Eleven
In 2010 my 10 year old son, Bryce shot his first buck, a 7 pointer. He was pretty happy, as was I. he made a perfect 120 yard shot with his mothers 243WSSM. Other than that it was a safe season, that was the only good thing I could say about the whole season. The buck he shot was one of the only three deer we saw the whole season.
On our property, all the fields were old alfalfa fields with 2 small food plots. This is great for summer and early fall when the deer need, and are looking for, proteins. But, by mid-October the alfalfa is gone and the deer are looking for carbs (corn, soybean, rape, etc.). So I decided to lease most of my fields out to a local farmer who was looking to plant corn. In the end I leased it out to another neighbor’s (farmer) son, who was 18 and looking to start farming on his own. We made a gentleman’s deal, he put everything into corn, left 8 rows standing in one field, 6 in the other and what he would have paid me in a lease, I told him to put back into the soil, which has not been worked in about 18 years. I now had corn for the rut and late season.
Well, early bow hunting I only saw a small buck, a doe, and a fawn. I blamed this not only on the low deer numbers in the area but also because I put everything into corn. The rut came and still the only other deer I saw was a nice 2 ½ year old, not quite the size I am looking for.
It was now opening day of the deer gun season. For me this is where I put my weapon away and mentor my children. My eldest, Kendra, 18, was on her own again this year. My 2nd daughter, BriAnn, 16, who shot a 156” ten pointer 2 seasons ago, could not hunt this year because of shoulder surgery from a softball injury. Which left me with my son, Bryce, 11, who didn’t get a chance to hunt the early youth season because I was in Nevada on a business trip.
It rained off & on all day with Bryce & myself sitting in a stand getting soaked. Ok we took a break in mid day for lunch and watch the WI Badgers football team kick ***. We never saw a deer until about a half hour before dark, when a doe fawn walked out into the picked corn to eat at about 30 – 40 yards. We watched her until just before dark when a nice buck came out across the field. There was about 5 minutes left of legal shooting time left, but with the now steady rain, wind, and at about 300 yards I could barely see it was a big buck through my Swarovski bino’s. All I could see is it had a nice size basket on its head. It was that dark already. About 10 min. earlier we seen the neighbor get out of his stand so I told Bryce it was bad shot for me to take let alone him so we will sneak out and he should be back tomorrow. Well, Sunday came and the same thing, nothing all day. Yes, we got out and watched the first half of the Packer game then went back out. Again, we never saw a thing until about a half hour before dark but today it wasn’t’ raining so it stayed a lot lighter. Tonight nothing came out on the other end of the field where I was watching, which was to our left. Bryce was watching the near side of the field and into the woods to our right. To our backs was a young pine plantation with about 20 ft tall trees. So we couldn’t see anything in there, and we were sitting in a big box stand about 15 feet up in the air.
Throughout the day I would look back and check the woods that Bryce was watching because the deer are hard to see going through there, and to make sure Bryce was awake. Well, this was one of those times I looked to my right, but my eyes never reached the woods because right in front of our stand, about 30 yards out, was a nice big 10 pointer. I immediately looked at Bryce thinking I needed to wake him up, but like he was all day, he was wide awake with this questioning look on his face, like what’s wrong? I slowly grabbed his arm and whispered “a nice buck”. Then motioned with my eyes where. He slowly scooted up in his chair and stretched his neck to see. I knew when he spotted it because his eyes got real big. Even though he moved real slowly and quietly, the buck being only 30 yards away eating, either heard us or caught a glimpse of movement because he snapped to attention, staring rite at us. With Bryce only having my 240 Wby mag. half way up, we instantly froze for what seemed like an hour. I then realized God must really favor mentor hunting because this being my third child I introduced to hunting, they almost always catch the breaks that I don’t. Maybe I’m more patient when I’m teaching. After the long wait the buck just turned away and kept eating. Now, with him turned away Bryce had a chance to get perfectly situated, relax and wait for him to turn to get a shot. The buck took about 4 steps pausing each time to pick up some corn before he turned not quite quartering away. Bryce put the crosshairs tucked behind the front shoulder and made a perfect shot. The buck went down but didn’t fall. He took off on one of those “death runs”, low to the ground and stumbling all the way. He only went about 35 yards when he hit the woods, and I mean literally hit the woods. He must have tried to clear a fallen limb and didn’t have the strength. He went head first into a big pine tree. I thought for sure we were going to find his horns in about 5 pieces because the crash just echoed through the woods when he hit. He bounced back and was done, he didn’t even move. We hurried down just in case the buck was stunned, but when we got to him, he was dead and I had to remind Bryce that other people were still hunting because he was so excited and loud about his huge buck.
It was a near perfect 10 point with a sticker point off the left brow tine. Not one point was broken, but there was a 3 foot long splat of blood on that pine tree.
The buck must have come out from underneath, where Bryce couldn’t see. Bryce made a nice shot and learned some valuable seasons about hunting from a box stand, staying patient, not pushing a bad shot and waiting out a deer, letting him relax.
We got the buck we saw the night before, or did we? Where that buck came out was only about 50 yards through the woods (thick pines) from Kendra’s stand on the west side of the property. Kendra didn’t hunt on Sunday night, but on Monday evening she was the only one that could go out and, it must have been the night to be out because she saw a doe with a nub buck, a fork horn, and a real wide, but thin 6 point buck. Then while walking out on the far east end of the field she sits on she just about walked right into what she called a huge buck. She said it stuck it’s head out of the pines right in front of her about 5 ft away. I don’t know who got scared more, her or the buck.
Well, she hunted for that buck all week but never saw him. I sat out one night but only saw the fork horn. Then Sunday night, the last night, Bryce and I went back out on the back field where he shot his buck and Kendra went back out to her stand. Again nothing until about 45 minutes before dark, when a nice 2 ½ yr old 7 pointer came out onto the field from the north. He worked his way across the field eating the whole way. I know Bryce was hoping to shoot it for me, but he already had his buck, a much bigger one. It wasn’t what I wanted, and the direction he was going, he might go towards Kendra. As we watched him I couldn’t help but think this must be the buck she ran into. Being 5 ft away on the ground and in the dark, it would be easy for a buck to look bigger than he was. Plus this buck was really wide for a 2 ½ yr old, I would guess 17” – 18” wide. We decided to get down about 10 min early and hopefully spook him towards Kendra. It was a great plan, but he must have felt hidden in the corn because he just stayed and watched us leave from about 80 yards away. We just quietly walked out and left him for next year.
We got about half way back to the house when we heard Kendra shoot. There wasn’t but a couple minutes left until closing of the season. I looked at Bryce and said, “talk about the last minute of the last hour of the last day!” I sent Bryce up to the house and I walked out to the other field where Kendra was at. I met her about halfway across the field. She was talking a hundred miles an hour. I knew she must have shot something nice. We walked back to where she shot. All she was telling me is it was a big buck, she didn’t see it until she stood up (sound familiar?) and had to take a quick off hand shot then it was gone. In her excitement she didn’t tell me she already went and checked out her buck.
Kendra sits in a stand called a Stump. It’s one of those big black, plastic stands, with Plexiglas windows and a door with a molded seat all the way around. They are nice, quiet, dry and warm. The drawback is it has blind spots if you don’t move.
Well she sat all evening and only saw the fork horn earlier in the evening. When she stood up to get her things to go, there was a huge 10 point buck standing there eating about 30 yards away. She never saw him come onto the field so she had no idea how long he was there, but she said all she had time for was to throw up her gun and take an offhand shot. That was all she needed, she dropped him in his tracks.
I couldn’t believe it when we walked up on her buck. Another nice 10 point buck, with huge brow tines and a sticker point, making it an eleven point buck. Gross score put her buck into a 140’s class buck.
We now have meat in the freezer, horns at the taxidermist, and most of all I am very proud of my children. My eleven year old son, who amid all his excitement of having a huge buck that close, showed the discipline and self control to out-wait his buck, wait for a good shot, and then make that perfect shot. Then Kendra, to have the dedication to stay after the buck she saw on Monday, passing up several others to get the big buck she wanted. That’s a lesson a lot of men my age can’t do.
For all you superstitious ones, did you catch the number of elevens in this story? My 11 year old son & his sister both shot 11 pointers in the 11th month of 2011.
By, Joseph Koback
