DREAM’N OF A DOUBLE MAINBEAM

It was 2:30 in the afternoon on opening day of the Maryland Firearm season and I had just climbed back into my stand for the afternoon hunt.  As I was settling in and getting comfortable I was very optimistic about this afternoon’s hunt.  I had seen a lot of activity that morning and I knew I was in a special place.  It was now 2:15 in the afternoon and I didn’t expect any activity for about an hour, so I decide to take a nap.  I never sleep well the night before opening day anyway, I guess the anticipation is too much to bear.  Besides 4:00 a.m. comes very early.  While sitting in my stand listening to the birds and wind serenade me, my eye lids begin to get heavy and the sun light began flickering on and off as my eyes blink slower and slower. 

As I was just about to doze off into hunter’s paradise I consciously woke myself.  I quickly reminded myself that it had been a full moon the night before and I knew the deer would be moving midday.  Sleeping was just not an option.  As I was attempting to bring myself to full consciousness, I raised my head and gazed over to the edge of a field that was 200 yards away.  To my surprise a doe came bolting out of the hedge row at the edge of the field.  “Am I dreaming?” I asked myself.  Before I could process the event which was unfolding before my eyes, a huge buck burst out into the field hot on the doe’s trail.  My hunter’s instinct took over and I was at full alert.  Within seconds I threw up my Leopold binoculars and new I was looking at a monster buck – and he was coming my way! “Is this really happening?” I kept asking myself. 

The doe was heading right towards me with the huge buck in hot pursuit.  My heart began to pound as I raised my gun.  “I can’t believe that they are coming right to me.”  I knew that if the doe came within range I would have a shot at the monster buck.  I quickly began to control my breathing and readied myself for the shot.  The doe came to within 40 yards of my stand and the buck was now closing.  100 yards, 90 yards, 80 yards.  At 70 yards I had an opening and burped.  He did not stop and instant panic shot through my body.  I knew that I only had one more small opening for a shot before the buck would be gone.  At 65 yards I burped even louder.  This time he stopped in his tracks.  Without hesitation or much thought I placed the cross hairs right behind the shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger of my Remington 1187 12 gauge and “Bang!”  The massive buck’s hind legs kicked straight up in the air so hard, it almost did a complete flip.  Once all of its hooves were on the ground he ran about 50 yards into the woods.  As I watched and listened I heard the mighty animal crash down and then silence. 

I was very confident about my shot and I knew the huge buck was down.  I immediately called my hunting buddy Paul to tell him the news.  “I just smoked a big one” I said.  Paul calmly advised me to wait in my stand for 15 – 20 minutes to ensure the deer was down.  Paul and I have learned our lesson when it comes to tracking deer too early.  We have both lost great bucks by tracking them too soon and pushing them never to be found again.  I was not going to make this mistake again. 

After 15 minutes and with great confidence I decided to get down and see if I could find some blood.  I slowly walked to the spot where he was standing and I found evidence of where he had kicked up the leaves when his vitals were hit.  As I cautiously moved toward the wood line in the direction I last saw the deer headed, I found more and more blood.  “I have a great blood trail,” I confidently said to myself.  Excitement and anticipation of finding my trophy buck began to overflow me.  As I slowly followed the blood trail, I mentally began to prepare myself for another shot.  However, that would not be necessary.  As I peered through the trees and brush I saw the bruit laying in front of me.  All I could see were his massive antlers.  As I triumphantly approached the buck I noticed something very unusual about his antlers.  To my surprise it was a 150 class 10 pointer that had a double main beam.  It is the largest buck I have ever harvested.  This surely was a double main beam dream come true.