Ok, here is a fresh story...happened on Nov16th of this year.
the farmer started taking out his corn around 10 am so I moved to a stand between the corn field and the woods. The corn field is 100 yards straight in front of me. This isnt a stand that Dad or I use, but rather one of our guys who is winding up his deer hunting career. He was never a "details" guy and with his desire slipping, he completely ignores the details.
dad had sat on that stand the week before and he told me the slightest movement makes a horrendous squeeeeak and there is nowhere to shoot. If the guy would have spent 20 minutes withs saw or shears, he would have all kinds of shooting. When dad was there he had a nice 10 pointer sneak up within about 10 yards behind him cuz he couldnt move to watch that way. Dad heard him grunt and decided to stay still (because of the awful stand) and let the buck walk out in front. a few minutes go by and dad finally has to turn his head a little to see if it had turned around or what. You can see this coming, huh? SQUEEEEEEK. And the buck crashes away. The guy to the north, we will call him Denny cuz that is his name, shot the 10. So at least one of our party got him, but dad was not happy with that stand.
So I find myself sitting in this same piece of crap stand a week later. The combine has made the first loop around the field. Better give you some basics on the lay of the land. The cornfield is west of the woods. The stand is about 75 yards from the southern edge of the woods on the western edge of the woods. There is about 90 yards of grass/sparse trees between the woods and the corn. The combine is coming straight up the southern edge of the field, driving to the east. So in effect, it is coming straight at me, but a little to the south. A doe pops out and I think great, she will run right into the woods under me. But nooooo. The dang thing decides to run straight north across in front of me and then hops back into the corn. Sure enough, a buck pops out behind her and runs straight north and then stops. Now remember there are virtually no places to shoot of of this crappy stand right? But the buck stops in the exact one place I can shoot without obstructions. A nice 8 I think, he is gonna go in the freezer. Gun comes up.....find him in the scope and it hits me. No. No way can this happen. A quick glance behind the buck confirms it. The combine. The gun goes down. I cannot safely shoot. The buck heads north as my tears puddle at the base of the stand. Now the astute readers out there will notice this buck went north just like the last buck. What happened to the last buck happened to this buck. The guy we are calling Denny cuz that is his name gets this one too (it is legal to party hunt in MN). This was the corn field 8 pointer (actually, you can see a 9th point on the crab claw end of the right beam). A little bigger than I had originally thought. And he was sooo dead if that combine wouldnt have been there. 100 yards, standing broadside and me with a lean and all day to shoot.
