So, last Friday at noon the ND Muzzleloader Season opened and thanks to my dad, I spent the afternoon sitting in the blind with my youngest boy whom I haven't gotten a chance to hunt with for several years due to him attending college on the opposite side of the state. We had a great time watching deer and shooting the breeze talking about big boy stuff. No deer were harmed that afternoon though a couple of bucks came dangerously close to getting arrowed.
The boy didn't want to get up early the next morning so Dad TOLD me that he was going. At shooting time we were greeted by rooster pheasants crowing but very little for deer activity until a bit after sunrise. The first buck of the morning was spotted nearly a half-mile away but for whatever reason something seemed to spook him, a coyote maybe?, and he started heading our way. I considered getting out of the blind to try to intercept him but figured that would likely be futile as once on the ground the cattails would likely cause me to lose sight of him. As luck would have it he came within range before deciding to stop for a bite to eat. When he turned broadside I pulled the trigger on the smoke pole and could see I hit him but a bit further back than I would have liked.
The buck ran just a short distance before stopping which gave me a chance at another shot but I was unable to find the stuff I needed to reload before the buck disappeared into a cattail slough.
Dad and I were trying to figure out a game plan for retrieving the buck when we looked up and saw another buck heading towards us along the same path taken by the muzzleloader buck. We were whispering about how neat it was to see yet another buck when it dawned on me that not only was the buck headed right to us, but my bow was leaning up against the corner of the blind. I quickly grabbed it, put the release on my wrist, and nocked an arrow just in case. Next thing I know I'm watching that buck turning on the afterburners to get away and see my arrow fall out of its offside after about 4 or 5 steps. That deer runs into the other end of the same slough. Two bucks shot within 12 minutes of each other!
We quietly backed out, gave them some time to make sure they were dead, and then came back to look for them with additional help in-tow.
Found the muzzleloader buck first:
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One down and one to go, so we headed to the north end of the cattails to see if we could locate the archery buck...my daughter did.
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The end result:
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Not sure if any of you have ever pheasant hunted but there have been times when a single rooster flushes, you shoot and he drops so you mentally mark the spot so you can find it in the ground cover and then a second rooster flushes so you take your eyes off of where the first fell to shoot the second. As soon as the second bird hits the ground you look back to the first spot only to no longer be so sure where it fell and in the end you sometimes end up finding neither bird. Have to admit this thought ran through my head when both of the bucks were SOMEWHERE in the cattails.
As Dad said, "I can't believe this just happened and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!"
The kicker is just after I shot the second buck, a third buck sized between the two I shot, came waltzing through the same area.
CRAZY morning for sure!
You may now return to your regularly scheduled football discussion. ;)
