The Buck

Well, it finally happened; Ben, our deer-hunting friend got his buck today. His tag was good though tomorrow, so I was really hoping to see him get a buck soon. He had been working hard for several days with no results, but I just knew that today was his day.

I awoke to a herd of deer just out the front. I watched them for about 90 minutes as they made their way across the front of the house and up the hill where they bedded down for the rest of the morning. Thinking he was in the middle of teaching class, I texted to let him know what was up: “Deer r out xing the hill 10 does n a 4x buck.” 20 seconds later I got a call asking for info. “Man I wish I was there. I’ll get there as soon as school is out.”

When he arrived, there were deer at the front of the property and 3 bucks fighting over a bunch of does up in the draw above us. “There are does everywhere. Man it’s a doefest!” he excitedly exclaimed as he took is cap off and ran his hands through his short sandy brown hair, his handsome boyish face rough with stubble. “There is a buck and several does the other way too, I’m headed up to the chicken coop, think I’ll hide out there, the chickens will help cover my scent.” I watched and saw he was torn as to which bunch to follow, the one lower down with the big buck, or the one above with the 3 bucks looking to be coming down the draw. I occasionally peeked out to see how things were going; darkness was beginning to encroach upon him. I hoped time wouldn’t run out again as it had a couple of evenings ago when he had a nice 4 point buck in his sight that he had to let go.

I looked out again and saw him slowly, steadily moving up the hill. In stealth mode he crouched and I saw the quick burst of fire as the shot went off. He got up and quickly moved forward, steadied himself and got another shot off. We were all out the door and up the hill to see the trophy. It was a medium 2-point buck, but it was heavy enough to take 3 of us to drag it across some rocks and onto a sled which we dragged down the hill in the now total darkness. Guided by a flashlight we finally got it down to the house where I helped him field dress it.

I’m glad he was able to get one, he seemed pleased with it. Steve missed all the fun as he was out to dinner with his Canada group. Next year I plan to get my own tag and take the rifle out and bag my own. But, I appreciated the experience of watching and helping for now.


Ben with his 2 point buck