My First Deer 

As a new member of the club this was the first rifle season for me.

I scouted the property around 40 days prior to the season. This was a good size farm, but very minimal woods in this unit. I have no other farms available close to me. ( this is 320 miles away). A week before the season starts, I scouted again. I set up a climbing tree stand in the middle of the property in the small woodland area that looked like the tail end of the timber owned by the neighbor.

Finally the time is here, opening day, official sunrise was 6:49am. I was on the stand before 6am. I got up in the tree and pulled up my rifle, a Remington 700 and loaded with 4 shots of 7mm ultra mag. About 10 minutes later I start looking left and right. I noticed the right side of the stand is lit up in the moon light . After about five minutes I see something moving towards me along the edge of the farm 100 yards away. It was still dark. I lifted my rifle up slowly, looked through the scope, and see some big antlers. I was sure it is a big buck, a shooter! I never sat on the tree stand to check out my clear shot areas. But at that time, while it was still dark, through the scope all I can see is the shoulder of the deer. I pushed the safety off the rifle and took a shot at around 75 yards. This deer still standing up and not moving at all. I took another shot and then he jumped up and got into the wood almost 75 yards from me. I can barely see him like a dark shadow. I felt like he was little wobbly, and I was so happy that I hit the deer . Five more minutes and I see the deer standing up, and he disappeared behind two trees. I thought I got him. When the light came up I looked through the spot I shot at him. I see there is no way you can hit a deer through the scrubs I shot into, as it was fully filtered scrubs. At 9am I got down and went to look for the deer. all I see is some drops of blood where the deer stood for 10 minutes after my shot and no deer! No blood trails I can follow. I get back on stand. I see one more big buck running 100 yards in front of me and never got a shot clearance. That day ended seeing nothing else.

Sunday the 13th, I was in the tree stand. Around 6am the wind started before sunrise. I sat there only two hours and got down on the ground, sat there next to a fallen tree. The wind was very bad and after noon I see a doe way too far in neighbors property. He never came close for a clean shot.

I start walking back to my truck which parked far away. While I was walking I see a deer walking 200 yards towards a thick bushy area located in the middle of the property. I start walking a little faster and came to the other side of the thick bushy area and waited for the deer to come out. 5 minutes later, nothing came out. I decided to go near the place where I saw the deer entering the brush. I took a couple steps into the bean field ready to shoot. I saw this big buck come out of the bush and start running away from me. I shouldered my rifle and saw the deer through the scope. Over 100 yards buck stopped and turned his head looking at me. I took that chance and pulled the trigger. The big deer dropped on the ground. I couldn't believe what just happened. I ran to the deer and found it was dead by the 7mm ultra mag. That was a big 9 pointer with a good mass and big body around 200 lbs.

This was just like dream for me. I waited in the woods for over 20 hours, and got a good deer at the last moment.