The star filled sky met us as we left the house. It was cold and crisp; perfect rut weather! It had been 7 years since Dennis Landwehr and I had hunted together...far too long. We hiked 2 hours in the dark, reliving past hunts and catching up. A closeness and experiences shared between friends. We waited for first light and hiked another hour. The blueness of the sky was stunning. I had 3 trail cameras where we were headed. Many bucks were captured by the trail cameras. One, dominate buck was a huge 2 x 2, he was on all the cameras. As we moved between muskegs preparing to call, we spotted a really nice 2 x 2 at about 125 yards. He gave us the slip. We called in several places working our way to "the place to call". We settled in. I ranged the shooting lanes. The longest was 95 yards to a low cedar bush. I hoped they would be closer. It was Dennis' shot. I began with a rattling sequence and a roar and snort-wheeze. This progressed to light bleats. I alternated back and forth. At about 15 minutes two doe shot into view by the cedar bush. I called one of them to us, she finally winded us snorting and circling back the way she came. We sat for a while, gently calling. I hit the rattling bag and the roar/snort-wheeze again. About 20 minutes in to the calling sequence, a huge bodied buck appeared following the doe's trail. I would like to think I called him in but I am not sure. He was moving fast. He was quickly out of sight of Dennis. I tried to grunt him to a stop. He was unconcerned. He was behind the ranged bush so more than 95 yards. A fair poke for the Hawken. He would not stop so I yelled. For a split second he paused. I was already on him. I figured the distance to be 100-105 yards and I needed to aim about 4" high. I settled and fired. Smoke partly obscured the scene but I saw the buck stumbling to the left, spinning right and disappearing into the timber. Dennis confirmed he had no shot. I was shaking from the adrenaline. I slowly reloaded. We donned our packs and walked through the snow to where he had stood. The shot had felt good. I followed the tracks and looked right. There laid the huge Sitka buck. It was the big forked horn that had dominated the cameras. My shot had taken out his heart. His death was swift. Two friends of 30 years making meat. It was perfect. I had hoped Dennis would get a deer this day but it just did not work out. We boned the deer and split the load. It was a perfect morning. The long hike out was filled with stories and memories. Thank you for the day Dennis Landwehr..
