First Buck of the Year

By James Ferguson

The 2008 Texas whitetail season was underway and I could not get the thoughts of scoring on a good buck early out of my head.  I had several unsuccessful hunts under my belt for the 2008 season and I was starting to think this year would be like every other year where I do not get a shot opportunity until late in the season.

The third week of the season was upon us when Donna and I got the opportunity to head out hunting alone.  The kids wanted to go see grandma so I wanted to take advantage of this time to get Donna a buck on film for our TV show.  Getting me a buck would have to wait.  We packed up and headed out in hopes of scoring on a deer or two over the weekend.

The first morning of our hunt we were settled in the stand bright and early.  Donna was in the GameTamers Quad Pod and I was in the filming stand just behind her.  We saw a lot of deer movement that morning but nothing that was a shooter.  After the morning hunt I wanted to move our GameTamers Quad Pods due to the wind changing.  After about 30 minutes we had the stands relocated in a small Oak thicket about 30 yards North West of their original location where our Max-1 Camo would make us disappear!  This new spot was perfect for the wind and it should put us right on top of where the mature deer where skirting the tree line.

After a quick bite to eat and a nap we were back in the stand.  The afternoon was pretty uneventful until the last few minutes of shooting light.  As the afternoon goes by, I look over at Donna and she is sweating and has her head down.  Donna does not normally sweat so I asked her what was wrong.  She said that she felt like she was going to pass out but she would be just fine.  Now I had all kinds of thoughts going through my mind at this point.  I kept thinking what is the right thing to do?  Prime hunting time was approaching and Donna was not feeling well.  Should we pack up and go?  Should I give her the keys and let her go to the truck alone?  What if she passes out on the way to the truck and I can not find her after dark?  The scenarios kept coming!  After going through all kinds of scenarios in my head I decided to sit tight and if it got bad enough Donna would tell me that she was ready to go.

Donna hung her bow on her stand where it was obvious that she had no intentions of shooting anything.  I got the camera all set so I could self film me if necessary.  With only minutes of shooting light left a few does came in and began feeding in the clearing in front of us.  Donna began filming the deer and playing with the camera, apparently she was feeling better.

We were almost out of filming light and I was getting ready to pack up when I heard something moving to our left.  The Oak trees were so thick that I could not see what it was but is sounded like a big deer walking our way.  I grabbed my Mathews DXT just as a deer walked into my shooting lane.  He was down wind of the does and headed in to check them out.  As this deer walked into my shooting lane I could tell by his body size that he was a mature buck.  I glanced at his horns and saw they were white and that he was probably an 8.  This was taking place so fast that I did not have time to think about what I wanted to do.  I had to shoot now if I wanted to get a shot.  I clipped on my Tru-Fire release and drew my bow.  When I drew my bow the buck stopped and looked over his left shoulder at me.  This buck was only 8 yards away when I touched off the release and watched the Lumenok disappear into the massive body of this buck.  The buck jumped and then hit the ground, turned around on the ground, got back on his feet and kicked it into high gear.  This buck ran right under Donna’s stand!  I was able to watch the buck until he disappeared into a thicket 100 yards away.  Now all was quite.

I looked at Donna and we began to talk and celebrate scoring on a good buck.  After we both calmed down I asked Donna if she got it on film.  She said she hoped she did but the doe was looking at her and she was afraid to tilt the camera down so she was really not sure.  After reviewing the tape the camera was zoomed in on the does and the buck was not in frame.  That is just the way it goes some times.

We gathered up our gear and went to recover my buck.  After a short tracking job we found my buck 125 yards from where I had shot him.  The buck was quartering away on the shot and the Muzzy MX4 really did a number on him. 

This buck should have been Donna’s but things happen and you never know what may take place when you head to the whitetail woods.  Maybe next time Donna will stay healthy and she can score on a good buck!