You're right, that's not a picture of me on the right. I don't seem to have a picture of me with this buck so I posted a picture of some ancient deer hunting Warner relative. Deer hunting in this area has been a tradition for many generations and I am blessed to be a continuing part of it. (edit): I've found out that this is a picture of my wife's grandfather; Merritt Warner. The picture was probably taken in the 1930's.
The story behind this buck is that I had already shot a small doe on opening morning. After lunch I decided to try for another at a spot to the west of the railroad tracks on the Beverly Lake state land. This is a very picturesque area overlooking Swift Creek that I always enjoy hanging out in. I found a nice comfortable tree to lean against, ate some candy bars and fell asleep.
I slept for maybe half an hour, woke up and had a look about. I was still kind of groggy when I noticed movement down across the creek. It was a buck moving through the brush and then he crossed the creek to my side and started up the side of the hill. I raised up my gun and when he got to the top with me I blasted him at about 30 yards.
He was gone from sight at the shot but I was pretty sure he would not have gone far, if at all. But, just to be sure, I checked my watch and sat at my comfortable tree for another 20 minutes. When the time was up I walked over to where I last saw the deer. There he lay, very much dead. It was a smaller rack but still counted 8 points. As I was field dressing him I noticed why this deer was on the move. Traveling across and along the creek, walked a hunter whom undoubtedly my buck was running from. Thanks for the help, bud!
