Got back last Thursday from my annual hunt on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.

On opening day (Monday), my buddy, Neil, shot a button buck at 7:30 am. 5 min. later, I saw a nice doe 50 yards away, but couldn't shoot her, because she was across the fence line - Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world and it's all private property. You have to have written permission from the landowner to hunt. The owner of the next property is the Conservation Officer, so even though I wouldn't normally shoot onto private property, there was no way in the world I was going to shoot onto his.

The weather was glorious. Sunny, with high of about 6 deg. C all week, except for Tuesday. That day, 100 kph winds, combined with absolute sheets of HORIZONTAL rain, made for a lousy day. One of those days when you're sitting in your treestand thinking "What the (%@# am I doing here!!????"

Anyway, we had to leave early, so Thursday morning was to be our last hunt, and I hadn't tagged out, yet. I was using my Rem. 721, in 300 H&H, topped with an old Weaver V5 (2.75-5X) scope, on a side mount. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

About 8 am, I'm sitting there, wondering why we hadn't seen more action in the open meadow that we were hunting. There were 3 tree stands and the 2 of us had used the ones on the fence lines, but the one in the centre of the field hadn't been used, even though it offered a good view of the entire field. I decided to hunt the field on my own, in hopes that one person would leave less to chance.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my left eye, I caught movement. Turning my head, I saw a buck just walking behind a scrub bush about 40 yards to my left. He had walked out right underneath the first stand!! From the view I had, I couldn't tell just how big he was, but figured he was about 6 point.

As I saw him and started to raise my rifle, he stopped, and looked straight at the stand. He appeared to be on alert, as he would have had to cross my scent trail from when I walked in. He was slightly uphill, so was on the same level as me, but because of the bush, his view was obstructed, too. He stared at the stand for a full 30 seconds, then started to walk again.

I took this opportunity to raise my rifle the rest of the way, and as I did so, he stopped again, just before the end of the bush, and stared at me again, for 30 seconds more.

I decided to take him as soon as he stepped out from behind the bush. As he did so, I put the crosshairs right on his chest, and fired.

He took off at full speed. I racked another shell into the chamber, put the crosshairs on him and fired. He dropped at the shot. Later, I found out that he had just dropped dead, and that my second shot had missed, probably going over him as he was going down.

My buddy, who heard the shots, said that at the first shot, knowing the direction, and proximity of the sound, he was sure it was me firing. However, he said that he had second thoughts, because the second shot came so fast, it sounded like a semi-automatic.

When I got down out of the stand and approached the buck, I saw just how big he was. 10 points, and weighed 195 lbs field dressed. Almost identical in weight to another 10 point buck that I had taken in the same area in 2000. That one scored 115.25 B&C, but I think this one should be into the 130's.

He's at the taxidermist right now. And his meat is at the butcher for garlic sausage and pepperettes (the last one was almost too tough and strong to eat!!).

BTW, you'll notice the shirtsleeves in the picture. No, I wasn't hunting in shirtsleeves, but between the adrenalin after I got the buck, and the nice sunny day, I was able to take my coat off while I gutted the deer.

Nice buck man!
A nice story too, do you use treestands or man-made blinds?
BTW are the deer out noticeably later due to all the private land?

Nice buck! I too have a 721 H&H....waiting to get back home to try it on whitetails this year. Couldn't help but notice the stock........Is that the factory finish? Nice looking gun! Congrats, Wyo

Boghossian, we use home made tree stands. The owner of the property builds them from timber he harvests off the land.

I don't know what you mean about the deer being out later. Daybreak is at 7:30 am this time of year, sunset about 5:00 pm. There are so many deer on the island (+ or - 30,000), that you have a good chance of seeing them any time of day, as your driving. Around 4 pm, the fields are full of them - during closed season.

wcs, I just got the rifle in June. I'm assuming it's factory finished. The gun is like new. From what I understand, the original owner died shortly after he got it and his wife stuck it in the closet for 35 years. She only sold it because of the gun registry. It's on a Weaver side mount, which is too bad, because they had to cut the stock to mount it. It's drilled and tapped for a receiver mount scope.

Apparently, there was a part box of 12 Winchester shells that was thrown out some years ago. Given the condition of the gun, it's entirely feasible that the gun only fired 8 shots in it's lifetime, before I got it. I'll make sure it's put to good use. I believe guns are for using, just like cars are for driving.

Nice buck you got there. I tried hunting the island a few years ago but no luck. Sure is a nice place to hunt.

Greg

Nice looking buck you got there. I heard tonight that a guy that I know and use to work wih shot a big buck up there on the island this year. It was supposed to weigh around 225 -250 lbs gutted. Heard this from a relible source ,the person who shot the buck works at a local realastate office, so the next time I am talking to him I will see if he has any pics of it.

Hey Fischer, what a NICE buck!