An exciting adventure!

We spent the cold morning hunting duck. Sounds vicious huh? We got up early and arrived at the pond before the sun came up. Trevor and Jake set out the decoys and got us ready for the blood bath that was about to begin. Just kidding. We saw about 7 fly in, I was the first to shoot, I missed. Jake joined in, he missed. We fired about 5 or 6 rounds at 7 birds and they all got away. They were the lucky ones. Maybe 7 more flew in, we all stood up shooting up a storm, 3 down ducks, victory! A couple hours later and we only had downed one more duck. So we decided to try our luck over at the creek a couple miles away. We piled in my truck and headed off.
Now to set this up, I have had a bit of bad luck with seeing deer out in these parts. I have been out to the deer blind several times in the past couple months and not seen a thing. However Trevor has seen Bucks ranging in size from time to time all over the place. So we decided that I should start bringing my rifle out on the duck hunts just in case we see a buck wander into view. Our first morning, I brought the gun, but left it in the truck and saw a big buck right in front of us. This time I brought it but didn't see any deer at the pond. Well, on our way over to the creek Trevor spotted a deer feeding off in the field while he was riding on the tailgate. We stopped and got out. I tried to get my rifle out and kept falling over and acting very clumsy due to excitement. The deer just kept standing and staring at us. I could see antlers but could not see what they were till I looked through my scope, "a spike"!! I said, and handed Trevor my rifle. He looked and said he sure is you can shoot him if you want. I said I sure do. I took aim on the base of his head so I could hit him in the neck, it was about 200 yards or so we think, and squeezed the trigger.



The video was recorded with a cell phone. I was not aware it was being recorded until after the shot. That it why it is a little fuzzy. I am grateful our friend got the shot and everyones excitement, it helps put things into perspective.
The shot was pretty far, we don't know how far. There was some doubt I could make the shot, only because shots like this, I think are not common here. Anyway, I put my scope on 9 and aimed at his jaw. Afterwards we found it had dropped about 6 inches or so. When I shot him he dropped to the ground, as you can hear from the video. a few minutes passed as we cheered and got ready to go get him. He began to struggle and started lifting his head up like he was trying to stand up. I took aim again from the truck but because he was lying down I wasn't sure where to aim. So we headed over and he got up and ran toward, and tried to jump a fence. He smacked into it a couple times before making it over but his back legs were caught. I took a knee, still a ways away and trembling with excitement,"click", no round. I loaded one and missed. I loaded another and proceeded toward him. By this time he was standing on his front two legs looking around with one leg caught in the fence. Without getting too close to spook him too much more I aimed again and shot the last shot.
The reason I shot such a young buck is because in this particular area the regulation states that you must shoot only spikes and mature bucks having an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. Our season ends Jan. 4 and I am running out of time. This opportunity came along and I took it. I have heard people say that spike meat tastes better, some say there is no difference however. But I am completely satisfied with my first deer.