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This hunt actually started 2 years ago...I was contacted by a potential customer who was interested in having me build a custom rifle for him. He had a very nice 2006 Searcy 450-400 3" Double Rifle that he was interested in trading for the custom build. When he first contacted me 2 years ago I wasn't in a position to make the trade and commit to the build, a few months ago though I contacted him and asked if he still had the rifle and if he was still interested in making the trade after working out the bulk of the details, he shipped the rifle, loaded ammo and all the reloading components and accessories to me. They arrived a few weeks back and I went out to my range and did some shooting to just run the rifle through it's paces and check the loads for regulation. Everything was tip top and the regulation was very good with the loads he had worked up. I set it aside and waited patiently for opening day of Kansas Firearms Whitetail Season.

Opening day was Wednesday, I was able to hunt a few hours in the afternoon/evening but I only saw 3 does and they were on my neighbors property( I own 160 acres of mostly farm ground with a few small pastures and one decent stand of trees). I hunted the same afternoon/evening hours Thursday and didn't see anything, Friday(yesterday) I had to go out of town and follow my wife around while she spent all my money on Christmas presents, so no hunting at all. So I was really looking forward to getting out this morning and spending the whole day out in my trees but what did I wake up to a FOGGY, MISERABLE, MISTY MORNING with visibility of about 10 yards. I could almost cut the stuff with a knife it was so thick. SO instead of rushing around and trying to get out early like I had planned I took my time and drank some coffee, did the farm chores, then loaded all my gear in the truck and drove out to the north pasture and parked. I still couldn't see more than about 30 yards so I sat for a minute debating if it was worth heading for my tree stand. I really wasn't interested in sitting in the damp with really no good visibility and just hoping to get a shot at a deer. Finally I decided it's either hunt and try to enjoy a day off from the shop that didn't involve shopping with my wife or go back to the house and get to work..so I opted for the tree stand. I grabbed the 450-400 and the new book I had bought yesterday and my water jug and headed across the pasture to the trees. The trees run down through a low spot in the pasture and divide it into two sections the large open area and then a small piece of pasture that is ringed with trees about 2/3 of the way around and then opens out onto my neighbor's field. My legs were wet about 8 inches up the cuffs when I reached the trail the deer have walked through the trees. I walked up the trail a little ways from my tree stand and hung a cotton ball with some Doe Urine on it, then back tracked to my tree stand and climbed up, then I pulled the rifle up being careful not to left it swing into anything on the way up. Once I got all settled in, I had a good look around and found that the visibility had improved out to about 50 yards and had a nice clear line of site to the trail but not much beyond were I had hung the cotton ball. It was about 8:30 when I started reading my book, stopping every so often to have a glance around, not that there was any real reason to, it was very still and calm this morning and I could here every little sound and nothing was really moving about. After about 45 minutes of reading the mist and fog had finally cleared to the point that I could see to the edge of the trees were it meets the edge of my wheat field. About 15 minutes later I looked up and saw this buck just coming out of the wheat field and entering the trees.

That's when the agony of patience began...there is about 150 yards of pretty heavy tree growth and down branches between the edge were he came in and were the lure was hanging. It felt like an eternity waiting for him to make his way through the trees to the opening in the trail. I'd see him stop every few steps raise his head up high and take a few strong sniffs then he would go back to picking through the grass then take another few steps and lift his head and take another couple good sniffs. I could tell by the way he was acting he was catching traces of the scent but with out and breeze to carry the smell to him he just wasn't in that big of a hurry to find it. It didn't really take an eternity it only actually took about 35 minutes or so for him to get close enough to get a big whiff of the scent. At which point he became much more interested in that and a lot less interested in breakfast.

Unfortunately for me he decided to get off the trail and come in from the side to investigate. If he had come straight down the trail he would have passed behind a patch of brush and I would have had a chance to shoulder my rifle when he couldn't see me. He got right up to the lure and was sniffing it and I decided I was out of option I was just going to have to shoulder up and hope for the best...the minute I moved he spotted me and took off though the trees headed for my back fence line. I swung on him and followed him through the trees and as soon as he got clear and I had a good shot I squeezed the right trigger and he went down almost instantly from the Hornady 210gr XTP. He dropped just yards from my property line. In my adrenaline fueled rush I opened the action and watched one of my brass go shooting out of the tree stand never to be seen again.

I took the other loaded round out and stuck it in my pocket lowered the rifle down, climbed down myself and then reloaded and went to verify that he wasn't getting up. It was a nice clean shot through the lung right behind the shoulder, so minimal meat loss(just a couple ribs to throw away). The 210 performed very well, it went through and through going it .410 and leaving about and 1" hole going out the other side.

I filled out my tag then went back to the truck and drove up to the house to get my Wife. Thankfully she is an avid hunter/fisher/shooter herself so she has no problem dealing with dead critter and helping me. She was nice enough to grab the camera and snap a few shots. I had it dressed, hung skinned and washed down before noon and have spent the rest of the day putting up Christmas decorations.

No he's not some monster trophy buck, but he'll taste good and he suites me just fine for first blood on my new to me Double Rifle. A bad day of hunting is better than a good day of work and a good day of hunting is hard to beat no matter what else you do.

As I sit here typing this up on my back porch I am enjoying a nice cup of Hot Cocoa spiked with a shot of Amarula and smoking a good cigar. So all in all what started out looking like a pretty miserable day has ended very nicely.

Cheers,

Colin

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