This buck made a fatal mistake with a downed doe.
One deer season starts to wane a bit, many hunters start focusing on trying to get a doe to put some meat in the freezer. We know because we're the same way many years. However, you shouldn't be in a rush to get down on the ground and recover the animal after she's down.
Case in point this video out of Illinois with Chris of Team Radical. Chris downs a nice doe off-camera on the last night of gun season. It only takes about ten minutes before the downed doe attracts two suitor bucks who apparently don't seem to fully realize their lady friend is dead.
One of the bucks is a gnarly non-typical that focuses all his attention on the doe, not realizing Chris is sighting him down with a Savage 220!
The lesson for hunters to learn from this video is that unless you've got concerns about meat spoilage due to warm weather, rushing the recovery is not always necessary. In fact, it can be to your detriment. You just never know what's going to walk down the trail a few minutes later, oblivious to the fact you just killed a deer. A lot of hunters forget that death is a natural part of the forest and many animals, including deer, do not perceive it in the same way a human would. This buck had no clue danger was lurking close.
Despite the weird underbite, this buck looked to be in fine health and like many big bucks, the rut got him into some serious trouble! Oh, and it's not just when you have downed a doe that you should consider waiting a bit either. We have seen plenty of videos of big bucks coming in to attack dead rivals in recent years. If you have multiple buck tags in your state, you could potentially tag out in one sitting!
This was simply an incredible hunt to remember. We loved this buck's gnarly, non-typical rack. That was some fine shooting with the Savage shotgun too. Looks like a lot of work to get all that venison out of the field, but it's worth it on a hunt that came down to the wire like this. Congrats Chris, on two fine animals!
Products featured on Wide Open Spaces are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
NEXT: THE AXIS DEER AND HOW THEY'RE IMPACTING PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES
WATCH
