The gun deer hunting season has always been a family affair, but the following story takes it to a new level. A few years back my cousin Rob and I were sitting in our stands behind my Uncle Lloyd's farm (Rob's dad). We had been sitting all morning and hadn't seen any bucks yet. Finally, at around 11:30, I saw Rob get down from his stand and start walking towards the house. I decided to get down as well, go to the house for some lunch, regroup, and head back out for the afternoon hunt. I met up with Rob just as I was coming out of the woods and into the pasture that we walk through to get back up to the house. The pasture is large and well grazed so the walking is pretty easy, even though it includes a large hill to climb before you get to the flat top where the farm is. As we walked along we were talking about being frustrated over not seeing many deer that morning. As we reached the flat top of the hill we were still talking and looking to our right at the herd of beef cattle that was grazing in the neighbor's cut corn field. All of a sudden, at the same time, we both stopped talking and looked at the herd of beef cattle in amazement. There, eating in the corn field among the cattle, was a doe and large buck!
We could not believe our eyes! What an amazing sight it was to see this big buck standing there in a herd of beef cattle just grazing away. Well, Rob and I quickly decided to sneak up on them for a closer look. We eased up to the nearest fenceline, which positioned us about 100 yards from the bruiser buck. As we watched the buck eat corn we were wondering how we would ever get a shot at him...since he was standing so close to the cattle. We certainly didn't want to accidently shoot one of the neibor's cows! After what seemed like an eternity the cattle seperated enough for us to take a shot. We went back and forth about who would take the first shot and finally we decided that he would. Rob took careful aim and fired at the buck. As the shot rang out we could see the big buck flinch and take off running. We could also see that he was hit in the left front leg. He made it only a short distance before the leg gave out on him and down he went. He kept trying to get up but was having trouble. Meanwhile, Rob and I were scrambling around trying to figure out what to do next. Finally, I took off running for the road to cut the buck off he did manage to get up and make a break for it. Rob would walk slowly towards the big boy to see if he could get another shot off.
When I arrived at the road I also began walking towards the buck, who was just sitting in the corn field. Rob didn't have a shot because some of the cattle had come over to investigate the buck. I, however, had a pretty good lane to fire through the cattle so I shot another round into the buck. When the bullet hit him, he jumped up and started running away from both Rob and I. We were panicked! He covered about 50 yards of cornfield before falling down again. Rob and I began to close in on him again but had to make our way through the curious herd of cattle who were once again surrounding the fallen deer. When we arrived, the buck was still alive so Rob fired another shot to finish him off. Finally, the ordeal was over and the Beef Cattle Buck was dead. He was a gnarly old swamp buck that had 11 points and a 17 1/2 inch inside spread. He had a huge body and a heavy rack...he was truly a trophy! What an unbelievable experience this was! This story shows first hand why deer hunting is so addicting...anything can happen at anytime! Our memory of the Beef Cattle Buck will not fade from our minds anytime soon. It was truly a family affair.
