king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

truck and we were off. It took about
35 minutes, in the dark, to get to our
hunting area. We had decided not to
go to Dad’s “honey hole” until later.
So, in the meantime, we chose to go
to a more popular area to see how
many hunters were out in the unit.
We immediately started seeing deer.
Unfortunately, they were only does
and small-forked bucks. We didn’t
see any of the deer that Dad had
scouted all summer long. Around
noon, as the temperature began to
rise, we returned home for some
lunch.
That afternoon we decided
to let Dad’s “honey hole” wait a
while longer. We went down the road
to see if we could hunt another spot.
Everywhere we went, there seemed
to be hunters. So, we decided to
head north in our unit to get away
from the crowd of hunters.
When we arrived at our new
spot, we hiked across a small creek
and back into the burnt timber. We
started seeing deer sign immediately.
I just knew we were going to fi nd
deer this time. As we snuck around
the burnt forest making our way
up drainages and over ridges, we
jumped a 5x5 bull elk but no deer.
We watched the elk for a few minutes
before he trotted off. Dad decided that
this might have spooked the game in the
area. So, before the last of the hunting
light faded, we went back to the truck
and up the road about two miles. As we
were driving, my uncle and I spotted a
buck on the hillside. Dad pulled over
and quickly glassed the buck. Dad said
that this was a buck that we just couldn’t
pass up. It was heavy, about twenty-six
inches wide, and had big deep forks
on both sides. I told my uncle that he
should get him because he had never
killed anything with horns. So, my
uncle went alone on his stalk as we
sat back and waited. It seemed like
several minutes before we heard the
big boom that broke the long silence
and sent a shiver through the air. He
got him! Dad and I got out of the
truck and headed over to where we
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