Was hoping the rot was starting to kick in when planning for opening day of black powder. I used some doe estrus that I hung up on a limb an hour before first light. As light started to creep over the pines I looked to my right about 200+ yds out and saw two sets of antlers heading my way. When light finally got clear for the binoculars to work better I noticed it was a deer I just started getting on camera. Thing is, they were all pictures from night. The start to check out the buck and his companion (little eight) started scrapping a bit. 10-15 minutes go by and I’m deciding to take the shot. All of a sudden I hear a loud snort wheeze from a deer alerting the others in the area something’s off. I don’t know if something else through the deer off but whatever it was it made the deer blow at least 4 times. The buck I’m on starts to get squirrelly so I lock in and am hoping as he’s turning to run away I’d get a shot. He looked back over his shoulder with a slight angle to his body and I was able to aim a little behind the shoulder than usual and I took my shot. The buck jumped up and ran about 15 yds to the edge of the field and did a flip almost. Once he got back to his feet, he stumbled and drew his last breath as he hit the ground. I then knew I was tagged out for the season with a beautiful, unique buck. God has been good to me this year allowing me to take a 10 point opening day of bow season and now a 12 point opening day of black powder.
Hunter’s name: Lucas Martin
Mayodan North Carolina
Rockingham county, NC
Nov 1st
12-point buck
