It was the best of hunts, it was the worst of hunts.... My father in law and I went deer hunting TOGETHER last weekend (third time in as many years). The first time he took me to his "Trophy" lease was about two months before I proposed to his daughter, the other time was just a week prior to this hunt. Anyway, we hunt out of an elevated plywood blind, overlooking an old dry lakebed full of rutting deer. Finally, about 6:30 (last shooting light at 7:15) we saw the gnarly old buck we were looking for. Thick mainbeam right side with 6-7 points typical, left side was a tall fork with about a 10 inch browtine/third antler. I managed to call it in from over 200 yards away with my M.A.D. Grunt/Snort/Wheeze call to about 80 yards, but the booger stood straight at us and started to smell us. We counted down and took ugly brisket shots at the same time. Saw it run off over a half a mile across the wheatfield, never really slowing down.
The best part was the story we have to tell and the time we spent together. We got some decent video of the deer and had a great "bonding" time. Worst part is we never found the deer. After looking for 5 hours the next day, we found one single drop of blood over a half a mile away when he jumped another fence. Evidence at the place where he was standing showed a small strip of skin and hair, probably where we grazed him. Lesson learned. Countdowns to a simultaneous shot leads to jerked triggers and misses, head on shots are bad shots and leave little margin for error. Still glad I got the chance to hang out with "Jimbo."
