# Gun buck - Tuesday afternoon



## ErieIslander (Jul 12, 2012)

Killed this buck from my ladder stand Tuesday afternoon in the cold snow. Great hunt. My buddies were all discouraged over the awful weather we had on Monday. I stuck with it and did some stalking in the snow Tuesday. I love hunting in the snow. I walked with the wind in my face and saw several deer. Had a few shot opportunities on does I passed on while stalking. I was waiting for a buck though. After walking to the corner of the property and climbing my ridge, I climbed into my ladder stand that’s between bedding areas on both the right and left side. I’m hunting on this ridge/hillside that’s about 100 yards wide of hardwoods surround by bedding on both sides. I’m about 3/4 of the way up the hillside in a 17ft ladder stand. If you play the wind right and sneak up there the deer don’t know you’re there. They use the thick bedding cover on either side. This buck decided to get on his feet and appeared at 3:30 pm in the thicket to my left. He only gave me 1 shot opportunity/opening st about 75 yards. This isn’t my biggest buck, but it’s the first deer with my ruger .450 bushmaster. It’s also the only buck taken on the property I’m hunting. The owner put a buck only rule on his land this year. Tuesday was my last day I was able to hunt so I gladly took this buck. Didn’t want to be too picky like I was during bow season. I hit the buck with the first shot right behind the front shoulder. I spun him around and knew I burned him. I worked the bolt and fired 1 more time for good measure since he started to move up the ridge. My dad taught me to hunt and I could hear him in my mind saying jokingly..“If they’re still moving your still shooting, some of the meat is better than none of the meat.” Anyways, when I got to the deer the second shot was a bullseye hit that went directly through a 5” diameter tree. Went clean through the tree and there tree shrapnel 10 yards past. I only hit the buck with the first shot and it was a kill shot. Deer went 25 yards and piled up. I’m the youngest hunter on this property. I dragged this deer a long way. We don’t have 4 wheelers. I have a deer cart but decided to enjoy the drag and pull him out by the horns. Good luck to all of you this weekend!


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## Mrwiggler (Jan 26, 2017)

Congrats....nice buck !


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Nice deer...like the low profile rack.


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## ErieIslander (Jul 12, 2012)

Shad Rap said:


> Nice deer...like the low profile rack.


Thank you. I mostly like bigger racks...hahaha.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Very nice buck for sure!
Way to stick it out.


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## shot1buck (Feb 23, 2011)

Flat and wide rank. Unique great job


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

ErieIslander said:


> Thank you. I mostly like bigger racks...hahaha.


You and I both.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

nice mature buck for sure. loved reading your story thanks for sharing it with us. congrats!
sherman


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Congratulations


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## slimdaddy45 (Aug 27, 2007)

Yes we all want to kill big bucks but it don't always happen but any buck is a trophy not everybody has a chance at a buck .Ive never seen a real large bucks in the woods so that is a nice buck Congrats


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## threeten (Feb 5, 2014)

Great story. Good to see you got rewarded for hunting that nasty weather. 
Real nice buck!! Been on the fence to get a rifle. That .450 ruger has got my attention and is overriding the .44 mag. that I was leaning towards. Don’t gun hunt like I used to, I’m usually tagged out by gun season but had a lot of fun this year gun hunting, and If I buy a gun I’ll surely see big deer bow hunting. Haha
Thanks again for sharing your story and congrats on a fine deer!


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## ErieIslander (Jul 12, 2012)

slimdaddy45 said:


> Yes we all want to kill big bucks but it don't always happen but any buck is a trophy not everybody has a chance at a buck .Ive never seen a real large bucks in the woods so that is a nice buck Congrats


You make a great point. The woods I’m hunting can produce a large buck but they’re very rare. I’m hunting pressured private land and really no agriculture feed surrounding the land. I also don’t think the owner implementing a buck only rule the last few years has been ideal. If anything there are too many does and in my opinion the bucks don’t have to venture out to do very much searching during the rut. I’ve politely explained my opinion on the matter to the owner. At the end of the day, it’s not my place. I’m hunting near Tappan Lake in Harrison County. I might try to hunt the public land next bow season to mix it up.


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## ErieIslander (Jul 12, 2012)

threeten said:


> Great story. Good to see you got rewarded for hunting that nasty weather.
> Real nice buck!! Been on the fence to get a rifle. That .450 ruger has got my attention and is overriding the .44 mag. that I was leaning towards. Don’t gun hunt like I used to, I’m usually tagged out by gun season but had a lot of fun this year gun hunting, and If I buy a gun I’ll surely see big deer bow hunting. Haha
> Thanks again for sharing your story and congrats on a fine deer!


I’ve always liked lever action. You should go for that .44 mag or the .450 bushmaster. Fun to carry something new during gun season. For the last 20 years I used Rem 1187 12 gauge /cantalever scope mount barrel. Good setup but much heavier and bulky for walking/stalking. That gun will remain in my collection just because of the memories and many deer kills.


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## slimdaddy45 (Aug 27, 2007)

When I pack a shotgun its my 1100 that Ive had since I was 14 yrs old so that makes it 46 yrs old still a good gun or my T/C Encore 50 cal maybe some day Ill get a new barrel for it in 45-70 or 460 but for now they both kill deer just fine


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