A Real Thanksgiving For The Roberts Family...Dats Me...Dontchano...Eh!

[El Destructo]

Well Wednesday night my Wife and I were talking about the Kids coming Home for Thanksgiving....and She asked me if I was going to go out Hunting in the Morning..I told Her I hadn't decided yet...She told Me the kids would not be in till later in the Day...and I should go to the Willow Swamp...(this one spot that We had checked out on my new Lease)...there was a couple nice rubs...and one spot that reeked of dominant Buck...if you ever wandered upon a spot like this ...you know what I am talking about! So it was decided that I was going in the Morning...

Thanksgiving Morning...4am....Colder than a Well Diggers Ass....13 degrees...80 percent humidity....I get up...look outside...and head back to Bed...sheets are still warm...ahhh! Lay there...and start thinking...what if that Big 12 is the one that rubbed that Will to tears....so I get up...make Coffee...get dressed...pack the Truck...and my Catalytic Heater (really primitive ...huh!)...and head for the Lease...

I get to my spot...sit in my makeshift Blind...light my Heater...I got so damned many clothes on I can barely Breath from the Weight (lmao)....30 minutes later....my knees are knocking...and I am dreaming of them warm Sheet...and putting my freezing feet in the middle of my Wife's Back.....so I go back to the Truck and retrieve the Blanket thats always packed there for emergencies...and other stupid occasions like this....I get back...huddle with the Blanket over the Heater for warmth....it's now Daybreak...Daylight in da Swamp.....nuthin...knees still knocking....about 7:45...I have had all the Fun I can take...this Hunting Crap is for Kids and Dogs...not 52 year old crippled Sissies like Me!

I pack my Backpack back up...turn off my Heater...fold up the Blanket...and get ready to stand up...when I caught movement to the left and below me in the canyon...some 70 yards away....it's a big Whitetail Doe...she's feeding on the Corn I had thrown out two days before....now I start to warm up...then two more Doe come running in like being chased.....they stop and start to feed....now I am thinking about taking the largest Doe...got to get something this Season...might as well be tender! Then I see a tree just whipping around...but I can't see anything but the Top thrashing....I get my B-Noc's out...to have a look See...but nothing....my Heart is pumping because I know it's got to be a Buck...ain't no Cattle on this Section of land......I put down the B-Noc's...pick up my 45-70 Contender...and get ready....the Doe are looking the way of the thrashing Tree...and then....He comes running out...head damned near dragging the Ground...lip curled upwards...and runs straight into His Harem of Doe...They scatter in all directions....then He makes His Final Mistake....He Stopped....For a Split Second....I don't even remember aiming...or pulling the Trigger for that matter...just heard the Roar...watch this mighty King of the Woods leap ..took three good jumps....and folded up after just twenty yards....

I had no Idea He was as big as He was...till I got down there next to Him...I was awestruck...12 Points...22 1/2" wide...main beams are 23 inches long...it took me the next two and a half hours to get Him up out of that Canyon and loaded in the back on Our Truck..by myself....but I never once thought about the Cold again that Day!

[El Destructo]

He dressed out at 217 pounds without his Hide

[NTD]

Very nice.  Congrats and good story

[Stoker]

Very nice buck.Great story 
Thanks Leroy

[sailordad]

Mike thats a fine looking buck ya got 

you been down south to long if you thinks thats cold for hunting
i bet you can remember calling them days "warm weather hunting" before you moved south eh.

i sat out the other morning(no blind or heater,very unusall for me) from 6 o'clock untill 11 o'clock,i dont think it got upto 13 degrees at that time of day yet
i had a very large snot frozen moustache by time i made the 1.5 mile walk back to the truck.
got plans for that again tomorrow,but its supposed to be even colder (might take the blind/heater this time  )

congrats on the nice hunt

[kerryb]

Way to go Mike, nice looking critter. Congrats

[cracker]

good deal nice buck. Ron

[Justin Snyder]

Very nice Mike.

[Pat B]

Michael, that guy is definately a keeper. The double brow tines are cool!

[El Destructo]

Yeah I am becoming a Candy Ass...I get cold below 20 degrees now...but also the Cold here is a lot different than back Home....I never owned a Pair of Carhardts till I moved here in  82...this dry piercing cold...along with the Prevailing 15-20 mph wind makes for a chilly sitdown on the Ground out in the open....back Home I could sit under a Spruce Tree all day in my Airforce Parka and Flight Line Snow Pants....and Bunnie Boots....and never get a Chill...

Thank Pat and others...this deers Daddy is running around out there too...maybe older Brother...it has double Brow Tines...and was a 14 pointer three weeks ago...but I got two pictures of Him on my Camera a  week ago...and one whole Bean is messed up...must have locked Horns with another Buck...and tore His rack to hell braking free...that can only mean that there is a bigger one out here......at least thats what I am hoping for...and I will sic Judy on Him!!

[stickbender]

     Well hey der, ya done got da big boy eh?    Man dat is a nice one fer sure, doncha know.  Are you going to do a Euro on him?  That is a big bodied deer for the Texican deer that I've seen in the sport mags.  The ones I have seen in the mags. have nice racks, but aren't much bigger than our central fla. deer.  That is a lot of good eats there.  Your kids are gonna want to go now.  Maybe you should take the Wife out for a lobster, and steak dinner, for suggesting you go out there.   Where did you hit it?  That 45-70  should've punched right through him.  Congrats again, that is a big boy!  Dang, you guys are racking up some big ol bucks on here.

                                                                        Wayne

[Sparrow]

Beauty buck !  Thanks for sharing the story.  '  Frank

[El Destructo]

Thanks Frank...I like telling Stories........ ..........

And Wayne...I hit Him right behind the Left Shoulder...High...and the round exited low between the third and second from the last Rib on the right side after going through both Lungs and the Liver...thought for sure it would have hit the Heart ...but it never touched it...none the less...he didn't go much more than 20 yards total on pure Adrenaline.

[Otis]

Great buck Mike!  I've not killed one that big, but kinda the same story. Try and talk myself into staying in bed, then get up and go, then try to talk myself into leaving. Then a deer shows up and you're glad you stayed. Glad you got yourself some meat this year.
                                                                                                   David

[david w.]

I just figured out what dontchano meant.