Sunday morning in San Saba county started slightly cool with plenty of fog and drizzle. We walked to our separate stands that overlook our corn feeders. I sipped my hot morning coffee as I watch the young bucks and mature does come and go from the feeders. I'm waiting for a special buck that I named "Pig". He gets that name from visiting my feeder only last year every morning and evening. You see, Pig was hurt last year and had really damaged the right side of his rack while in velvet. His left side looked real good but could use another year and more mass before he was ready for the wall. The right side of Pigs rack looked like a short blunt club. I would let Pig eat every time I saw him during the 2006 season, knowing that if Pig was healthy and luck shined on me the 2007 season was going to be "Pig time". Anyway, back at the stand in the fog as the last deer trailed out of sight I sat wondering when I would see Pig. My game camera told me Pig was a mature 9 pt this year very worthy of my wall, and he also had kept up his daily feeder visits. I thought to myself, this would be Pigs ultimate undoing.
Twenty minutes after seeing the last deer a doe comes from behind the feeder and a few minutes later Pig reveals himself following the doe to within 100 yards of me and my 7mag and 160 grain custom loads. Pig is working a scrape under an overhanging oak limb, he is absolutely mature and I'm marveling at what last years patience has brought me this year. As he marks the overhanging limb with his eye glands I can tell he's a changed animal from last year. He strides and carries himself entirely different than last year when he was younger half rack. He is one of the majestic bucks in the woods and acts like it. Pig had grown up and I grinned with evil pleasure as my plan was unfolding.
I pop the front and rear spring loaded clips on my scope cover and they flip open and I slide the Ruger through the window. I take a deep breath as the adrenalin is beginning to surge and tell myself to calm down. I position myself in my chair and take a peek through the 3x9x40 Leupold scope. Something is not right, something is on my scope and in my field of view. I silently rubbed both ends of the scope trying to remove this object. I tried adjusting the magnification with no luck. All this time Pig is inside my feeder pen and anxiously watching a doe on the outside. He's playing the game of she moves he moves, you know what I'm talking about. I had to do this now if it was going to happen. I could still see Pig even with this foreign object in the way so I steadied myself and took careful aim and waited for him to turn broadside. He's turned, now deep breath, exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger. Boom!! Pig kicks into the air like most deer do when their hit and jumps the hog panel feeder pen turns west and quickly disappears into the foggy brush behind the feeder. Adrenalin is flowing and I'm excited and have the extreme shakes. My hunting buddies quickly call on the walkie talkies wanting to know who just shot. I let them know that Pig is hit, how bad remains to be questioned. As I approached the feeder pen and where Pig stood I saw three very small bits of flesh and no blood. This was not a good sign. As I followed his exit route I Iooked carefully for any blood trail in the drizzle wet sandy soil. No sign anywhere for one hundred yards. I got my hunting buddies off their stands to help and after two grueling hours, nothing. We returned back to the feeder pen and after extensive examination found where the 160 grain bullet had clearly struck a 3/16" diameter hog panel wire and been deflected. What are the odds of that? Pig had clearly been hit and I can only hope not too bad. During the search one of my hunting buddies saw a nice buck running away through the woods. In his words he was running as fast as a quarter horse. Run Pig run.
Needless to say I feel terrible to have shot an animal and not recovered it. It is a first for me and hopefully the last. Especially one I feel I raised or groomed for the kill. Things happen sometimes that are out of our control and you just have to except them. Maybe god has other plans for Pig, but if I get another shot at him it will be with my 30-30 and he will hang on my wall. We will see what the rest of this season plays out for Pig and myself. The leupold scope is on its way to the factory for repair.
Hope you enjoyed the story. Man hunting sucks sometimes, I should stick with golf.

Yes you should stick with golf if your going to try to shoot through a feeder pen. why would you even try that?

300 win mag

300_win_mag

Be nice...negative comments or opinions are not looked on favorably here

Well, i'm sorry. that is an awesome buck to try to squeeze a bullet through a hog panel for. Not like that buck isn't going to jump out at some time to chase his doe. Look at that picture, i would be embarrassed to admit on this forum that i tried a shot like that.

rediculous,

300 win mag

and he could see "something" in his scope

I hope someone else on that lease get's to shoot "PIG" (hoping he wasn't mortally wounded). That way Brushbuck can sit in his stand and sip his coffee while trying to appreciate and respect the animals we hunt enough to make an ethical shot!

300 win mag

No kidding, he saw the obstruction in his scope and still shot. adda boy!

Easy there guy, you are talking to yourself now. You said your peace.

i aint one to kick when your down but my only point on this is that "pig" had been to the feeder like a clock, thats when you gotta restrain and get another gun and go back, sucks, but i'd shoot through the pin more than likely, although i dont like to drag deer out of feed pins, come back and tell us good news if you see em again....gotta love huntin

6. We promote a friendly atmosphere for hunters to exchange ideas. Differences of opinions are welcome and are an important part of this format. We do not, however, tolerate those that try to start an argument with every post. If you are looking to agitate people, simply to get a response or if you are a troller, this is not the place for you. Warnings are issued and if the behavior continues, administrators will revoke posting privileges.

damn, yall are a bunch of a**holes

We can read, seems to me you are pushing buttons and you have been here two days.

I can't beleive this guy!!!

Thats horrible brushbuck. Too bad we all are not perfect like 300_WIN_MAG!!! I had the same thing happen to me about 5 yrs ago. Sometimes its just not ment to be.

Let it go guys, lets get it back on track.

Thanks.

According to The Nuge, the shot not taken is more important than the shot taken. Sorry you didn't get Pig, but I think that The Nuge is right. If there is a question, don't pull the trigger. It is within your control. Hope this is not taken as unfriendly at all. I just think you have to put down the buck fever and wait for the better shots if that is what the Good Lord has in store for you. Can I stay in the Forum? Please, I didn't me to be negative!

I couldn't agree more with your post double drop tines. Plenty of poor decisions were made by me that day. Thats why I posted the story so all that can learn could learn from this. rstewlandman is correct in his post and I should have waited for another day and time. I suppose waitng for a full year hoping that Pig wouldn't wonder off our small 262 acre lease and be taken by someone else got the best of me. Hopefully it will have a better ending than the start. The rest of you so called expert hunters learn from this story and if you ever make a poor decision, lets see if you have the balls to post it so others may learn. Enough said.

Why didn't you WAIT for Pig to get out of the feeder pen? You've watched that deer for over a year and you take a questionable shot? Sorry dude...

Sorry that had to happen to you BB but it crappy outcomes are part of life. If you never made a mistake or had something bad happen while hunting you are the luckiest SOB I 've ever heard of or you just started hunting last week.
It really stinks that some of you are so quick to judge a man that's just trying to help some of us out by learning from his downfall. Some of those comments sound like they were made by a drunk in a bar!

Brushbuck,
Thanks for the story. Hope you see him again. Takes a lot more of a man to put that story out there for the world to see than it does to criticize.

.300 win mag isn't perfect. He doesn't know how to spell ridiculous.

That should at least make you feel a little better about where the criticism is coming from.

Good Luck!

Bankwalker

Clearly "brushbuck" understands he screwed up. Why is it necessary to sit behind your keyboard and bash a man that you've never met? I'm confident that 99.9% of the people on this forum are responsible and ethical hunters. I am also confident that 99.9% of the people on this forum have made bad decisions in the field, including myself. Every single one of you has done things in the field that you would take back if you could. But if you can honestly say that you've never taken a shot when it was legally too dark, or killed a deer when you had a freezer full of venison at home, or killed a deer just because it was the last day of the season, or shot at a deer just on the other side of your property line, or taken a shot through brush / obstructions, or hunted your buddies stand without his permission because he saw a "giant" the day before, etc., than bash away. Otherwise leave the guy alone. It took a lot of guts to put that out there, especially knowing there is a handful of guys that are going to crucify him. To "brushbuck", yeah you screwed up. No way in hell you should have taken that shot, but you did and tomorrow is a new day. Hunting, as in life, is all about learning from your mistakes and doing everything in you power to do things the right way. I have no doubt that next time you will.

So, I am not hunting this 37 degree weekend because a family member is proposing to his girlfriend and he wants me to be there. Everyone makes mistakes.