Today was so incredibly foggy that it was almost impossible to see more than 30 yards. I got a little messed up on the way in the woods because of it. I walked in circles for quite a while. I almost think the headlamp made it worse.
After finally getting to where I wanted to go, it was light out. I saw a lot of sign in the area I chose to sit, which was good, but the fog made it impossible to feel optimistic about my chances. I waited it out because it would have been senseless to walk around too much. It finally lifted around 10:30, so I decided to cover some ground. I was hunting alone and didn’t have to worry about anyone but myself.
I mapped out a little plan and headed on my way. I knew where I wanted to be for the evening sit and figured it didn’t matter what happened as long as I ended up there around 2:00 p.m.
Even though I hadn’t been in this area in a few years, I must’ve planned it well because I arrived there around 2:30 and settled in for the last few hours of daylight. I had a fantastic day and wanted to sit back and relax for a bit before heading out of the woods.
An hour into my sit, I caught some movement down the hill a ways, and a deer quickly materialized. Pulling my binoculars to my eyes, I quickly identified four points on one side.
Having been in the Midwest for the last few weeks, it looked like a small deer, so I enjoyed watching it walk toward me before deciding to go around a blow-down. When it went around the blow-down, I saw that it had 5 points on one beam, and I suddenly decided I wanted to shoot it. I quickly remembered I was in the Adirondacks, and it was a good one for the location.
I knew he was going to be gone in a few seconds, so I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and helped the trigger along. It was thicker than the smog over LA, but I attempted to whistle a bullet through it.
When the gun cracked the silence of the mountain air, I saw him do the infamous heart kick and take off running. I was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be too far away.
Upon getting to where I thought he was standing, I couldn’t find any indication that I had hit him.
About 20 minutes later, I found a tiny spot of blood and followed the tracks leading away from it. Within seconds I was into pretty good blood and figured I would find the buck in a few seconds.
As I continued tracking, the blood began thinning out, and the buck was nowhere to be found. Finally, I decided I better tie a ribbon and return in the morning. When I reached for some ribbon, the buck bolted from the brush in front of me, and I fired another shot. Running through the thick crap, I expected to get another shot if he hadn’t fallen. I was almost certain I put one in the boilermaker when the gun fired. The crosshairs were on his shoulder when the gun fired. I could clearly see that.
When I got to the tracks, I saw a lot of blood, which was incredibly easy to follow. I was certain I would find him dead within minutes. After following the tracks for a bit, the blood began fading away once again. I couldn’t see well enough to do much, so I tied a ribbon and decided to return the next morning with some help.
I headed out of the woods, and the journey was difficult. Being dark, I couldn’t tell what anything looked like with my flashlight. Not knowing exactly where I was and being somewhat unfamiliar with the area the deer had brought me, I knew my trip out was going to be an adventure. When I finally got to my truck is was well after dark. I hope I find the buck tomorrow. He’s a really good one, one of the better ones I’ve seen in a number of years in the Adirondacks. If I hadn’t passed him when I first saw him, I would have easily killed him. That’s the bad part about spending two weeks in the Midwest in the company of 130-150 inch deer every day. Seeing a Booner a week ago made this deer appear much smaller than it actually was.