Well, earlier this season my son rattled me in a nice chocolate brown 8 pointer during archery. Big bodied, black down the back and dark on the sides, but very thin and high antlers. He came in to 10 yards before I was ready and couldn't draw on him until he was back out to 20 yards. By the time I was ready he crossed at 30 yards. It was my first shot at a deer with a bow and I was shaking like a leaf. He knew something was going on and was alert. He jumped high when I released and I was a hair low. Totally missed him. Since that day in mid September he has stayed on the other side of the creek and been very wary when in the area. Heads west almost every morning and then back east in the evening. He was very easy to spot due to his size and much darker colors than the other deer in the area. He wouldn't come in to range again at all during archery and moved into the thick trees during muzzle loader. I use open sights on my ML so I didn't feel comfortable taking the shot at that distance and into the trees. I tried everything I could to get him, from different calls and scents to even a decoy during archery. I had hoped to get a chance at him during rifle and he again changed his pattern putting him over into the border between the neighbors property and mine, down into the ravine our creek runs through. After watching him cruise the property boundry on opening day I decided to pay the neighbor a visit. I've never met him before, he runs a hunting lodge on 166 acres behind me. He turned out to be one of the nicest guys I have ever meet and he gave me permission to hunt the hill on the boarder as he has no stands over there. I still had a tough time getting "chocolate brown" (my 8 year old and I have been calling him that since September) to pause in the open for a clean shot. I remembered I had the leg glands from the big 8 pt I got during muzzleloader still out in the garage fridge and hooked them up to a scent drag. I walked out straight from my stand and perpendicular to his paths this morning hoping it would work. Well, at 6:40 am he locked on to the trail and came to a stop at the bottom of the hill to investigate. I didn't pause to think and dropped him at 70 yards with my CVA 270. Shot the upper right shoulder and it exited lower left taking both lungs. I waited until 10 am to get down as other people were hunting. Imagine my surprise when I found ole chocolate brown had lost both antlers recently by the base due to either getting tangled with a buck or a fence. The top of his head is all cut up also. All though it would have been great to have those antlers hanging on the wall, I am not as disapointed as I thought I would be. It took a long time in the stand to get another chance at this buck and I feel I ended up hunting the buck himself and not the rack. I was glad to finally take that trophy.
