I got turned in the stand and lined up the cross hairs of my Monarch scope on the big buck's shoulder. He was broadside at 85 yards, and I knew this should be an easy shot for the Endeavor. I asked Aaron if he was on the buck with the camera. He said yes and I squeezed the trigger. Through the white smoke, I saw the buck wheel 180 degrees. He was soon back in the brush and gone. I felt sure I had centered his shoulder, so Aaron and I congratulated each other on a quick, successful hunt.
MORE COMPLICATIONS
We filmed a few last things in the tree and climbed down to recover the buck. I was so sure of a great hit that I didn't even reload the muzzleloader (big mistake!). When we walked up to the spot where the deer had last been seen, he stood up and ambled into the bush. He was gone before I could get reloaded. There was no blood. Although we looked for nearly an hour, we never saw him again.
The night before, Barry and his guides had told stories about wounded deer they had recovered later on by following the raucous calling of ravens that had found the deer and begun their scavenging. I sat the last 30 minutes of daylight in utter depression, listening for ravens. One single bird cawed off and on until dark. He sounded about 400 yards away in the general direction that the buck had headed.
When I reached camp, Larry told me he had shot a buck, but he said, "I think I shot too soon." We went out to see Larry's buck as I relayed my painful story to him. Larry's deer was beautiful, though the guides aged him at 3 1/2. Larry didn't have his binoculars since they were in his lost duffle bag, and when he saw this buck sneaking through the timber, he checked the deer's rack with his scope. Seeing good mass and three tines sticking up on one side, he decided to shoot.
Larry made a great shot on a very nice buck. His buck had 42 inches of mass and scored in the mid-140s. Larry told me that he knew he had rushed the shot and he wished that he had been more patient. He really is a true trophy hunter, but those big-bodied, massive deer are certainly hard to judge!
WITH A RAVEN'S HELP
That night, I learned that Barry had some trail camera photos of my deer. He affirmed that the big 5x5 with split G-2s was definitely a shooter. I asked Barry how big he thought the deer was. I guessed the buck to be in the middle to high 150s, but Barry told me he thought the deer was easily in the 160s. That conversation certainly didn't make things any easier for me.
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