Levi’s 2016 Gun Buck

Good day all, it’s been awhile since I posted on the website here. I’ve finally found the time and the desire to get a few things out there. Here is Levi’s 2016 rifle season buck. I’ll be posting some footage from an exciting late season bow hunt in the next few days as well.

I hung a climber next to one of our regular hang-on stand locations for an evening hunt towards the end of the MO gun season. We had to wait until about 30 minutes before dark before we caught some movement in the brush. They took their sweet time but we soon made out a couple does with a buck in tow. The buck was sort of bumping the does and feeding at the same time. It was far from a rut crazed chase, but he was staying close just the same.

The does fed through, coming as close as 25yrds. The buck seemed to gain more interest in the acorns he was finding and remained in a quartering to position at approx 80yrds. It seemed like forever, but he finally picked his head up and began a brisk walk broadside. I was just leaning over to tell the little man to tell me when to stop the deer when his 6.8 rifle roared!

He about scared me out of the tree, but I watched as the deer did the big bronco kick and headed back for the thicker brush. I knew he had connected, I just wasn’t sure where, especially since the deer was at a pretty brisk walk when he pulled the trigger. I decided that we would back out and give the deer an hour or so and that’s what we did. We came back with my dad, brother-in-law and an ATV. It wasn’t long before Levi was all smiles sitting behind his buck getting pics taken. He had hit the buck a little back but the deer didn’t run over 80yrds. We had the learning discussion of making sure we stop them before we shoot, something we have always done in the past. It turned out that Levi was afraid he wasn’t going to get a clear shot as we were in the timber so when he saw an opening he got a little excited :-).

Thankfully it all worked out good in the end and we were both grateful to once again take advantage of the freedoms we are blessed with here in the USA!