This buck was taken on opening day of the 1997 shotgun season in Massachusettes by yours truly. I did a ton of scouting, and I knew this one(and others) were in the area I set up in. I was set up in a tree stand about 30 yards from a logging road and two or three active scrapes. I was in the woods a good hour and a half before light. At about 6:30am I heard something behind me. I turned to see blaze orange walking along the logging road! Oh just great I thought to myself. This guy stompped by and gave me a wave. He headed off right where I suspected a buck may be comming from. I was very disappointed but I sat it out. An hour later after lots of far off shots from other hunters, I saw something move about 100 yards ahead of me. Right where the other hunter had walked in!
It was 7:30am and I had a trophy buck heading straight to my tree! He never hesitated a moment. I didnt even have time to get nervous and start shaking like I always do. He beelined to within 10 yards of my stand when he stepped broadside and stopped. My Remington 870 Magnum let out a single blast and dropped him. I hit him in the neck and it exited low from the shoulder. Thats how close he was. I took the angle of my shot into consideration which was a good choice. I hit lung and heart. Before I even got down I saw a hunter walking over to see what was going on. He was startled from the shot. He said he was only 50 yards away from me!
This buck was 3 1/2 years old. He weighed in at 155lbs. I imagine he had an active rut and lost a few pounds.
December 1997 10 point buck 155lbs
Ok one more picture.....
