So I put the asphalt plant away Thursday morning at noon, drive 4 hours home, pack my bags and my guns, give the bride a kiss on the cheek and off to the deer camp where half the guys have been swizzling Forty Creek already waiting for the Saturday opener when I walk in, at least the camp was already nice and warm.

Did some running around Friday getting thing that we forgot like peanuts in the shells and lamp oil and propane light mantles, etc, the usual. Spent the afternoon back at the stand, cleaning it up and kicking a foot of old leaves out, check the trail cams, etc. Finally Saturday arrives and I'm in my stand bright and early (couldn't see my hand in front of my face). All I see opening day and Sunday are the odd does getting pushed around by hunters but I wasn't in for one of them even though we had 4 doe tags in the gang. Monday morning rolls around an I wake up to a foot and a half of snow on the ground, just great! I ride my quad back to the back of my lot and follow the neighbors in, didn't even stop to chat because I wanted to beat them into the bush in case they kicked something up, well, I spent the first 20 minutes staring into his lot but nothing moving. I lean back in my chair and reach for my smokes and realise I brought a pack with only 1 cigarette in it, great, this is gonna be a hard 5 hours in a tree. Then I glance over at my old stand which is about 50 yds away and falling apart when I see a deer underneath it. I grabbed ole faithful (my 110 in 7mm-08) and wait for the thing to walk out from behind the tree's, and he did, wasn't expecting to see a rack and when I did I got the shakes. Damn deer was staying still but the scope wasn't. Thankfully one shot and it was a double lung, he didn't go more than 75 yds and down. Cool, no pressure on this guy back at camp now. We already had a doe on the pole so the 8 pt was making things look better. Come the next day one of the guys in the camp was getting frustrated with the hardwoods and went up the mountain to hunt the apple orchard. He sure wasn't expecting a hot doe to come running past him when he noticed the fork horn on her tail. one shot from his 25-06 brought the young horny fella down, when he looked behind him he noticed his grandfather was also looking for some lovin and dropped a 13 pt buck 30 seconds later. Happy camp, we spent the next couple days just relaxing while the young fella kept hunting our tags but he never saw a thing. All in all we ended up with a doe, the fork, my 8 pt and Jamie's 13. If you've been around awhile Jamie was my bud that fell out of his stand and broke his back about 7 or 8 years ago, he's all good again and I took his buck up to the taxidermist for him yesterday. Can't wait for next year!

Monday morning view:



My 8 pt and Ole Faithful: (if you guys take a good look you can see whats known as "scope eye". First time ever for me in all my years).



Doe and the 8:



The other 2 and the game pole Wednesday morning:

Good for you Joe, sounds like good times for ya.

Great story and pics. Thanks for letting us enjoy your hunt.

Glad you finally got to enjoy yourself! Sure enjoy seeing those big north country whitetails!!

Good story Joe. Your buck is a dandy, and that 13 point has some real character to his rack!

Rod

Nice Bucks, sounds like a good time! Glad your buddie is doing well again!

Nice, that big one has some nice mass to it.

Congrats on another successful season, Joe.

Pleased to hear your buddy Jamie has mended. Congrats to him on his double buck season as well.

Ya, I think that he was an old buck on the downhill slope of his life, I'd bet is rack used to be a lot more impressive in his younger years. Not a real high rack but ya, lots of mass and character. Taxidermist used the same words. Liked the crab claw brow tines to. It had a hole under one antler and I thought it was a broken off drop tine but he said he's seen it before and says it may be a bee sting when in velvet, kinda neat.

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures. Sounds like a fun camp to be a part of. Congratulations.

Thom

nice! good times, great pics!

dave

Good stuff, but that thumb hole stock has to go...






Arthur wouldn't approve

Looks like you had a great time and a good hunt. Good on ya. Maybe next year you'll get "da tirdy point buck."

Well done! Bet yer glad the scope eye was only from an 08 case.

Great story Joe - thanks for posting. I don't think you would have got that eye ring with a .22HP. By the way, what position were you holding the rifle in when the event occurred?

Looks like a successful hunt. Good your buddy is back in hunting health. I'm dreading the day I get my "scope eye". I just hope there aren't any witnesses.

Had my left elbow resting on my wall and I shoot using my right eye, not real sure how I got the smack over the left eyebrow.

Any chance that it happened prior to leaving home? Sometimes a memory loss occurs after a head injury. GW

Good work, Joe! Staying up all week? Now that the work is done, it's time to drain a few beers and some more Forty Creek!

Joe - that is quite a mystery - holding the scope to your right eye and having it hit over the left. I am very impressed you hit that deer

Haha, so was I! Probably had something to do with the Forty Creek the night before.

Well, I didn't want to say anything...

Called "Retrograde Amnesia"

Nice one Joe, and that 13 pt will make a great mount for your buddy. I can loan you one of my 250 EGs to fix that scope eye problem.