Had some fun this past weekend. Made it out to the lease to get some prep work in before season starts in a couple weeks. Anyhow...found this big bastard dilly dallying on a highline on Saturday morning. When first spotted, he was about 650 yds away (across a pretty deep drainage) and all I had on me was my little AR. He looked like a damned cow...extremely long legs and just covered in mud. I remember first thinking "you big bastard", then, "shit, I gotta go get him"! I loaded heavy and took off on foot.
I followed the treeline on the highline (to obscure some quick movement) and the big bastard didn't give much time...he quickly moved into the woods and disappeared to the north. I got to within 100yds of his last known location and went into stalk mode. As I approached, you could smell his stench but he was nowhere to be seen. I started wondering if he was bedded nearby, just listening for me. I was cautious and entered the treeline. I followed the ridge which I knew loops around towards a feeder which is about another 300yds off the highline. After about 20 minutes of relatively slow movements "stop, listen, proceed", I got to within about 100 yds of the feeder....on a downwind approach. I finally got the clue I was looking for when about 10 deer started running directly at me. I just laughed, and waved them off...they scattered to the side and exposed the big bastard fartin' around at the feeder.
The stalk is in full motion now. My goal was to close another 50 yds or so up to a group of trees, and take a rest on one of them and put some lead into him (actually copper, I use handloaded TSX bullets). I keep a few trees between the two of us, stop n go for about 5 minutes. Then he turns, and just starts heading my way. I slowly "melt" into the ground hoping he doesn't spot me...I'm still a good 20 yds from the group of trees and I'm in the middle of a fucking right of way. Now my heart won't stop pumping...he's closing distance quick. I sit motionless, frozen. He rounds some trees and is now 15 yds from me. I let fly...(pck-cheeewww), and yell out "fuck you big bastard!", followed by (pck-cheeewww, pck-chewwww, pck-cheewwww). He made it about 5 steps and I even put a finisher in him after he hit the dirt...my nerves had gotten the best of me.
Anyhow...I had a blast. Reminded me how much I love the stalk. I love how the world slows down around me, and my senses create a hyper-awareness of critical measures, checking boxes while not letting the noise break through. Concentrated focus with zero yield.