Late Saturday evening, the black powder opener in my area. Everything was quiet, nothing was moving. As shooting light was fading away, the thrashing of the black rack, followed by some estrus bleats, and a tending grunt from dead end game calls brought him straight to me. He couldn’t resist it. I saw his massive body coming through the woods just before entering my clover plot. I knew it was a buck by his body mass, just wasn’t sure how big he was yet. But as I glassed him. I told myself, “oh yeah, you’re done for” He walked in like he owned the place. Straight to a scrape 40 yards from me just on the edge of the food plot. Turned broadside, quickly, he then turned little more, so now slightly quartering away. And the gun went off. After the cloud cleared, there was nothing. No sounds, no deer, no birds chirping, just me. Shaking like a leaf! After some time I got down and went to look and I couldn’t find anything. Nothing at all. My brother in law came, we couldn’t find any blood, no sign of which direction he may have gone. Nothing. After an hour with no luck and no indication that I even hit him, we gave up. But me being confident in my shooting, I was just not able to grasp or believe that I missed at 40 yards with a muzzleloader. So I went back Sunday during daylight, and there he was. About 60 yards from where he stood when I shot. God is great!
Hunter’s name: Ethan Matthews
Traphill NC
Wilkes NC
11-8-25
9-point buck
