Thursday Dec 8th, 2005. Second week of MA shotgun season, Zone 1.
I started at 6:30am This time the weather was clear and cold, with temps in the 20's, with N NW wind about 5mph. The previous day I had pushed out three doe just before dark on a stillhunt. So the plan was to go back to these oaks today. I knew a big storm was coming on Friday and figured the deer would be feeding before it came in. I took my time still hunting up the hill. The higher I got, the more sign I saw. I also saw bobcat and bear tracks. The cold weather today made things more crunchy on the oak flat, making still hunting fruitless. So at 3:30pm I set up over the feeding area. About 25-30 minutes later three does go through. Cool. Oh, here comes more deer. And more. In just that few minutes I had 7 does walk by! I was psyched just to see so many deer together. The last doe was acting strange before she went over the hill. A minute later I see why. Here comes a buck! I can see him clear as day but have no shot with all the whips around. He's mulling a bit, taking in a few acorns but really was following the other deer. He starts to move, so I get into position, picked a spot ahead of him, and put the gun up. I am trying to control myself and my breathing but the rush was upon me. After rummaging a few more acorns he starts walking to my lane. He's almost there...safety is off, I put my finger on the trigger..my heart is pounding. Here we go.......BUT.... he then just drops down the hill right before he gets to my lane. Man was that close. I put the gun down.... Wait, here comes another deer. Its another buck!! He starts to eat a few acrons. I watch him, but still have no shot on this deer either, just too many whips. Out of the corner of my right eye, I see one of the deer that passed by is coming back up. Its the first buck!! I put the binocs on him...yep...he's got horns. I see him approach the other buck... The two bucks then proceed to spar, locking antlers. I can see them both, but still no shot. I can hear the antlers clicking. One of the bucks backs up a bit and then they lock again. Sure enough...I can see his shoulder through a small hole in the whips. Both bucks heads are now behind a log, still locked in their sparring match. I raise the gun slow, and put the sights on the shoulder. Breath deep, and squeeze. The shot was about 65-70 yards, and I knew I hit the buck good with the 12 gauge sabot slug. The other buck was looking around for a few seconds after I shot, with his rear facing me. He then walked off over the hill. I walk over...no blood or hair. I walk another 10 feet and see the deer pilled up against the tree. He ran only about 12 yards. I hit him a little low, but still clipped both lungs and busted his right shoulder and put him down. He was no monster buck by any means. 3 points on one side and a broken antler on the other side. But I was very happy, as it had been a long time since i had taken a buck in MA. Took me three hours to drag him to my vehicle by myself. It was almost 2 miles...thank god it was downhill and some old snow.
