1.5 inch long browtine. Check. The buck was legal.

Now came my predicament. At the angle I was currently leaning, I knew that with the gun so high on my shoulder, the scope would immediately strike my forehead from the recoil of the gun after pulling the trigger. Even knowing my family and how much grief I would get for having been “scoped” (especially at this point in my hunting career) I clicked off the safety and pulled the trigger.

Blood immediately and simultaneously ran out of the deer and down my face. The radio blew up thereafter. Jokingly, I said “Can someone bring me a Band-Aid”. Everyone frantically asked if I was okay. I then realized that when a gun goes off and right after you ask for any sort of medical attention, others may not get the joke. As I explained what happened more thoroughly, Vince laughed and said he would be right over.

The deer had only ran 20 yards before toppling over. With the first shot of the day, I dropped a pretty dark horned 8 point. After about 15 minutes, I walked over and put my hands on my first wilderness buck, and my first buck at camp. It was almost hard to believe at that point. I was the oldest “grandchild” among my cousins, and the first to begin hunting. While I had taken the first deer of the group, all of the younger hunting grandchildren had taken bucks at camp. It took me 11 years to achieve the feat.

A short while later, Vince came over with band-aid and asked if the blood on the ground was from me or the deer? We shared a laugh as I began to field dress the deer. Wishing Vince luck with the rest of his day, I drug the buck down into the Jeep Trail Valley to the base of the next ridge where Uncle Rob and Ken met me to debone the deer in the field (a first for all of us). The process took just over an hour from start to finish. We all decided that it was way easier than dragging, and planned to continue to do it in the future.

I headed out of the woods with a full pack of meat with ease before heading back in to help drag Teagan and Craig’s 8 points. As they started their drags with a head start, they too liked the de-boning idea as I passed them heading out of the woods.

What a fantastic day that I will forever remember.