Junior may, or may not, be one of the twins we were see with their momma all last year during the hunting season. Unfortunately, Junior became a little too trusting. He would show up outside Mark’s outhouse door when Mark had to answer a call of nature in the middle of the night. He would sneak up on Mark while he was himself attempting to set up an ambush and peak over his shoulder.
Junior was not a big-racked buck by any stretch of the imagination but he did have horns.
I’m using the past tense because Junior was dumb enough to give me two (albeit difficult) shots this afternoon as I walked into the woods for an afternoon hunt. I was to sit while Mark walked the west side of the property. He never got to walk because I never got to sit. Walking into the spot at which I was to sit I noticed some fresh tracks in the wet leaves. Then I noticed some fresh droppings. Then I noticed Junior.
He was standing broadside about twenty yards away from me but I couldn’t make out if he had any antlers. He turned his back to me but continued to look over his shoulder. Then I saw two pencil thin antlers inside his ears but I had no real shot. I lifted my rifle anyway and waited for him to turn sideways. (He had to turn sooner or later as there were two trees right in front of him!) He did turn, but not by much, so I aimed behind his forward shoulder and squeezed the trigger. He jumped around the two trees and peeked back at me showing no signs of having been hit! Then he leaned a little further forward to see just what all the fuss was about and that was his fatal mistake. My second shot went right through his neck and he dropped where he was standing.
I radioed Mark (who was still trying to get his boots on) to bring the ATV. Ten minutes later he pulled up with a LaBatt’s Blue in hand. And ten minutes after that, Junior was on the back of the ATV heading to the barn to be hung for the night. Tomorrow it’ll be butchering time.
Hey! You can’t eat horns!
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