Inches Make a Difference

I John 4:8 "God is Love"

Well, opening day of deer season in NYS was interesting. My brother-in-law took a doe around 9AM and filled his doe tag. I almost took a doe around 9AM, however I was about to take the shot when the doe had other plans and in two bounds she was out of sight. I got cold and moved around 9:30AM to a different spot and while enroute, a nice buck just appeared like they often do. Everything looked good and he was broadside at about 50 yards. He was moving but not on the alert and not running. I brought the Encore 209/50 to my shoulder and thumbed back the Hammer. The buck was moving through some saplings and I held ahead of him between two trees and as he stepped ahead, I touched it off. I thought I had missed completely and the buck took two bounds and turned broadside trying to figure out what happened. I stood there wishing I had brought the 12 gauge instead of the ML. The buck finally saw me and took off over the hill. I went over to the spot he was standing and found a handful of long white brisket hair and some bright red blood. I realized that if my shot had happened less than a second later, I would very likely have hit him solidly in the chest. I followed up on the trail to be sure and after an hour and a half, the spotted blood trail stopped. During the 1 1/2 hours I pursued this buck, he never laid down and never stopped. I made the decision that it was not a mortal wound, and the buck would go on to live another day. He would be a little wiser and a little more wary, but very much alive, none-the-less. Fortunately, where I hunted had approximatley 6-10 inches of snow the night before, so tracking was easy. Sunday, I went out in the afternoon with the shotgun and saw nothing. My next opportunity will come Thanksgiving morning and hopefully on Friday and Saturday. Hope springs eternal and my desire is to still take a decent buck this year and perhaps fill the doe tags. It is not all about the kill for me anymore, as I just enjoy the opportunity to be out there.

Dan www.gunsandoptics.com