Biggest Buck!

[Nocturnal]

This is a true story that happen to me in early Oct 08.Iwas hunting one evening in an overgrown field about 8 acres that gets bushhogged maybe twice a year.My stand is about 125 yards from my corn pile.I climb up in the stand and get all settled in.I was in the stand about 30 minutes when 4 or 5 doe's step out and straight to the corn they go.A little while later in comes a few more.I watch them feed awhile,and one by one they start walking down the woods line away from me.Great i thought.They were about to go in the woods,clear on the other side of the field when out steps this Huge buck.I raise my rifle very slowly and put my scope on him.There were horns everywhere!I started counting.He was a nice 8x7 with at least a 20 inch spread.I pulled my head back from the scope waiting for him to turn for a perfect shot.He takes 2 or 3 steps toward my corn pile,turns broadside and stops.He is now watching the doe's on the other end of the field.I put my scope back on him.My heart was pounding,I could barely breathe!It was as if i had a 2000 pound weight on my chest.My palms were sweating and i could feel sweat droplets welling on my forehead!I put the crosshairs on his neck,but i could not pull the trigger!Something about this buck was majestic!He never came to my corn pile.He just slowly walks down the same path as the doe's and disappears.As i watched his majesty leave,two things came to mind.1,just his shear presence demands respect and 2,I've came along way as a hunter from that little boy who poppin every bird that would land in sight with that Red Ryder Daisy some 30 years ago. Do any of you have similar stories?

[raydaughety]

Give me a GPS coordenance on you're corn pile and I'll have a story to tell ya in a few days . Seriously, bucks that you just described don't come by to often. Have you killed bucks that were bigger than him? If so, I can respect that. Pulling the trigger on any animal is a personal choice that every hunter must take seriously. You certainly have my respect but I would have put a bullet in him .

[Mike P]

I suppose there are many reasons that hunters pass on bucks. I like to think that hunters pass on bucks because they have harvested larger bucks and they like the challenge of improving on the animal they take from year to year. I know that drives me.

And I also agree that major mature bucks deserve the utmost of respect. Someone once said in a thread that I started that the gist of the post was the "noble hunter letting a buck live." Thats what it kind of sounds like with the post that Nocturnal has given us above. And I suppose that really can happen.

It just can't happen in my world. When I hunt, there is nothing noble about me. I am selfish. I always want bigger and better.

Like Ray so eloquently told us, I also would have plugged him in a heartbeat if he was better then any buck I had taken in prior seasons.

[gruntahunta]

I can relate to you Nocturnal, I love hunting but I consider myself a meat and skins hunter and although I dont get to hunt deer here yet I have hunted some creaturs that after a long stalk and watching them through my scope for some time I couldn't pull the triger, I guess I get a good feeling knowing there is a big beast out there that maybe one day under diferent secomstances I may get to harvest but in mean time he has been given the opertunity to spread his geans so I dont regret leting some of the big boars I have seen walk, but one day!

[Nocturnal]

Thats the biggest buck i've ever dropped a scope on!Period!I did'nt kill this deer because i was in total awe.For me,it was better to try to learn from him instead of having him on a plate. This being said,his bloodline continues and maybe more opportunitys from him or his offspring!

[huntman]

If something like that indeed happend to you, then perhaps its time to retire! As a hunter they would be no better reward then to harvest an animal with such majestic qualites!! Why do you continue to hunt? I could understand a young buck but a mature brute??

[Nocturnal]

Indeed it did huntman! Here in S.C. our deer season is 5 months long. One can kill,in the first month enough meat to last two seasons.Why do i continue to hunt? Hunting for me is a learning process,not how much meat i can put in my freezer or heads on my walls.Theres always room for improvement.You guy have to take in account that this was the largest deer I've seen and it was my decision.Why should i have to validate my personal ethics to any of you?

[huntman]

Indeed it did huntman! Here in S.C. our deer season is 5 months long. One can kill,in the first month enough meat to last two seasons.Why do i continue to hunt? Hunting for me is a learning process,not how much meat i can put in my freezer or heads on my walls.Theres always room for improvement.You guy have to take in account that this was the largest deer I've seen and it was my decision.Why should i have to validate my personal ethics to any of you?

Well said i respect that! I for one could of never let a beast like that walk!

[gruntahunta]

one time i went out to a property i hunt and i had been told about a cow that had gon down sick and had food and water placed by her in the hope she would get better, i was asked to check on her if i was out there, so when i arrived a little later than i wanted i parked at the gate, left my rifle in my car and decided to just take my dog for a walk to check on the cow, about 100 or so yards from my car i spoted somthing up on the hill to my left and stoped to just watch and see if it would move, sure enough it did, it was two young boars so i was thinking what do i do?then i notied more little pigs feeding ferthre to my left, then ferther up the hill i spoted two larg black boars moving toward me so i turnd and ran down hill with my dog on a lead who was supprisingly quiet, and doubled back where i had come and that was down wind, i could see my car only 80 od yards away but i decided to sit in the tree line and watch, well two big boars came out and the bigest one was biger than a 44galon drum around the gerth, much biger and i tel you the way he behaved was to me awe inspiring, when he came to wher i had been standing he got my sent and with one grunt he allerted the rest of the mob and i watched as this boar wated till all the other pigs were heading back to where they had come then he followed. that was years ago and i haven't seen him since but that memory is precious to me and i will get a big boar yet when the time is right and i have paid my due. such a big beast is awsom to see in the wild.

[michiganman]

i have a guy i email in illinois.Over the years i have watch him shoot some great bucks with a bow.he has moved his standard to 150plus.he has passed on some great bucks,and shoots does for the freezer.he looks at those bucks just like nocturnal did.

[Hoss]

earlyer this year I spoke of a biggen coming 20 yds from me. Dancing around a thicket and trying to get down wind of me..He did and for a moment I only had a neck shot. I couldnt take it. I swear I wanted to kill him and eat him bad. But I couldnt pull the trigger on his neck. Yea Im sure the ole mag would of thumped him and it may have killed him but would I have been able to find him in the thick area I hunt miles of .As nice as he was and the fact that he had survived on public land He was a KING. I thought of 2 lungs working and that heart pumping well and I couldnt take a chance on him running for a long ways and not finding him, he deserved more...Who knows? I kick myself now for not taking that shot because I havent seen him since and may never..but trust me he was close to getting it..

[K-Man]

Hi folks thanks for the warm welcome since I have joined the forum.

This thread from Nocturnal struck me a while back because I have also had a similar experience. It occurred in late October 2006 and two seasons later I am not sure I have it figured out yet. If any of you have insights on this I would like your input.

It was a Sunday night bowhunt-perfect evening out, saw a nice 8 point, high racked 8point right on a doe under my stand but no perfect shot so they both walked. (had taken two deer from this stand already this year-meats in the freezer). Saw some turkeys on this hunt also so at about prime time 6:30 P.M. I rationalize with myself that it has been a great hunt and I should go home and spend some quality time with the family. Get out of my stand and as I get to the ground I see two big bodied deer about 150 yards out along the field edge. So I think to myself this will be a joke they'll be all over me by the time I close in on them, but I thought I would give it a shot just for fun. I walk/stalk up the edge slowly and at about 80 yards I figure they see me for sure and so I tried a couple of grunts and the first deer comes flying in to about 50 yards, it's a beauty 8 point, and if the shot presents itself I have made up in my mind its going to happen. At this point my hearts pounding because of the response I got so quickly to the grunt call. He then stops at about 50 yards, I call a couple more times and he turns and saunters back to the other deer he is with and at this point can't quite make out how big the second buck is but was in a state of shock how fast and easy this encounter occurred. (considering the hours you usually have to put in to see a buck like this).

Now comes the part to this day I still can't quite figure out. The second buck then decides to come bombing right in 50, 40, 30, 20 yards broadside to me and I'm on him. Well physically I'm on him bow up, crosshairs on him but mentally I might as well have been at home on the couch-I shut down. This never happen to me before as I have shot some beautiful bucks over the years but not one like this. Maybe it all came together too easy. I was supposed to be on the way home.
At about twenty yards I believe he hit my scent trail from when I walked into the plowed field about 3 hours earlier. He was a monster typical 12 point, I refer to him as the chocolate buck-really dark colour and huge white patch on his neck and the short stubby legs of a mature buck in his prime. When he hit my scent trail he looked up and spun and faced me and moved closer to about 14 yards. So before this I could have shot him broadside 6 times but I went into shut down mode for the broadside shot. Now he's facing me at point blank and I have the crosshairs on his neck area bouncing all over. At this point I had made up in my mind that a buck like this is not going down with a neck shot, at least not by me. He deserved better. I actually looked away from my scope to get a good look at him because I could not believe what I was seeing through my scope. He then stomped his foot a few times and literally walked back to where he had come from with the other beauty eight point.

Never had this happen before-this was a once in a lifetime buck. As mentioned before physically I had the bow ready to go but for whatever reasons, variables that day I did not finish what I had started out to do that day at 3:00 o clock which was kill a deer, doe, buck, big buck even better. I walked away from the field shaking and shaking my head and saying to myself What the _ _ _ _ !(heck) just happened. Couldn't sleep that night. Deer like this have a real affect on the psyche. I am just grateful I could have such an experience. Never got a chance to hunt him again because the farm sold to a commercial operator that does not allow hunting. I hope he is still there. Either way I have a memory etched in my head just like he was on the wall. I can close my eyes and picture him perfectly. There will be others I hope but I will always remember the chocolate buck that "walked away" he didn't run.

Regards,

K-Man

[vixenmaster]

well i would say kudo's to you on letting that great Buck walk on while using a rifle. lets get that CB in your hand and forget the bait pile. now is the time to get mentally into that Buck and go after him this fall!

[K-Man]

No that was with the crossbow. What a sight he would be in 2009. I couldn't imagine.

K-Man

[vixenmaster]

4th line down on the end says raise rifle, so all is good whatever