bigscoop
Gold Member
- Jun 4, 2010
- 13,373
- 8,689
- Detector(s) used
- Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Moments that make you say, "Ooops!"
When I was about 18, and still learning the basics of hunting big bucks, I had setup stand in a lone maple tree that stood in the center of a large expanse of over-grown fields and fence rows. At about 9:30am three does and a massive buck emerged from the woods to the east, at four hundred yards I could clearly count twelve high tines extending from his exceptionally wide and thick beams. For a few moments those deer just stood in the field near the edge of that woods, then suddenly they dashed into a narrow creek bottom that, “ran east and west all along the entire field’s south edge.” I couldn’t get over how large that buck’s rack was, just knowing that I could clearly count tines at such a great distance gave me wild fantasies as to how much larger they would appear once I had them in hand. And suddenly, just like that, the hunt was on.
Certain that I had been either spotted or winded, and giving no thought to the possible effects of the rutting period that was in progress, I climbed down from my tree and I slowly stalked on over to where I had last seen those deer as they entered the narrow creek bottom, which as I said, was about 400 yards from the tree I had just been sitting in. My instincts were on high and my light steps were equal to that of a cat on the prowl. With a huge lake on the other side of that narrow creek bottom I was certain that buck didn’t stand a chance, in my mind I was already deciding how that rack was going to look on my wall. But, to my surprise and equally sudden dismay, as I reached the exact spot where Mr. Huge had entered the narrow creek bottom I turned around to look back towards that same tree and there was that same huge buck chasing those same three does all around that same tree I was originally sitting in, about 400 yards away!
“Ooops!”
When I was about 18, and still learning the basics of hunting big bucks, I had setup stand in a lone maple tree that stood in the center of a large expanse of over-grown fields and fence rows. At about 9:30am three does and a massive buck emerged from the woods to the east, at four hundred yards I could clearly count twelve high tines extending from his exceptionally wide and thick beams. For a few moments those deer just stood in the field near the edge of that woods, then suddenly they dashed into a narrow creek bottom that, “ran east and west all along the entire field’s south edge.” I couldn’t get over how large that buck’s rack was, just knowing that I could clearly count tines at such a great distance gave me wild fantasies as to how much larger they would appear once I had them in hand. And suddenly, just like that, the hunt was on.
Certain that I had been either spotted or winded, and giving no thought to the possible effects of the rutting period that was in progress, I climbed down from my tree and I slowly stalked on over to where I had last seen those deer as they entered the narrow creek bottom, which as I said, was about 400 yards from the tree I had just been sitting in. My instincts were on high and my light steps were equal to that of a cat on the prowl. With a huge lake on the other side of that narrow creek bottom I was certain that buck didn’t stand a chance, in my mind I was already deciding how that rack was going to look on my wall. But, to my surprise and equally sudden dismay, as I reached the exact spot where Mr. Huge had entered the narrow creek bottom I turned around to look back towards that same tree and there was that same huge buck chasing those same three does all around that same tree I was originally sitting in, about 400 yards away!
“Ooops!”
