- Joined
- Nov 1, 2009
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- 347
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Monday morning deer firearm season opened in WV with my hunting area socked in with fog all day. The visibility averaged about 100 feet most of the day, it was a cool day about 48 degrees. There was no deer activity all day until about 3:45pm when a buck appeared out of the fog about 35 yards away. We were both surprised to see each other and he was gone in a second. Thus ended the first day.
I started out this morning with a 100% rain forecast and the determination I would hunt all day. I still hunted my way back into the area where I saw the buck Monday evening to see if he might show up again. I arrived about 10:00am and settled into a “dead fall” to wait out the rain as it started falling. I was there about a half hour when I heard a limb snap and a young doe appeared in the brush about 30 yards away. I had a doe permit but decided to wait because I thought there were probably more deer, a mature doe perhaps or even a buck. A few minutes later I could see antlers in the brush moving but another dead fall was blocking his body. I could see antlers and legs but no body as he browsed through the brush. I was expecting him to follow the doe as she was now clear of the brush and starting to move away, so I cocked the hammer to take the first available shot. Unexpectedly he laid down in full view with his entire right side exposed and he was looking at me. I held low on his right shoulder, set the trigger and squeezed off the shot. After the smoke cleared the buck was down and never got up. This 11 point Buck was taken using the .50 cal Davide Pedersoli percussion frontier long rifle (39” barrel) with a.495 round ball using a prelubed .015 patch and 80 grains ff Goex black powder. The flatten ball was recovered in his spine. After all was said and done I don’t think this was not the same buck I saw the previous evening. Tomorrow is butchering day.