Opening morning came, and I guess I was ready. I was going to try a new spot this year and had put up a portable tree stand up weeks in advance. I climbed my stand in the dark that morning with my bag of treats and a thermos full of hot chocolate. I had just been sitting for maybe a half hour and after hearing some nearby shot heard some movement coming my way, sure enough a nice sized doe came along with a nubbins buck. I had a bonus tag to fill, so I centered the crosshairs of my 30-06 right behind the front shoulder and carefully squeezed the trigger. She ran about 10 yards and it was all over. Feeling good about the shot I had made I decided to have a snack and some hot chocolate. Right after I finished my snack I heard something coming from the side hill behind me, after I scoped through the thick brush for a few moments I could see a nice little buck trotting down a deer run heading my way. When he stopped for a second at about 90 yards I decided to make my move, he was cornering at me, not the best shot and there was some light brush, but regardless I made the shot and he too soon went down. At this point I got down from my tree stand and started to field dress my game. I got back to the house and talked to my brother who said he had hit one, but couldn't find any blood, so I decided to go help him look. He was hunting in a ridge stand of mine and the buck had ran down into a valley. After a short hike we found the 6 point piled up against a large aspen. My brother decided to go back out later in the afternoon and bagged another doe with his bonus tag and we were done.
Paul has been hunting with us ever since I can remember and he has always done pretty well, usually bagging a deer. Over the years he has harvested a lot of whitetails, but none as nice as this one. This same deer was in range of my brother, but it spotted him before he spotted it. So it ran down the ridge into Paul's range and he didn't let it go. Paul shoots a Remington 270.
Brian Hunts in Iowa county, he hunts with a Remmington 30-06. At the time of this photo this was brian's biggest buck to date. It had an 15" inside spread and might have eight scorable points, if you look hard enought.
