The excitement of trophy class buck running by you is no different than a first chance buck that suddenly materializes in your line of fire. Disappointment was the last thing on my mind when I saw the spikehorn running towards me on the top of the ridge.

Monster snowflakes helped conceal my location on the ground. The falling snow also covered the noise of my trek across the crest of the ridge I was going to watch on. It was one of those cold, damp mornings that made getting out of your warm bunk seem like a bad idea. Until I saw the buck – I was still wondering why I bothered to wake up. I used my camera (video right) to record the misery of the morning I thought I was going to have. The video is just a quick pan looking down the ridge I was watching on.

About 2 minutes after I put my camera away, I spotted the the young buck running towards me at 40 – 50 yards. It had been startled from his evergreen hideout by dad approaching from the north end of the ridge. I could tell very quickly that this deer was only a spikehorn and somewhere between telling myself to calm down and take a deep breath – a brief debate raged in my mind. Do I pass up this shot and hope to see a larger buck in the two remaining days of my hunt? This thought was countered with the reality that we had yet to shoot a deer this week. It was far from a ‘buck of legend’ and I doubted there would be ’songs of victory’ sung for me at the hunt camp table.

Still. There he was coming closer. This first chance buck. He was preparing to jump to Mach 2.

Memories of past hunts with the guys began to flash into my mind. The excitement of hearing shots fired, the thrill of radio chatter announcing that a deer was down, the camaraderie of processing the deer and dragging it through thick forest undergrowth to a waiting ATV, the satisfaction of a freezer full of meat that you played a part in preparing  are all things that make a hunt worth of memory. They are all things that occur despite the size or gender of the deer.

It was decided.

The silent debate in my mind ended as I placed the crosshair just behind the spike’s shoulder. Three shots thundered across the ridge and the first chance buck fell. Elsewhere on the ridge, cold hunters turned up their radios and listened for 2 words that would warm their memory makers,

“Buck Down.”

*it turns out this was the only ethical shot deer I saw this rifle season.

The picture writes the post better than I could. The fact that I find this humorous makes me wonder if I fit the redneck stereotype…

Two days after Kyle missed the ‘Brow Tine’ Buck, the huge buck returned to the same location and left a glamour shot on Kyle’s trail cam.

You can see from the photo how close Kyle came to bagging the large buck that was at the bottom of a steep ridge when Kyle shot. If the wound wasn’t from a ‘rut fight’ – Kyle’s near miss is heart breaking.

Here is what Kyle had to say,

… I  have been trying to decide if I was going to show anyone else this picture since I got it yesterday afternoon - it’s a whitetail hunter’s worsed case scenario.  This picture was taken 26 hours after I missed it on Tuesday night… It’s back out and there and there is at least 6 other bucks in the area.  It’s part of hunting – so thats why i decided to send it on.  Maybe,  some of your Bloggers can get something out of it. The only thing I can suggest is to always aim lower on a steep ridge. My only comment is “What a tough old buck”.

Thanks for the photos Kyle. I’ll keep my eyes open for this buck this weekend. Where is Heartbreak Ridge again…?

Night two of our deer hunt had Kyle in face-to-face encounter with the brow tine buck! Unfortunately, round 1 went to the giant buck.

Instead of setting up his stand at the bottom of the ridge (where he normally does) he ‘watched’ at the top of the ridge. As fate would have it, the monster buck showed up with a ‘doe in tow’ at the bottom of the ridge. Kyle was able to see the buck make a scrape and waited for him to present a good shot. At 75 yards (and uphill), Kyle shot – and missed. The buck vanished into the fading light.

This has been the highlight of our week so far – despite the fact that I have not seen any deer yet. Our sightings are now at 6 deer. Howie missed two deer yesterday afternoon. We are seeing more fresh scrapes as the week progresses. This could indicate that the pre-rut is heating up.

Remember you can follow my real-time hunting updates on my twitter account @muskokaoutdoors.

*the brow tine buck photo was captured last year on Kyle’s trail cam

A few weeks into Huntsville’s bow season for deer – Matt Bishop arrowed his first 6-point buck with friend Jon Baker. Great work guys!

Muskoka Outdoors visitors -  feel free to share your 2009 hunting pictures with me by using the email link below.