I decided to do something a little different today. Instead of getting up bright and early I slept in, had breakfast and headed out to the hunting club to arrive around mid morning. There was only one other member there and he informed me he was the only one there for the whole morning. We decided that since we had the whole place to ourselves that we would walk through some thick stuff and do some scouting and maybe jump up a deer. After we did this a couple of hours with no luck we decided to head for the stands at about 1:00. Today I borrowed my Daughter’s .357 magnum Handi rifle. I had been hankering to give it a try after she got her first deer with it this year. I rode my four wheeler through a flooded roadbed to a stand that had received very little pressure this year due to its inaccessibility. We named it Jurassic Park. I settled into the stand at about 1:30, drank a little water and ate a little trail mix. I pulled a set of rattling antlers off of the hook in the tree and gave them a go, then pulled my grunt tube out of my pocket and started using it. Just a short while later I caught some movement to my left at about 50 yards in some thick stuff. I could see antlers but I couldn’t get a shot. I grunted again. He paused, but continued on in the same direction and disappeared. I blew the grunt call some more and tickled the antlers again. I did this off and on for around 15 minutes. I then decided to pull the tube off of the grunt call and tried again for a different sound. It worked! I could see him angling back toward me heading for an opening that would give me a shot. He stopped in the opening; I put the crosshair behind his shoulder, squeezed the trigger and at the crack of the rifle he hit the ground. It was 2:01. He is a fairly symmetrical 8 pointer with a 16 ¼ inch spread. I am very impressed with the .357s performance. I may have to borrow it again sometime.
