2008.10.24
Not a bad opening morning for Eric Brittle
This is a Eric Brittle, a Virginia Department of Game and Inland fisheries biologist who works in the Suffolk area. I got the shot from a friend at the agency, but I don't imagine Brittle will mind me posting it here. Because, well, wow!
Here's the story as Brittle wrote it:
"I've been hunting this stand for three years. I had seen some really good bucks from the stand but never had a morning like this. The "smaller" buck came out with 2 other small bucks. The larger one then went at him and they brawled - a fight to end all fights....limbs breaking loud crashes of antlers! At one point, one deer "bull dozed" the other across the ground about 25 yards. The winner then chased the other buck within 35 yards of me. My first shot brushed his back and then he whirled to me and stopped UNDER my stand! My second shot was good.
The second buck, still chasing the first, then came under my stand and my third shot hit him at the base of the neck. He fell about 50 yards from me. After waiting a couple hours, my friends and I tracked the first deer 250 yards and found him piled up in the woods.
We green scored the two deer. The smaller one was 128 P&Y the bigger one was 155 P&Y. Both deer weighed between 175 and 200 lbs."
Wow!! Great looking bucks heck I thought you could only shoot one buck a day, but what ever the case great harvest.
From the symmetry of their racks could the small one possibly be the offspring of the bigger buck?
My usual attempt is to put does down because the Bucks are way to big for one person to drag out that I have seen.
Mark have VVDIF though of Mule deer instead of Elk, or is it becoming the elk population is crossing the barrier.
Comment by Backlash — October 26, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Congratulations, either one of those would make any hunter pleased. From the story it appears that he shot the smaller deer first. If that had happened in a earn a buck county he would have had to watch the bigger buck just walk away.That would be a tuff decision to make. Th EAB rule is needed in counties that are over populated with does, but it would be hard to turn that second buck down. Alfie H
Comment by Alfie H — October 26, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Alfie,
This wasn't in an EAB county (there are none in that part of the state). But you are right about that being a "nightmare" earn-a-buck scenario, and it's the one people bring up when they talk about the system's potential problems.
But you have to keep in mind that, even though hunters will kill about 100,000 antlered bucks in Virginia this year, stories like this are rare. It's tough to get a shot at one trophy buck, let alone two in the same morning. But, just to be safe, it's still smart to kill that first doe when you've got the chance.
Oh, by the way, Backlash, you can kill two deer a day east of the Blue Ridge.
mt
Comment by marktaylor — October 27, 2008 @ 10:51 am
Looks like a city property buck! Good story and nice deer good start to the season.
Comment by Travis Giffith — November 17, 2008 @ 12:28 am