So this was the first gun season my brother and I have experienced at the camper. We were very curious as to how the pressure was going to be and I was a bit apprehensive as there is a great deal of public ground around as well as a lot of private. Saturday morning Mike takes me to a spot that he saw deer about every morning last week. He has already killed a couple so he basically gave me his honey hole.

Appreciative as I was, it was also relatively easy access and I was worried about the pressure. Rightly so, as it turns out. I got in position near a trail and overlooking a creek bottom about 40 minutes before shooting light. About 10 minutes before first light, a truck pulls up nearby and shuts down. I soon see a headlamp bobbing my way. I try to flash the guy off from a distance but he gets to about 75 yards before he sees me and veers off. No apparent harm was done and I never saw or heard from him again.

So around 8:30 I am sitting there in the chilly air enjoying the view when I hear something in the creek bottom. It's some pretty loud brush breaking and I am sure it is a deer. About then I hear the first cough and then see the orange. A hunter is crashing his way to me. He gets below me almost to the creek and maybe 75 yards away as I am frantically waving my orange hoping he looks up. Finally I gave that up and just said clearly "Up Here!" He looks up and looks a bit surprised then asks, "Where are you watching?". I tell pretty much within gun range and tell him the about the other guy who headed downstream so he heads up stream.

About this point I figure we are done for the morning and just sit back and enjoy the view. Not 30 minutes later, I hear 2 shots from the area the guy headed. Then 1 more followed by a volley of a couple more. I was certain I was OK from a safety point but it was a bit unnerving.

But hoping for the best, I look in the direction of the shots and uphill from where the guy apparently set up. Then I see a tail flick and then some pretty wild waving of the tail. I assume the deer is about to go down and watch through my scope. All I can see is the tail. Soon after, the deer, a buck, starts walking away with a limp. He moves a little ways and stops, and repeats this a few times. I conclude he is not going down and set up to finish the guy's deer off. Then he gets real healthy and I wonder if he is even hit.

About then he starts to hit a more open area and I get a shot off at 75 yards and drop him with a neck shot. I assume the guy is going to come up the steep slope towards me but he never does. But he does start talking loudly, on his phone I guess. The deer is still moving a bit so I proceed up the very steep hill, catch my breath and finish him off. The only hole I can find on him, besides my own shots, is a through and through in the webbing below his right rear leg. It was certainly not a fatal shot but first blood is first blood.

I head back down the hill and the guy and his friend are at the base sitting in the creek. I tell him to come up and get his deer. They ask me if I got him and I said yes but the deer is his as he got first blood. He graciously declines and we talk a bit. Turns out he is from a neighboring camper and I agree to tell him when I get back to camp I'll come get him for a look see. His friend had taken the first couple shots at another buck and the others were from Jerry.

Here's the 9 pointer. I am thankful for him even though the circumstances were a bit unusual.


He's the third deer we have taken in our new spot and I am really happy to have it. He was also the first deer we processed in the camper's screen-in porch.


He was pretty lean deer but I still netted 80 pounds of boneless off of him.

Jerry and his friends come by a little later and we talked about the hunting and such. They were very nice and I am happy to be neighbors with them. After the first morning, the pressure almost disappeared so I think we will be OK. I offered Jerry a couple steaks and we parted friends I believe.

Happy hunting. Stay safe.

Congrats, John! Great story too!

Congrts John... makes you wonder why a guy hunts or even take a shot if he not going to follow up or desire to claim his game..... Glad it worked out for you...

congrats

Congrats and appreciate the story of true sportsmenship by you.

Great job all around, congrats!

Congrats !

good deal and sportsmanship !

Well done, and a classy move on your part. Great example of humble sportsmanship.

Thanks to all for the nice comments.

I'll be honest, the best part of the whole story was the 8 year old boy in the party. He wasn't deer hunting yet but he sure was a trooper going out with his dad. His dad is the one who missed the first deer. He came by the camper a couple times to look at the deer. He was a bit shy and kinda stood back at first but when he was warmed up a bit, he was holding the rack and said "Man I wish I could get one. Are you gonna taxidermy him?"

My brother likes geodes and has several around camp. The boy commented on them more than once. After the evening sit on Saturday he walks up to Mike and asks "aren't you the one who likes geodes?" Mike says "yes" and the boy reaches in his pocket and hands him one he had gathered from the creek.

Turns out he goes to St. Jude here on the Southside, the same school Mike and I went to a couple, maybe 10, OK 40 years ago. Southside Catholics rock!

I'm off to Parke County this morning to get a doe or two. Good luck! Stay safe!

Congrats John on a nice buck! And can't go wrong hunting with the St. Jude and/or Barnabas brethren!

Congrats John.

Good lesson in sportsmanship there too.

Congratulations!

Got my two antlerless deer this evening. Pics to follow.