Lookout Here He Comes Tim Worel Hasty, Minnesota

I was bow hunting in northwestern Minnesota and the rut was in full swing. I got to the public hunting area a little late. There were about 1-½ hours of light left and I figured that I could scope out a good spot to put my portable stand for hunting the next morning. Last year I had found an old wood stand in a small woods by a swamp that would do for tonight.

I was walking across an open grass field with a slight wind in my face as I headed up a small hill. When I got to the top, I spotted two does by the old stand that I was planning on hunting from. I got down on my knees and was about 100 yards from them in the open field. There was a slight hill that was hiding me. I thought that maybe there was a buck with them, so I pulled my grunt out and grunted twice. I was right-a nice buck came charging out of the woods. He went about 20 yards and stopped. You could see that he was not happy that another buck was in his territory. The steam was coming off his neck and he was stomping around looking for the deer that was grunting. He started to run straight at me. He got about 50 yards from me and stopped. He looked mad. He stood there for a couple minutes and then turned and started walking back toward the does. I'm sure that if he could talk he would be saying, "These are my does, don't even think about it."

I said to myself, "Oh, ya!" I grunted again and the buck turned and started to run straight at me again. When he got about 20 yards from me, I sat up on my knees and pulled my bow back. When the buck saw me, I think he thought that I was a deer. He kept coming at me. I started to shake. When the buck got 7 feet from me he noticed what I was. He turned as I shot and the arrow went right under his chest. I couldn't believe that I had missed at only 7 feet! The buck ran a little ways and circled back to his does. The does had been watching the whole time. When he got to the does, I grunted a couple times and he stopped. I'm sure if the buck could talk, he would say, "You're lucky that you're not a deer." He turned and ran off into the swamp with his does and was soon out of sight.