nice 8 pt buck so his hunting was over. Day four and I got up earlier than normal, 4:00 and had this funny feeling that it was going to happen as it was the last day to hunt for me. Got to the stand around 5a.m and settled in for the long sit. Light finally broke through the trees around 6,ish and there was no activity till 7 am when a young doe came trot- ting along a trail. I even managed to snap some nice pictures before she went on her way. It all went quite then for a while until around mid morning I heard grunting to my left and a doe came running past the stand followed by a 4pt buck hot on her tail. I reached for the rattle bag as I knew a big- ger buck had to be in the area if there was a hot doe in oestrus. A quick few slaps on the bag which imitates the sound of bucks fighting and I gave 3 short grunts on the call and waited. Less than 5 mins later I noticed movement in the trees and picked up the gun, a T.C Encore single shot 20 gauge shotgun firing Brenneke slugs with a Nikon slugmaster scope. These rifled slug guns are accurate out to 200 yards so I was confident as I cocked the hammer and got ready. A large whitetail buck came at a hard trot off a nearby ridge and was heading for an opening 100yards away to my left. As he broke cover I followed ahead of his chest and fired, slamming a slug into his lungs and he dropped on the spot. Elation was the word to describe how I felt and just as put the gun down he struggled to get up and with a final burst of adrenaline he staggered another 50 yards before crashing into a tree. When I reached the initial spot where he fell I marked
the point where he dropped and then followed a good blood trail until I finally seen antlers on the ground. Although I’ve been fortunate to shoot many fine sika heads here in Ireland and harvest some small whitetails over in America, I had strange choking feelings as I took hold of the buck. I suppose mixed thoughts of the week came to mind, the long days sitting and pass- ing smaller bucks, the past trips which caused the up- set over leaving the kids for 2 weeks. Finally I had my buck and although not a monster, he was still a large 9pt buck
with a lovely formation. After taking hundreds of photos I rang the guide who arrived with Jeff to help me drag out. I would compare their weight to a red stag maybe bigger sometimes. We caped the skin out that evening and had it fully prepared for the taxider- mist in Minneapolis. Before I flew home that Friday I experienced shopping in downtown Minneapolis as well as a serious session of Guinness and cocktail! I nearly forgot to mention that if you ever decide to hunt in the States make sure to visit Cabalas’, the fa- mous hunting store. My God its brilliant and us- ing a popular American phrase- AWESOME!!!!
I Shoot and Fish E-Zine December 2011
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