The story of Pedro's first buck is rather short but the lead in to his successful hunt took a number of years to develop. He began rifle hunting as a kid but never had experienced the sweet success of harvesting a deer. He was always the one to tag someone elses "second" buck. Then, after college, he took up bowhunting and had killed a nubbon buck in his first season...which was exciting, but still left him with a void that could only be filled by taking a legal buck. Pedro hunted hard, very hard, for two seasons before his fortunes would change. It was a mid-October evening and Pedro was hunting the Mudbrook Valley with is brother-out-law Larry. Pedro had hung his stand in a small birch tree in an area now known as the Honey Hole. Larry was in a tree about 100 yards away on the edge of a clover field. Pedro had been in his stand for about 30 minutes when he noticed some branches that obstructed his view of the clover field, which was about 30 yards away from his location. He began reaching out to snap the branches off when, all of a sudden, the branch he was using for leverage broke off and sent him tumbling to the ground. Luckily his stand was barely 10 feet off the ground, but nonetheless, a fanny pack full of treesteps and 10 feet of "free fall" make for a hard landing...THUD!
The fall didn't injure Pedro but it did knock the wind out of him. It took a few minutes of loud groaning on his hands and knees before breathing became normal again. Then it was back up the tree, rattled, shaken, and frustrated that the noise he made had ruined the hunt. Oddly enough, only a few minutes passed before he spotted a nice spike buck walking out of the swamp and into the clover field. He was too far away to shoot at and Pedro was kicking himself for not sitting closer to the field. Just then, the buck turned and headed down a trail directly towards Pedro's stand...unbelievable! As the buck walked closer Pedro grabbed his bow and pulled the string back. When the buck was only 8 yards away Pedro let the arrow fly. Upon impact the buck fell to the ground...Pedro had spined him! Not knowing exactly what to do now, Pedro decided to shoot another arrow at the buck. By this time, however, the buck was using it's front legs to spin around in circles. Pedro did his best to aim and shoot but arrow number two sailed high and right. Pedro had just one arrow left in his quiver so he decided to give it another shot. This time he followed the buck with his sight and the arrow hit it's mark, striking the buck in the neck and killing it instantly. What excitement, what joy! After all of his time in the woods Pedro had finally done it, he had killed his first legal buck! Larry was very happy for him too and helped Pedro cut the deer up. It was a great experience that provides for an entertaining story each time it is told.
