A Prince of the Forest, Part 3

Where had he gone?  How could he?  Did I just miss somehow and get a flesh wound?  Nothing made sense.  A few hours before, I was so happy to get Prince.  Now, after two hours of searching and nothing much to show for it, the guys; Justin, Caleb, and I headed home.  I would return in the morning and look some.

I planned to get up fairly early Thursday because I had somewhere to be later in the morning, so getting an early start was imperative.  I had planned to wake up a bit before 7, but restlessness woke me an hour before my alarm, I couldn't go back to sleep.  It was just impossible.

I went out that morning, expecting to find him in a particular area where we had heard crashing the night before.  Unfortunately, though I found blood, I didn't find him.  The trail stopped, and I didn't know where to search.  After an hour and a half, I headed out of the woods.  That afternoon, the guys dad, Mark, came out to help me look some more, still nothing.  There was one last area to look at before I called it quits, the woods across the field from where I shot him.  However, it was going to be Saturday afternoon before I got the chance.  Who knows what could have happened to him by then?  Can I even find him?  The answer from the search that afternoon was no.  I couldn't find him.

Now is when questions and replays of the encounter start going through your mind.  Was my shooting technique bad?  Was I not holding steady on the shoulder?  I told myself: "I know I got buck fever, but I've dropped deer before, I'm not a bad shot."  Did coyotes get him?  And this sounds weird, but is he still alive?  Who knows if he's still alive? The camera will have to tell me. 

Heavy hearted, I grabbed the SD card from my funnel camera and headed back home.  As I pulled out of my grandparents driveway and pulled into mine (we live next door), my grandpa's tractor came out from behind me and headed towards my cousins cow pasture.  Hmm, he doesn't head that way often, whatever.  I got home and started checking photos.  Nothing.  Is this really how it was going to end?  A huge deer just, wasted?  Sure, the meats bad by now, but having some token that said "you shot this deer" would be nice.  But he had just vanished.

Then mom gets a phone call, it's from Grandpa.  He had gone to help with something in the cow pasture, and my cousins son, who was with him, had spotted him while in the tractor.  This deer had ran well over 300 yards from where I shot him. 

Finally, the search was over.  I could see him up close, look at his size, hold his antlers.  All the questions, while still largely unanswered, didn't matter anymore.  All I wanted to do was savor the moment.  We got his antlers off, thanks to my cousin.  Could I have mounted him?  Yes, but my last buck mount was my Christmas present last year.  Kinda wanted something different this year, not to mention limited wall space, haha!  But, I think an antler mount might be in order. 

This buck give me a lot of twists and turns, highs and lows, but in the end, it was worth it.