A few years back found me at the end of the firearm deer season.  I hadn’t shot a deer that year or in fact at all at the time.  It was over Thanksgiving break.  My friend Wyatt had asked me if I wanted to come over for a few days to stay and do some hunting on some properties they had access to.  On the afternoon of the twenty-eighth of November they came and picked me up.  We were planning on sitting that evening. 

The evening came and we went over to one of the properties.  Wyatt and I went over to a two man tree stand and his dad a few hundred yards in another direction.  It was overcast and chilly.  We hadn’t seen any deer at all.  Eventually we saw some turkeys in a nearby field.  The squirrels kept us company.  About an hour before dark we could see a deer in a thicket in front of us.  We could see it was a buck but we weren’t sure how big it was.  I had planned on shooting nothing smaller than a four point.  As the buck made its way toward us Wyatt thought it was a spike.  As it got a little closer it appeared to be a four point.  

The deer kept coming closer.  Once it got to about fifty yards we were certain it was at least a four point.  Once the deer moved behind a tree I slowly raised my shotgun.  The deer stopped about halfway out in an opening about thirty yards away.  Wyatt told me to take the shot, but I needed the deer to take one more step to clear the brush.  The deer took one step and I shot.  Through the smoke I saw the deer double back and take off.  It charged toward the thicket it came from and after it got out of view we heard it stop running.  The stand we were sitting in was shaking.  I was beyond excited.  Once it got dark we got down, met with his dad and picked up its trail.  We tracked it for about fifty yards, then the blood started to thin out a lot.  We looked ahead of us a little ways and saw a white belly laying in the grass. 

We approached the buck and finally got to lay our hands on him.  He had two brow tines we didn’t see when I shot, so instead of a four point he was actually a six point.  I was absolutely thrilled.  Wyatt’s dad Nathan then helped me field dress the deer.  Wyatt held the legs, I was on the knife, and Nathan patiently guided me through the process.  After it was finished we had the task of getting the deer out of the woods.  We were so far in we couldn’t drive the truck to it so we were forced to drag it out.  Nathan took the guns and Wyatt and I dragged the buck back to the truck.  That was easily the longest seventy-five yard walk I’ve ever had.  Uphill, through a thicket, and over logs.  I especially remember the logs being extra difficult.  We finally made it back to the truck and headed home to celebrate.