This had to be one of my favorite days afield that I can remember.
7:30am - After lots of shooting nearby, a buck peels off of a fleeing group and walks by 282 yds away. I'm set up perfect for the shot, but hesitate as he appears to be on track to pass at 240 yds. A second later I realize this is stupid as I have practiced for that shot, and sure enough he spooks and takes off. Lesson learned, if you're going to spend the time practicing you have to believe in your abilities!
Most of the morning went by with a TON of shooting to the south, but no deer in sight. I later learned that I was 500-600 yds too far north on the property and there was plenty of action further south.
9:30am - After a few does ran by at full speed at long range I decided it was a bad spot and still-hunted south. I eventually saw a buck appear out of a ditch 400 yds away, then go back down and never emerge. Hunting him would take a 300-400yd crawl across open corn stubble. I contemplated the effort...
10:00am - Go big or go home, I started across the field on by belly.
11:00am - Reached the ditch as 3 does approached and crossed down from me. Not knowing if the buck stayed put I went for the sure thing, crossed the ditch, and set up on the first doe.
11:05am - BANG-flop -- 209 yards. The remaining two milled around, so I reloaded prone on my back and set up on the remaining adult doe.
11:07am - BANG-flop -- 180 yards. I let the yearling go and reloaded.
I figured any deer in the ditch must be gone with the shooting as I was only about 80 yards from where I saw the buck. I decided it was worth a look after all that crawling, so I cranked the scope down to low power and snuck down. A very nice 8-pt launched out of the grass at my feet, and I found him in the scope at under 30 yards (no small feat at 3.5X running!!).
11:10am - Not a flop, but he went down and I quickly brought my pistol to bear on him as another half dozen does from his harem scattered. Then I went to locate my other 2 deer.
11:20am - After returning to the same spot from finding the other deer, I see 2 does back across the field where my crawl began. They ranged 302 yards as I sat up, but jogged further down before I could shoot. I re-ranged the biggest at 338 yards, and cranked 4 MOA more into the scope.
11:22am - BANG-flop to fill my last tag about 20 minutes after the first shot.
The buck is probably the 2nd best I've ever taken, and the first two does were quite large. The last was average; the freezers will be crammed this year.
The best part is there was a guy watching all this from his treestand 300 yards away. He waited by my truck for nearly an hour to find out how the heck I had done that (no rifles here and I was hunting on a game warden's property).
