globemaster3
New member
OK, folks, pull up a chair and let's chew the fat around the campfire for a bit.
I perused the Feb 6 2009 issue of Illinois Outdoor News and inside I saw the results of their "Dandy Deer Stories". I read the first-place winner, expecting some story of inspiration, but instead walked away shaking my head. I tried to find a copy of the story on their website to just link to, but its not there, only in the print I hold in my hand. So, allow me to paraphrase my way through this and I'll tell you what I think. Let me know if I am off by your standards.
Middle-aged man walks to his permanent blind which is facing the woods at 0600. The blind is located in the middle of a large field with thick grass and weeds 6' tall.
The landowner walks his dogs by the stand twice. Nothing going on. Hunter relaxes and then...
Notices the antlers of a nice buck in the grass.
As he shoulders his gun, the hunter's glasses catch the edge of his full face mask and skews them off. "I could not see!" he is quoted as saying. He struggles to get his glasses on straight, but to no avail. Then...
"I could barely make out the shape of the deer, and he looked like he was about to run. I knew I had to act quickly or my opportunity would be gone. I fired, the buck loped 20 yards and then stopped. I had missed!"
So, hunter again unsuccessfully tries to adjust his glasses with no luck. So, what does he do? "I fired again and the buck dropped!".
The hunter then waits until all is still, then walks over to the buck and cannot find any wounds. Then, the buck bolts to his feet and runs 20 feet, stops to look back, and the hunter "points his gun in his direction and fired, dropping him in his tracks!"
The second shot hit a tine and knocked the deer out momentarily.
OK, story aside, I am looking at this and saying to myself, what an idiot! He knew he couldn't see well enough to make a shot, let alone 2, and he still tried shooting at this buck. The last shot, "pointed the gun in his direction", just sickens me! OK, so he got a nice 9, er, uh, now 8 point buck (clipped the left G1), but to hail this as a story worthy of praise by granting it the first-place prize? Now, if this were a contest for the "story with the most bull", I could go there. But this was a serious contest! The second place story, which I skimmed, was a father-son successful hunt.
I think the hunter needs a swift kick in the nether-regions, needs to practice with all of his equipment to learn that some things just don't work well (his glasses and full face mask), and most importantly, refrain from taking shots like this again! Also, I think this reeks of poor journalism on the part of the publication to even put this in print and portrays hunters in a very negative, irresponsible light. Am I alone here?
I perused the Feb 6 2009 issue of Illinois Outdoor News and inside I saw the results of their "Dandy Deer Stories". I read the first-place winner, expecting some story of inspiration, but instead walked away shaking my head. I tried to find a copy of the story on their website to just link to, but its not there, only in the print I hold in my hand. So, allow me to paraphrase my way through this and I'll tell you what I think. Let me know if I am off by your standards.
Middle-aged man walks to his permanent blind which is facing the woods at 0600. The blind is located in the middle of a large field with thick grass and weeds 6' tall.
The landowner walks his dogs by the stand twice. Nothing going on. Hunter relaxes and then...
Notices the antlers of a nice buck in the grass.
As he shoulders his gun, the hunter's glasses catch the edge of his full face mask and skews them off. "I could not see!" he is quoted as saying. He struggles to get his glasses on straight, but to no avail. Then...
"I could barely make out the shape of the deer, and he looked like he was about to run. I knew I had to act quickly or my opportunity would be gone. I fired, the buck loped 20 yards and then stopped. I had missed!"
So, hunter again unsuccessfully tries to adjust his glasses with no luck. So, what does he do? "I fired again and the buck dropped!".
The hunter then waits until all is still, then walks over to the buck and cannot find any wounds. Then, the buck bolts to his feet and runs 20 feet, stops to look back, and the hunter "points his gun in his direction and fired, dropping him in his tracks!"
The second shot hit a tine and knocked the deer out momentarily.
OK, story aside, I am looking at this and saying to myself, what an idiot! He knew he couldn't see well enough to make a shot, let alone 2, and he still tried shooting at this buck. The last shot, "pointed the gun in his direction", just sickens me! OK, so he got a nice 9, er, uh, now 8 point buck (clipped the left G1), but to hail this as a story worthy of praise by granting it the first-place prize? Now, if this were a contest for the "story with the most bull", I could go there. But this was a serious contest! The second place story, which I skimmed, was a father-son successful hunt.
I think the hunter needs a swift kick in the nether-regions, needs to practice with all of his equipment to learn that some things just don't work well (his glasses and full face mask), and most importantly, refrain from taking shots like this again! Also, I think this reeks of poor journalism on the part of the publication to even put this in print and portrays hunters in a very negative, irresponsible light. Am I alone here?
