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Deer Hunting.
2nd Chance
Hunter's Name: Rik Tice
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State of Harvest: Mississippi
Closest City: Madison
County of Harvest: Madison
Were Deer Calls Used?: No
Were Lures Used?: No
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Weapon Used: Muzzleloader
Number of Points: 7 Point
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Year of Harvest: 2002
Time of Harvest: 7:45
Story and Comments.: A friend of mine has a farm just outside of Madison, MS, about 200 acres with a couple of small lakes, a lot of open hayfields with good thick cover on the fringes. He's set up some food plots and Oak trees have been dropping acorns in the fencelines all around the edges of the hayfields. When I first went to scout the location, I was amazed by the number and variety of deer sign over the entire area. In about 15 hunts since bow season started, I've only had one trip that I saw nothing. Most days I at least saw several does and usually a small buck or two. During the early rifle season I discovered that the scope on my old Enfield .303 had finally just had enough after I missed a really nice 8 pointer that should have been a gimme. After scouring the area that evening and for a couple of hours the next morning, I took the gun to the range and discovered that the reticle had come loose and was drifting, so I replaced the scope with the one from my muzzleloader and got it zeroed in and tested the open sights on the smokestick. The next weekend was muzzleloader time, so I got set up in my climber overlooking what looked like a major trail to an oak tree and was hoping to at least see the trio of large bucks I'd seen and catch them on the camcorder if they were out of range. About 7 AM, a decent sized doe walked right up to the base of my tree before noticing me and bolting. Fifteen minutes later another, smaller doe came out of the woods about a hundred yards away, angled out into the waist high, sage grass for a little bit and wandered back into the woods. She never really got close enough for me to comfortably shoot with open sights before she disappeared. I was beginning to be a little impatient and really wanted to have something worth shooting at when I noticed a plume of steam where the small doe had come out of the woods. I looked a little closer and saw antlers coming out of the fog, following the path the little doe had taken. He was really interested in her path and not really looking around for danger. When he got to about 65 yards from me and turned broadside, I decided to let fly. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to unscrew the second safety measure on my Knight muzzleloader and the bolt just clicked. I reset it and was able to shoot, but missed him clean in my frustration over the first mishap. He started looking nervous, stamping and looking right at me, but didn't run immediately, so I figred I was busted and would at least get him on the camera. After about 10 seconds of video, I realized that he wasn't running off and I might be able to reload and try again. As I was trying to quietly and slowly reload, he began to angle over a little closer and conveniently walked behind a tree for me to get the larger motions needed to seat the bullet and finally walked out, only 30 yards away. Having missed once, I was determined not to flinch and managed to hit him in the base of the neck and drop him where he stood. When I got over to him, I discovered that he was missing a point on one side, but still a respectable 7 pointer weighing in at 165 lbs. This was a great deer for me as he doubled in weight anything I had had an opportunity at previously.
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Listed by: Rik Tice
Homepage: http://www.ticehaus.com
This listing has been viewed 5031 times.
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