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12/03/2005	Buck	Liberty Hill, SC	7mm mag Rem	7:30am	80 yards
Ted and I went to Liberty Hill again today. I went to #1 and Ted went back to #3 this morning. I was so tired that I could barely stay awake in my stand. I nodded off and dozed until just after sunrise. As soon as it was full light, I saw a deer feeding out about 80 yards in front of my stand. I checked it out in my binoculars and saw that it was a good sized doe. I decided to take the deer, so I grabbed my rifle from it's resting place in front of me. As I picked it up, I banged the barrel against the metal of the stand. I winced, expecting the deer to flee. Getting the rifle in position, I looked through the scope and was surprised to see that the deer was still there, although it was alerted to the fact that something was wrong. I stared at it through my scope for five full minutes, unable to move for fear of spooking the deer. The crosshair was over the deer's back, but I didn't want to risk even the small motion of bringing the rifle down to center on the heart. Finally, the deer looked away. When it did, I centered the crosshairs, flipped off the safety, and squeezed the trigger. The deer took off running, but I could tell it was hit. I listened carefully for it to crash to the ground, but heard nothing. Getting out my radio, I called Ted to let him know that I had shot one, but told him to stay in his stand for a couple of hours. No sense messing up a hunt when the morning was just getting started. I waited about 20 minutes, then decided to go track my deer. I found blood pretty quickly, and was pleased to see that it was bright red. The blood trail was sparse but constant, and it was short work finding the deer. When I got to it, I was in for an unpleasant surprise. My nice sized doe was really a young peahead. I'm not sure how I misjudged the size of the animal. I had scrutinized it through scope and binoculars for at least five minutes, and it had all the characteristics of a good sized deer. Upon further examination of the animal, I saw something else that surprised me. It's lower jaw was a full two inches too short. Seeing that, I was glad to have taken the deer. This deformity could have lead to a hungry life for this animal. It didn't look like it would be able to feed as a normal deer might.

12/03/2005

Buck

Liberty Hill, SC

7mm mag Rem

7:30am

80 yards

Ted and I went to Liberty Hill again today. I went to #1 and Ted went back to #3 this morning. I was so tired that I could barely stay awake in my stand. I nodded off and dozed until just after sunrise. As soon as it was full light, I saw a deer feeding out about 80 yards in front of my stand. I checked it out in my binoculars and saw that it was a good sized doe. I decided to take the deer, so I grabbed my rifle from it's resting place in front of me.

As I picked it up, I banged the barrel against the metal of the stand. I winced, expecting the deer to flee. Getting the rifle in position, I looked through the scope and was surprised to see that the deer was still there, although it was alerted to the fact that something was wrong. I stared at it through my scope for five full minutes, unable to move for fear of spooking the deer. The crosshair was over the deer's back, but I didn't want to risk even the small motion of bringing the rifle down to center on the heart.

Finally, the deer looked away. When it did, I centered the crosshairs, flipped off the safety, and squeezed the trigger. The deer took off running, but I could tell it was hit. I listened carefully for it to crash to the ground, but heard nothing. Getting out my radio, I called Ted to let him know that I had shot one, but told him to stay in his stand for a couple of hours. No sense messing up a hunt when the morning was just getting started.

I waited about 20 minutes, then decided to go track my deer. I found blood pretty quickly, and was pleased to see that it was bright red. The blood trail was sparse but constant, and it was short work finding the deer. When I got to it, I was in for an unpleasant surprise. My nice sized doe was really a young peahead. I'm not sure how I misjudged the size of the animal. I had scrutinized it through scope and binoculars for at least five minutes, and it had all the characteristics of a good sized deer. Upon further examination of the animal, I saw something else that surprised me. It's lower jaw was a full two inches too short. Seeing that, I was glad to have taken the deer. This deformity could have lead to a hungry life for this animal. It didn't look like it would be able to feed as a normal deer might.