Ben's Season Opener

Ben Walsvik submitted this story about his opening day hunt. Not a bad end result at all.-Jake


Morning:
My opener started normally enough. I woke a bit after 5am, got my bow ready to go, and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. When I went to get the clothes I had hung on the line, I found that we had gotten just enough rain to get them wet. So I went back into the house and got some different clothes. Being a senior in high-school, I had not had the time to scout due to school and football, this was going to be more of a scouting hunt rather than a hunting hunt, turns out this would work out very nicely. After checking out the stand I planned to hunt that night; located between a large stand of pines and a grove of oak trees. Two years ago I had seen three bucks from that stand including a nice 8 point that I never had a shot at. But this year the acorns, or at least what few there were thanks to a very dry summer, had already fallen and had been cleaned up, making this stand almost void of deer activity. So I decided to check out a stand that I have set up along the edge of a huge pine/poplar swamp that borders an about hundred acre corn field. Again two years ago, I almost had a shot at a very nice buck here, but last year had been dead. As I was easing along the side of the field, I saw what appeared to be a doe, only problem was that I was seen about the same time so she moved off. Just as I started to walk again I see another deer and, as with a last one, it turns and walks off. But as it turned I saw the sweep of antler on what looked to be a very nice buck, but since it was over 150 yards away I couldn't be sure. By then I was beginning to think that that might be a better spot to hunt that night, so a continued to slowly walk along the corn, to see if where the deer were coming out of the swamp was within range of my stand. When I had almost gotten there I hear a commotion in the brush, grass rustling, twigs snapping, and odd sounding grunts. I thought there was no way that that could be a deer, so maybe badger or woodchuck, but as the noise grew thoughts of a bear began to enter my head. There was a break in the brush about twenty yards from where I stood, so as noiselessly as possible I eased up to it. Much to my surprise when I got to the point where I could see what was making the commotion, it was not a bear but two little bucks sparing. As soon as I saw them I froze, and just watched them for a little while. Then one of them must have begun to wonder what I was, because he came over to investigate. He jumped to fence about seven yards way, took 2 steps, decided I was not worth it, jumped back and started tussling with the other buck again. After a few minutes they both walked off into the swamp, and I now knew where I would be hunting tonight.

Afternoon:
That evening I headed out around 5:30, and the ¾ mile walk to my stand didn't seem to take any time at all. When I got just past the place where I was when I saw the two little bucks, I hear movement in the corn field. I look over there a see a yearling doe eating only 20 yards away. I slowly dropped to my knee hoping that she didn't see me. She must not have because she continued to eat, after a while I began to think that I had better get to my stand just in case any other deer started to show up. I stood, took a step and the doe busted, bounding into the swamp, her warning call echoing back to me. I was thinking that that had probably just ruined hunting, but I prayed that it had not. About an hour and a half mosquito filled and deer-less hours later, I began to wish that I had stuck with my other stand. Then around 7:30, I started to hear what sounded like a deer working its way through the swamp toward me. Ten minutes later I see a basket racked 8 point browsing along. He finally emerged from the swamp about 5 minutes after I first saw him, and I was sorely tempted to shoot him. The reason for this was that last year I had seen maybe one buck (I seem to remember seeing a spike) early during the bow season, and not more than five bucks total all season. But since it was still only the first day I held off, and now I'm glad I didn't shoot. Just as the eight was coming out, I glimpsed another deer moving through the swamp and I saw antler. I didn't know how big he was until he stepped out of the tall grasses that make up the edge of the swamp, and when I did see my heart rate doubled. The 8 point had quickly bypassed the corn and was headed for the stand of pine trees near my other stand, so I figured the big buck would go by in a hurry also. He didn't. When he got about 20 yards from the swamp he stopped and started looking around and checking the wind, two or three time looking right at me from 30 yards out. The worst case of buck fever I'd ever had starts setting in, legs shaking, breath coming in short ragged bursts, trying not to look at the rack. Even without trying to look at it, I made him out to be a 5x4 and with what looked like a split brow tine on the 4 side (I stopped looking after that, as I was shaking badly enough already). The thoughts "Please don't bust me", "10 POINTER!" and "If I get a shot…" ran through my head repeatedly while I waited for him to take a step or look away so I could draw my bow. After what seemed like forever, but couldn't have been more than five minutes, he turned his head away from me to see what was coming up through the swamp and I got the full view of the width of his rack as I drew, put my pin on his rib cage and released. I watch as my arrow disappeared into his side, about 6 inches back and a bit high from where I would have liked it to be but I still felt good about the shot. After the shot, I had to sit down to keep from falling as my legs had turned to jelly. While I sat there thanking God, I could hear crashing back in the swamp, then nothing. I replayed the shot in my head, but could not seem to get the width of his rack as he turned his head out of my mind. After a bit, when I finally trusted my limbs to get me down safely again, I quietly slipped out of my stand and headed for the house. It was about ten minutes to 8:00 and, knowing the shot had been a bit far back I opted to wait until after 9:00 to look for him. When I got back I was going to call my Grandpa (he is the one who got me hooked on hunting) and tell him about it first, but my Mom was right there when I walked in the house, and there was no way I could keep it in. After I told Mom about it, I called Grandpa and told him about it, trying not to make it sound too big just in case in the heat of the moment I saw the buck a lot bigger the he really was. Then I sent an IM to my friend with whom I had a $10 bet on the biggest deer of the season with bow. I told her that I had just shot a really nice buck, almost as big as the one I had found (near the end of the '05 bow season I found a 140" 11 pointer laying dead) and asked if she wanted to come over to help me look for it. We got to where I had shot it a bit after 9:00, and found the bright-red blood covered arrow right off, and had the trail he used within a couple of minutes. As we headed into the swamp I remember saying "Boy, I hope there is not a lot of ground shrinkage", 60 yards farther along a very good blood trail (Rage broadheads are the BEST!) my fears were blotted out by the sight of a massive antler sticking up from the grass. It was wide (24" was the greatest spread) with good mass throughout, matched split brow tines and an inch long G5 on his left antler, just enough to call him a 13 point. I recall hearing "You have GOT to have him mounted!" and me saying "Well he's not quite big enough" (size had not set in yet, boy was I wrong). After pictures, the drag out was not bad at all, partly because I don't think he dressed out at more than 180 maybe 190 lbs, but mostly from the adrenalin. When we got him back to the house, I went in and grabbed the 11 point rack that I had found, and compared them. I was surprised when I found that the one I had just gotten made it look small. While I knew I had a buck that most people around here dream of seeing, it didn't really set in until I put his measurements in on the B&C score calculator and it came up with a green score of 155. And that was my season opener.

Published by The Whitetail Team on Friday, October 24, 2008 at 5:28 AM.