Story Time: A Buck, a Miss, and a Second Chance
Some hunts stick with you for a season. Others turn into stories you will remember for the rest of your life.
Last Sunday was one of those days for our family. Watching your son do things the right way, putting in the time, and then seeing it all come together is something special.
Here is the story, exactly how it happened.
Last Sunday, my son Drake killed his best deer, and what a story to go along with it!
Two years ago, the second week of January, we were hot after a particular deer, and he honestly was a ghost. We would get some game cam pics here and there of him. We definitely knew he was moving between a couple stands, but never trust those cell cams and don’t let them determine when to hunt, and you will be a lot more successful!
We had some cold weather moving in, and me and my son went to a spot we could see 300 yards one way and 300 yards another way. On the edge of this bedding area, there had been several groups of does using a field on one end of the 300-yard lane. At 3:30, his buck busted into the field behind a doe, and he was dogging her like a cutting horse.
I told Drake, “I am gonna stop him. He was around 175 yards. Follow him with the gun and shoot when he stops.” Well, I gave the deer a little more than the mehhhhh like they do on TV. I hollered at him, startling my son, and he pulled the trigger following the deer, but the deer stopped, so the shot went about a foot in front of him. Never to be seen again in daylight.
Now fast forward to this season. Lo and behold, the buck shows up on camera off and on through November. Same deer.
As December comes he starts to roam a little. I get a daylight picture of him in the spot he missed. A week goes by, nothing, but we got a cold front hitting and we decide Sunday is the day before the wind turns out of the wrong direction for a week!
Drake slides in his spot where he missed the deer almost a year ago to the date. He is texting me what he is seeing. The does and young bucks are moving. It’s getting close to dark, and my wife asked me to run to the store and fill her truck up with fuel. So I run to the store, put the gas pump in, and get back in the car, check the cameras on my phone, and I have a picture of the buck on a trail heading into that field.
Suddenly my heart gets to beating, lol, like I am there. I know he is either fixing to be in front of Drake or he is dead already. His phone died, of course, and I am in the store getting some stuff after fueling up. The phone rings, and I am almost nervous knowing he is either fixing to tell me he missed, killed, or he got by him.
But it was what I had hoped when the words were, “I GOT HIM.” I headed to the house to get my truck to run help him, and man, what a moment it was when I got to see his excitement of what all went on. He told me, “Dad, it was like he was replaying the hunt from last season. The deer came out on the same trail, walking the same diagonal path, offering a head-on shot.”
He put the crosshair on his chest, squeezed the trigger, and the deer fell. The deer was dead within a few yards of where he missed him. Guess lightning will strike the same spot twice. Once he got to the old buck, he could see all the extra points around his bases. He truly was a fine Bama buck to hang his hat on!
While on the phone, I asked him, “Is he as big as he looks on camera?” His reply was, “BIGGER!” I have killed a few where they shrunk a little in my past, lol, but that would have been fine with me as well!
It was a Sunday afternoon for the books, and I am so thankful I got to see the success of my son. He has learned you can’t kill them on a couch, and those good days where the temps get low here in the South can be the window of opportunity.
A Hunt Drake Will Never Forget
Moments like these are what hunting is all about. Time spent together, lessons learned, and the memories that come from putting in the work.
Sometimes a miss turns into the setup for something even better down the road.
If you are getting ready for the season, take a look at our lineup of deer calls and browse the rest of the Houndstooth blog for more hunting stories and tips from the woods.
And every now and then, lightning really does strike the same spot twice.