It was a morning hunt Friday the 19th of November. I had two target bucks on my camera and was just waiting for them to show up. The rut was in full effect and had seen really good activity that whole week.
First thing that morning to the right of my platform stand a spike was running a doe in circles. They left after 15 minutes or so of playing and I had high hopes for the rest of the mornings hunt. Sure enough, within 15 minutes one of those target bucks I was after was 120 yards right in front of me.
I had the crosshairs set to kill, let a round off, but the buck didn’t move. That was weird so I racked another round in my Ruger 7mm-08 and shot again. The branch in front of me exploded which told me I had been shooting it instead of that buck. He wasn’t even fazed, I’m guessing since no bullet had made it towards him at this point. He had only taken one step since the first shot so I made sure the third was going to count.
This time I knelt down, made sure there were no obstructions between me and him and pulled the trigger. Connection was made and he toppled over right where he was standing, no tracking necessary. This is my biggest buck in the four years I’ve hunted. I took him to Harpley’s Taxidermy in Asheboro, NC. Can’t wait to hang him on the wall and share the valuable lesson of barrel clearance.
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