One For The Wall

It wasn't the buck that I was looking for but he was too good to pass.

He's a nice main frame 8 point with 5 sticker points.  18" spread.  Weighed 154 pounds field dressed.   Taken with a muzzleloader at about 60 yards.

I especially like his gnarly main beams and brow tines.

I hunted the Hi-Rise stand this evening and had 3 does come out one hour before sunset.  About 15 minutes before sunset, two bucks came out.  I thought that they were the same ones as earlier in the week but, on closer examination, one was much nicer.  I went ahead and shot him and he dropped straight over.

I was going to wait for dark and see if I could shoot a doe to go with him but I got impatient.  I got down and checked him out.

It was the opposite of "ground shrinkage" - he really was nicer than I expected.  

I got the tractor out and made an easy recovery.

I have two doe tags to go for this year - I'll try to get one in the morning to make the trip to the processor worthwhile.  I also have a hunt in TX coming up next week - something to look forward to.

There is still lots of food in the plots.  The deer have been mainly working the clover.  This brassica field is still pretty intact.  I think there's still great chances for both the bonus gun weekend and muzzleloader season.  The big boy is still out there and I know where he's been bedding.