It was the last father/son hunt of the year.
I was sitting a gorgeous piece of property. I was 3/4's of the way back (the south eastern end) of a 5 acre field - sitting just inside the tree line. The woods to my right had 6 different shooting lanes, every other one with corn. All but about 1/5 of the 5 acre field to my left had recently been harvested for corn. From my stand the far side of the field was 220 yards.
We were 0 for the season and I was getting pretty depressed because by 5.30 pm I'd seen nothing - though in the thicket behind me - maybe 30 yards away - we heard a little racket and some blowing. And as I turned to look back over my right shoulder (on the woods side) I caught a glimpse of a doe bounding away, tail raised. I thought we'd been busted as she was downwind of me. Very depressed, figuring I'd see nothing, I slowly looked back around to my left and way across the field I saw two does eating some of the cobs left behind by the harvester at about 180 yards. When I got my glasses up I noticed that behind the one tree that stood between me and anything in the field was a third deer's behind. When I stretched way around to look I saw the rack and lasered him at 190 yards - he was close to the does and eating corn. I'm always amazed at how they just materialize out of nowhere - and quickly. I'm guessing he came out of the uncut corn field as he was only about 20 yards away from it. That buck kept that one tree between me and him for about 10 minutes. Finally, he turned and started very slowly eating his way back into the uncut corn. Something spooked the does (I heard/saw nothing) and they bounded away. The buck stood straight up, now completely broadside, and looked into the uncut corn, now about 10 yards away - and I shot. He reared and tore around far side of the uncut corn.
Before I could do much of anything, Sammy and I heard a MAJOR buck battle, even closer behind us now, from the same area we'd heard a few minutes earlier. The snorting and antler cracking was loud. Almost simultaneous to the battle two big doe came bounding out of that thicket, woods side of the stand, just where we'd seen the earlier doe bust and run - and worked their way counter-clockwise until they were in the lane directly in front of us and the battle directly behind us. One doe was at 90 yards the other at 110. They started intently right past the stand and into the thicket behind us. The racket behind continued for a few more minutes and then we heard a bunch of stomping and blowing. That buck sounded like he was just a few feet away from us, but he never showed himself. After another minute or so he went completely quiet. The far doe in front of us dropped her head and started grazing something. The near doe still stood transfixed staring into the thicket. It was 5.50 pm. I needed to take the shot or it'd be too dark, or she may leave. I shot but lost her in the muzzle flash. I saw the far deer take off to the right. I could hear the hit doe for a bit - sounded like she was directly in front of us - but couldn't see her.
It was getting very late, and I've never tracked solo at night, so we got out of the stand and took a quick look for the doe but didn't see anything. I wanted to get on that buck before we lost all day light so across the field we went. We turned the corner of the uncut corn and almost immediately my light caught the reflection of an eye. The way the buck way laying I couldn't tell if he was dead or hurt. I chambered a bullet and Sammy kept his light on the animal and within a few steps I realized he was dead. It was a double lung/heart shot. Honestly, it felt pretty good. I'd hit exactly where I'd aimed. He was a big 8 point (just about a 10 point - the two nubs not quite long enough to qualify). I'd have loved to seen him pre-rut as he still weighed in at 165 pounds - pretty good for a lowcountry SC deer. Not only was he my first big buck, but it was also the longest shot I'd ever taken.
We went back and looked for the doe. In the middle of the lane where she was standing was a corn pile. We used that as a reference and circled around counter-clockwise about 10 yards from each other. Pretty quickly we found her in some brush. She'd run directly away from me (I'd lost her in the muzzle flash and Sammy didn't know which deer I'd shot and he watched the other one bound away, marking her trail). I'd hit her square through the shoulder and I was very surprised she didn't just drop when I saw where I'd hit her. As we back-trailed the blood trail it was pretty clear she'd fallen two times before she dropped and bled out. All-in-all, she probably ran 25 yards (just about to the spot where the other doe was) before going down for good. When we checked her we noticed she was in heat.
So, our year ended well. And now we wait 8 long months before we sit another stand.
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