Hunter: Ray Roman
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Butts
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
Nov. 5, 2015, misty rain. At 8:30 a.m. a nice sized buck came running wide open, head up, from my right. The buck was about 60-65 yards out, running to my left. I have hunted this stand for 15 years, so I knew the buck would probably turn left and run by my stand. The question was, how far away would he be? As luck would have it, the deer was only 40-50 yards away when it got beside the stand, and I fired a single round from my Browning X-Bolt .308. The buck never broke stride, only veered slightly right toward a thick privet hedge bordering a deep cree. A hit was not apparent. As my golden rule in these cases, I settled down for a one hour wait before getting down to hopefully track my harvest. After only 30 minutes the weather changed from a misty drizzle to a steady soft rain. I knew I would have to get down to look for blood before the rain washed it away. When I got to the oak that the buck ran in front of when shot at, I found no sign of blood. So I started down through the woods in the direction the buck went. After 30-40 yards and finding no sign, I returned to the oak and looked for any type of sign, when I found some grey hair, but no blood. I hung some orange ribbon for reference and again went in the direction the book went—nothing. I returned to the oak for the third time and at 2-3 feet from the hair I found a cupped up leaf with what looked like blood. I stuck my fingers into the turned up leaf and my fingertips came back "blood right" red, blood. I knew then the deer was hit, but probably back further than I wished allowing the organs to fill the hole, leaving no blood escape route. At this point I knew that the buck would seek the creek about 40 yards on the other side of the privet thicket. I decided to walk straight to the thicket and turn left, tracking along the front of the privet. After about 30 yards, I saw the rump end of the buck, which I approached very cautiously. Recover! After 66 years of hunting, this is my buck of a lifetime. I have the memory and story to go along with it, not to mention a nice Christmas present from my wife. She's having the buck mounted and hung in our living room. I belong to a big family of proud hunters.
