Ol Gutshot

We have all been there, the monster steps out from the mist and the barrel of your rifle turns to rubber, your heart thumps like a jackhammer and you yip one. Tank the proverbial 3 ft putt. Here's my worst: 1997, I was in my ast year of college and hurried home for the weekend, early November before the rut. My tower blind had bown over in a storm so I gathered up a tarp, camoed up and found a clump of trees 50 yds from the feeder. I had my old man's .300 Win Mag and was just sitting and waiting, my back to a litle oak tree. 2 small bucks entered from my right, not shooters. They went down to feed. 10 minutes later a nice buck and then another stalked in from the left. 4 Bucks! I got ready, ever so slowly and clicked off the saftey. about that time I saw movement directly behind the other 4. It was him. A Monster. 50 yds. He came in and stood broad side. I couldn't miss. KaPOW! ............miss. I was crushed. How do I know I missed? How do I know he didn't go off and die??? Because I hunted for him all season. Though I got him one morning chasing a doe in the rain, but no, it was a good, mature 8 pt, but not ol Mighty Whitey. I gave up, I had my big buck, and culled a little freak horn. But my younger brother came down one weekend from college and I set him up in the repaired tower blind, now a ground blind. I wwas about a half mile away in another stand when I heard a shot ring out in the clear, cool morning. 15 min later, as I was watching a nice 10 pt, my brother's truck pulls up right to my blind. " come help me find this deer I think I shot" he says. How big? "Not real big" >WINK< I followw him down and there it is right under the feeder. 13 pts. 150+ inches. Horns white as sun bleached sheds. I went to camp to get my girlfriend (no wife) and a camera and when I came back, he was trying to load the deer, leaving a gutpile right UNDER MY FEEDER!!! Then he asks " dude, can I borrow a tag, I didn't think I need one so I haven't got a license yet. Not a happy day for me and I let him know about it. Then it was a 3 buck county, so I gave him my last tag. Ol Whitey is hanging in his office, a grim reminder wwhenever I darken his door of my biggest miss.

Kanga

So your telling us your brother is a poacher[][:-]

Ol Gutshot

Yup. . . .a reformed poacher. In fact he doesn't hunt anymore. He's rather fish. His wife has his errrr.... male apparatus in a jar in a drawer. She thinks hunting is barbaric. . . . My dad is the worst. He never has one. until he shoots something. Drives me nuts. Last year he called me and asked me to drive out on a Sunday night and gut his deer for him and oh, bring me a tag. I have to go easy now on him because he rolled an ATV in March and got a head injury for his troubles. Coma for a month, missed the Iraq war. First memory of wwaking up was pulling down the statue. Anyhow, he's 90% now, but Dr. won't let him drive. I have to take him hunting now, so I check to make sure he has one. I was in a tripod with my bow, hogs so close I could SMELL them. waiting for them to come on around and my cell phone rings. "Come get me, I ani't seen nothing" ARRRRGHHHH!!!!!

brush buster

ol gutshot no more pleez im sic yawl otta read the ruule books hmmmm???????[:'(][][:'(][][:'(][][&o][&o][&o][&o]

Ol Gutshot

Hey, I play by the rules! I know there is another big buck out there that I have SEEN, but I am out of tags. So, bring on the piggys. . . . or does. Lesser men wwould get a liscense for t heir wife or 2yo daughter and hijack the tags. (I know a few that do it) Not I! See what I have to deal with?!?!?!

j3k2c1

Man oh man! I know that they are your family but...dang... caught between family and laws? Not fun. I have turned in my dad's best friend and his son for something as small as them shooting pheasants in somebodies back yard only to have the cops find out that he had shot 6 bucks that year so i turn in friends...but family? ouch time to let old jimminy cricket start talkin....[:'(]

Ol Gutshot

I know. It drives me insane. I hunt with alot of people I would rather not sometimes. I have some cousins who have shot deer every season and never gutted a single one.(ewwww that's gross) My dad is the worst at "drive bys" right about the time you start seeing game, he pulls up and asks if you've seen anything yet. But the bottom line is that most of the time, the honest folks get the best experience. The preperation, scouting, etc. I always follow the rules, I hope no one gets the wrong impression of me, but that is the truth. I can't help what others do, they are not my friends or chosen hunting buddies, but family and employees. And obviously I am just a boss not THE Boss. I go about my business the right way and this year I was rewarded.

NY Bowhunter

I would disassociate myself with them as far as hunting goes (family or not) in about 3 seconds. I'm glad to hear you abide by the laws, but helping others that don't.............errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I don't know about that either. Tough position but I wouldn't hesitate to turn my back on my family if they were poaching deer. Heck I'd probably be on the horn to the GW.

NY Bowhunter

And btw believe it or not I haven't missed yet!!

RustyOlRanger4x4

my first year bow hunting which was a good 5 years ago or so i shot at a single doe not once not twice but 7 times thill i was out of arrows and never even came close to hitting her i finally just had to sit and watch part of it was the fact i cant judge distance worth a flip and the other part i think my sites got knocked around a little but i no longer bow hunt so i dont have to worry about wounding one or anything now i stick to ol reliable the 30-06

sean