HAL'S 07 MAINE MUZZLE LOADER BUCK
Well once again muzzle loader season was the only chance that I had to hunt for myself. Depending on where we hunted, we were hunting in 6-12 inches of snow with a hard crust. We had to make the most of it so Chris and I set off to see if we could track a buck and shoot it while filming. Monday night warmed up a bit and softened the crust. We got on a good buck track at 8:30am and caught up to the buck in a half hour. The buck was still on his feet and I spotted him at about 75 yards. I couldn't see his horns at first. After moving sideways a bit and a lot of looking with my binoculars, I finally made out a heavy 8 point rack in the brush. Just then the buck turned and disappeared. Knowing there was a skidder trail to my left that he should cross, I eased over just as he was crossing. I had to make a quick shot as he disappeared into the brush. All I did was give him a haircut on his back. That buck headed out and we never got another chance at him.
We tracked a good buck everyday all week but could not get near them with the crust. We got up Saturday morning to couple of inches of new snow and some wind. I knew this was our last chance and was optimistic about tagging a good one. We went to a ridge where we knew there were some good bucks traveling in hopes of picking up the track of one. Before we go to the ridge we passed over a medium sized buck track with some snow in it. Then we came to a good track with some snow in it and decided to take it.
We followed it across a stream and as we got to the ridge, a bigger track with very little snow in it crossed over the track we were on so we changed tracks. It was starting to get exciting as I knew we couldn't be more than a few hours behind this buck. He took us back across the stream, then across a logging road and up another ridge. He was searching for does all the way. In about an hour we came to his bed. He left it with out being spooked and now we were no more than an hour behind him. He continued searching for does and I was thinking about what kind of a rack he might have. His track was that of an old mature buck and probably still over 200 pounds this late in the season. The buck worked his way into some new choppings where the visibility was good. It was still snowing a little and the wind was howling. A perfect combination to sneak in on a buck. We were halfway across a fairly open chopping when Chris said he saw a deer. I finally got my eyes on it as it came out of some winter beeches. It was a buck and coming right down the track at us. He was off about a hundred yards and I could see his horns were the width of his ears. We had seen no other tracks in that area, so I automatically assumed that was the buck we were tracking. I didn't bother with the bino's and when he stopped and lifted his head, I put the bead on his chest and fired.
When the Omega went off, the buck started running right at us. He stopped at 10 yards and it was then I realized it could not be the buck we were tracking. He had a thin beam and only five points. It was not the type of buck I was after, but it was still a great hunt and a good ending to a long season in Maine.
After checking around I found that the buck we were tracking had gone up another ridge and run this buck away from a doe and her lamb. A bad day for this buck all the way around. He ended up weighing 161 pound and I would say 2 ½ years old. Deb was real happy, as she had wanted some tender deer meat for a change!
P.S. We got the hunt on film so you can look for it on our next video.
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