Hunter: Jason McFarland
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Hancock
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
After only seeing a few does the first 12 hours on stand that day and temperatures in the mid 80s, I really wasn't expecting to be faced with making the decision of whether to use my 2nd buck tag or not. God had blessed me just 5 days prior with a 5 1/2-year-old 8-pointer, and I really didn't want to tag out before the rut unless it was a really good deer. I was on stand well before daylight and didn't see the 1st deer until 12:25 and didn't see this buck until about 6:41. By the time I got my binoculars on him, he had already walked through a huge opening in the clear cut... I was texting my dad about another buck that had just walked across the same trail and it just about cost me! I got just enough of a glimpse of antlers as he walked through 6-foot tall dog fennel that I knew he was decent but couldn't tell a lot about him. Thankfully, I had my Extinguisher grunt call around my neck, and I grunted as loud as I could as a last resort to try to turn him around. I started glassing the cut for him, and after about a minute I found his face 125 yards away staring back at me. I could see his face and some tines but still couldn't tell if he was mature or exactly how big he was. He started to leave at least four times, but the grunt call kept turning him back until he finally walked toward me a few steps and gave me a better look at him. I still didn't get my shotgun up until he started rolling his head scent checking, and a whole lot more antler started moving then I had first saw. The first time I squeezed the trigger nothing happened, my pump had slid back just enough to not allow the firing pin to engage, so I pushed the pump forward and the 2nd time it went bang! I literally stepped on him before I found him as the dog fennel was like a jungle. When I first saw him, my heart went into overdrive as until then I had no idea he was a buck I had named Red just the day before after getting him on camera one time on October 8th, and the biggest buck we had gotten on camera all year. Ground "Growage" sure beats ground shrinkage! 125 yards is quite a poke with a slug gun, but Lightfield 546 grn slugs fly beautifully out of my gun! The only problem now is its a long time til next deer season, but I know, it's a good problem to have!
