TOPIC: Nature's Hunting Whitetail Show

First day of regular deer rifle season was yesterday. We have antler restrictions here and if you have eyes like mine you can see the rack fine but have trouble seeing the points. Here you have to have 3 tines up not including brow tines.I've seen some huge rack 4 points here without brow tines. I seen this guy coming and he was old and gray. He was moving fast straight at me but not running. A bunch of saplings about 20 yards in front of me caught his attention. There is also some 4-6 inch young trees in the way and I'm still trying to put enough tines on him to shoot. He preceded to beat the shit out of one of the trees. He was getting into it and had the tree bent over and was drilling it into the ground and was doing circles around it. This went on for about five minutes. He stopped and was looking around behind the trees. It was just by a real thick thicket and he had been headed for it. I seen he was at least a 8 pointer so I was waiting for a good shot. I had a opening of about 6-8 inches and he was getting ready to leave. He started to move and I followed him with the rifle squeezing off a shot before he disappeared in the thick stuff. I went to look for hair and blood. because it did not seem to bother him that much. No hair, no blood , just the marks of a deer in a hurry to leave. I turned around to go back to my stand when I seen the back side of the tree I just shot splintered out badly. Poor tree, I hope it lives. The deer did.

i have mixed feelings about shooting deer. i don't like to read about the killing. i realize most do it to feed they're families but when you get use to 3 deer grazing on your property in the morning and again at nightfall they become pretty much like pets. when i'm up at my house in pennsy, i always bring bread or apples and they come right up to the deck and eat. we love to watch these animals so when hunting season begins we pray they will stay out of a hunters sight and be spared for another year.

Oh well another season gone. I had no luck this year partially to my Model 88 Winchester I've been using since I was a kid. A lever pin fell out on the third day before daylight and the lever fell out and I also lost a spring and plunger. All small pieces they no longer make. I have a gunsmith who irs retiring end of December who will make the missing parts. I was using my grandmother 35 Remington. That is what I had ammo for. It has peep sights and I can't see well anymore. I enjoyed myself anyway. My Remington is on the left and my son's Ranger model Winchester on the right with scope. Sunrise on the very top of Troy Hill on the last day of the season. My Son Bob works all night and would come up and hunt a few hours when off work. He works in a graphite plant so he is as black as coal before he showers. This was Saturday morning and he was not working Saturday morning so he looks clean. I have to use an atv to get around in the woods anymore.