I took my wife down to the ranch this weekend for a little R&R and to do a little hunting. We weren't planning on shooting a deer but the bucks were moving. We came across a nice typical ten point with a kicker that I had figured she might want to shoot. He was an old buck that was past his prime but was still a decent deer. Anyhow she decided to let him go.

A little later while driving around I spotted a buck standing in the brush watching us. The minute she spotted him she said "I want that one." It was getting close to dark and the brush in that area is bad enough looking for a deer in the daytime much less in the dark. So I told her we would come back in the morning and see if he would come to a stand located in the area.

The next morning we got a late start. After all we can't go hunting without our make-up on can we? We crawled up in the stand and were getting situated when the buck we had seen the previous afternoon stepped out of the brush. He began feeding towards us. I handed her my Blaser R93 7mm mag and asked her if she felt comfortable with the distance which was about 125 yards. She said yes so I told her to take the shot.

At the shot the deer almost dropped but regained his footing and took off into the brush. I was nervous hoping it was a killing shot. We saw a bush shake and then two more. That's always a good sign. Then everything was quiet. About 20 seconds later the last bush shook again.

We waited 30 minutes and she stayed in the stand while I went to look. I started in where the deer had but couldn't find a blood trail. The brush was so thick I couldn't see more than a few feet ahead. Thank God I had worn my snake boots. After crawling through the brush for about twenty minutes I finally stumbled over him. What a relief! He is a typical nine pointer with four kickers. I had let him go last year even though he was a typical eight pointer due to him having about a six inch drop tine. I rough scored him at 155 and he field dressed 204 pounds.

Here is a picture of the happy hunter with her buck.

Nice job (on her nails)! Very nice deer, too. Congrats to her, and to you!

KG

quote:

How did you get away with rifle hunting during the bow season?

It's called managed lands or MLD permits. On managed lands the rifle season runs from September 29 to February 29. This has been in effect for about eight or ten years.

Oh Okay, I didn't see anything in the story mentioning an MLD permit so I was curious


Don't take offense, nice buck

wonderful buck. Great pict. thanks.

Congratulations to both of you -- great buck!

Great deer. Congratulations, it feels good to see your hard work and discipline of letting them walk and get some age on them pay off. just curious how old was he?

Congratulations to yourself and the misses. Both of you did very well.

Good story and a nice buck.

Well of course you have to have make up, you are taking pictures.

great story.

nice little buck.

congratulations to your wife!

Nice "little" 155 class management buck! Congrats to the better half!