Perseverance pays dividends for Charleston hunter

Heavy rains, wind, freezing temperatures and even snow in some places greeted hunters who went afield last weekend for the opening of the regular big game season in the Southern Zone.

But judging by the pile of e-mails I have been getting, there were many hunters who did very well, filling both regular and Deer Management Permits (DMP), despite the nasty weather.

Starting with the biggest first, Warren Richardson of Charleston reports that it took him six years to catch up with his buck of a lifetime.

He saw the big buck on numerous occasions in Montgomery County, but it never came within range until now. The final encounter happened on opening day while hunting with his dad, Warren, and was over by 7:45 a.m.

Standing beside several large trees on the edge of a field, Warren made a few calls on his Primos Buck Roar grunt call, and it wasn’t long after that he saw horns on the run in the distance. The buck was definitely looking for a fight, and at 175 yards, he ran into a 30-06 round delivered from Warren’s Ruger77 Mark II rifle.

The big buck carried a 14-point rack with a 213⁄8-inch spread estimated to score

155-160 Boone & Crockett points. The buck tipped the scales at 195 pounds. And yes, he’ll be mounted.

Adkhunter.com host Dan Ladd of Fort Ann will definitely be adding his recent whitetail buck harvest to his Web site, and his den wall. While one of four drivers east of Lake George, Dan heard three shots below him before his trophy appeared.

The buck, who was accompanied by a doe, made the mistake of stopping about 50 yards from Dan’s Model 94 Winchester

30-30 caliber rifle. The Adirondack buck carried a beautiful 10-point rack and dressed out at 140 pounds.

It was the first drive of the season for the members of the Good Guys Hunting Camp in Andover when Tim Guy of Glens Falls collected his trophy Allegany County buck. Two days of pouring rain, followed by blowing and cold snow that dumped about five to six inches, had all the deer hiding. And when they hide here, they usually hole up in the large patches of Christmas trees on this 4,300 acre farm.

Halfway through the drive, several drivers yelled when they saw the buck jump up and it was heading right for the watchers. That’s when Guy shouldered his Remington 30-06. When the buck cleared the drivers, Tim clicked off the safety and took him down at about 150 yards.

The buck had nine points with a 20-inch spread and tipped the scales at 152 pounds, which puts him in the lead in the Kent Tree Farms heaviest deer contest.

It was a waiting game for Vince Hill of Saratoga Springs who watched a nice buck chasing does in a field around mid-morning before they disappeared into the woods. Early that afternoon Vince returned to the field and settled in to see if the buck would follow the doe who were feeding there. He did, and at 150 yards he took the nine-pointer with his Ruger 270 caliber rifle. The buck field dressed at 165 pounds.

Jim McHale of Saratoga Springs is having a great hunting season.

It began with his first bow and arrow deer after what he said was years of missing, close calls and even one that he hit that was lost to coyotes. But this year was different.

After passing up a three-pointer that walked under his stand, he didn’t get another opportunity until two days later, and that time it was a seven-pointer. After a little bit of careful maneuvering, he got himself into position, and when the buck stepped into Jim’s shooting lane at 18 yards, he touched off the shot and immediately knew he had a good hit.

The deer traveled no more that 25 yards before it expired, but as it fell it broke off one of the antlers and then Jim’s first bow buck was a four-pointer.

On the second day of the Southern Zone gun season, Jim and his dad were near Stillwater a few minutes before sunup and in his climber tree stand by 7 a.m. Once settled in he pulled out his deer call and made four grunts, three doe blats and three more grunts, just like the North American Whitetail magazine said it should be done.

Almost immediatey, there was a buck tearing up a sapling with its rack about 120 yards behind him in a valley. Three more soft grunts got the buck’s full attention and he started up on a dead run. Stopping about 65 yards the hunt ended with one shot from the Remington 30-06 and Jim collected his second seven-pointer of the season.

There are two other hunters who shot their first whitetails.

Jim Casino of Schenectady was sitting in the pines when the doe came in and one shot with his 30-06 Benelli R-1 rifle rewarded him with a 120-pound whitetail.

I had the pleasure of hunting small game with Colby Allen of Andover and the youngest member of the Good Guy Hunting Club, and when his dad, Shawn, called me with the news, I wasn’t surprised he had taken a whitetail.

Colby was sitting in a tree stand when the doe stepped out at about 120 yards and he needed just one shot from his 270 Thompson Center Encore rifle to down the 122-pound doe. His dad who was there with him, said that the tree where his son was sitting was shaking from the young hunters nervousness. I think all deer hunters feel at least a little nervous when that deer comes in, and if you don’t you should.

MORE BUCK TALES

For those who sent me Buck Tales and do not see them here, don’t worry. I had so many I couldn’t print them all this week, but over the next few weeks, I will. So keep sending them. Next week’s tales will

feature more trophy bucks, does and even a few bear.