chummer
5 year old buck +
I have been hunting for about 10 years now with a muzzleloader. It is the last 9 days of the season and I have never connected before. Deer are usually pretty scarce after 2 months of being hunted. I have been plowing and shoveling since Wednesday with this monster Nor'easter we got. It dumped 12-20" of the heaviest snow you will ever see. The last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed today. Every muscle in my body was sore and I may have had one two many last night to celebrate this storm being over. I told my wife I was probably not going out. While laying in bed I decided to check the wind direction for the morning. Wind was to be out of the south, the only wind I can hunt the stand right behind my house. I still wasn't to excited about the idea of leaving the nice warm bed of which I had only seen for 4 hours a night since Tuesday. 530 the dog gets restless. I usually get up with her but my wife knowing the last thing I want to do is get up at 530 takes her out and tells me to sleep in. As I laid in bed I could only think of that perfect wind, how many hours I had sat on stand this year, this would be the last day I could hunt until next year, and the regret I would have if I didn't get up. I hauled my butt out of bed and headed to the stand. 30 minutes in a nice fat doe walks right in front of me at 40 yards but she is 10 yards behind the trail they usually take. I have no shot and show remarkable restraint for me not to try to fit one through the brush. I watch her walk away but I know there is a good chance she is going to circle around me to some thick brush they bed in. 10 minutes later she steps into the wide open trying to cross into that thick stuff. At 75 yards I put the crosshairs on her front shoulder. When the smoke clears I can see her snow plowing through the snow. I figured I took out both front shoulders, she was down inside of 10 yards! I made a perfect, horribly bad shot. I actually hit her in the neck. The snow was completely covered in blood for a 20 foot circle. I have never seen one bleed like this. I am so glad I got out of bed! I had a long tough season that ended up turning out good. Thankfully I have these suburban deer to hunt and a full freezer. Maybee I will have to harvest apples in the big woods and deer in my back yard. 
