I got invited to my old room mates step dad's (i know that sounds funny to me too) land out of Satartia last weekend. I had already killed a deer this year and it filled my small freezer so I had decided to only shoot a wall hanger. Little did I know..... Saturday afternoon we hunted and I saw a single doe do mach 3 thru the bottom in front of me from down wind. No one shoot a deer that afternoon so we ate steak, drank whiskey, and caught up that night. Sunday morning on the same ridge well before daylight I busted a doe off my spot. She went to the ridge to my right, blew and bolted. Day broke at about 6:20 and the woods came to life. A beautiful morning. At ten till 7 I turn around to a deer in the area I last heard the doe. I am sitting on a slope and have to lay down and turn around to get the scope on him.
The setup.
Here is where the fun comes in, I am shooting a Marlin 35cal lever action just because I had not shoot the gun in a while and have always loved it for hunting the woods. It is small, light, packs a big punch, but is only really accurate in the 100 yard range (well thats where I feel comfortable with it anyway). So, I have some hand loaded hollow points that are just MEAN!! I had loaded the gun with those as the first 2 shots. Bad idea.
I decide that this deer is most certainly a shooter, peepee the hammer and get set to shoot. I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and squeeze off. CLICK, nothing!!! WTF!!! By this time he knows something is up but he is not sure what. I re-cock the hammer thinking that the hammer just didn't hit the shell hard enough. CLICK!! Ohhhhh I am a little perturbed now. The deer is still standing there looking at me. So I slowly slide the leave down and rack a new round, the second hollow point. I get back on him and squeeze off again. CLICK and I noticeably jerk!!! I want to cuss loudly now. But the deer is sill standing there. So I slowly rack the third round, a 250 grain soft point.
Ok, I am going for my fourth trigger pull on the same deer. Ya think I am nervous, naww
I get on his shoulder, squeeze off, BOOM!! Finally!!!! But guess what, I jerked BAD. Complete miss. Ohh, did I mention, this deer is about 40 yards from me across a draw on the next ridge??? 
He runs straight out to the point of the ridge and stops to look at me before he crests the top. Mistake. With a hard quartering away shot, I pick the only shot at vitals I have with out going thru the hind quarter and squeeze off. BOOM!! He bolts, and BUSTS HIS booty going down the nearly straight down hill. He skids to a stop at the bottom of a hill in what I assume is a dead pile. I get the scope up on him and can barely see him thru the brush. He doesn't move for a good 30 seconds so I think he is dead and I relax. Bad idea. Bout the time I get leaned back on the tree, he gets up and walks off like nothing ever happened.
I am now a nervous wreck. Considering how I usually get some major buck fever when a rack deer comes out, I think I have done pretty good. I sit back and get a big old fat dip. I wait my hour before I get up and go look at the crash sight. there is only one leaf with any blood on it.
I head up the hill to the spot I finally connected with him. Blood!! not a lot, like I have seen with other deer, but enough to know the hit is substantial. So I walk back to the to the cabin to give him time and wait for some tracking help.
Buddy and Wes come out of the woods and I give them the whole story, misfires and all. We walk back to the spot, track him for 300 yards of pin drops and loose him at a drop off. He could have gone any of three ways and we couldn't find any trace of him going any of them.
Well, for taking me hunting on his place, I invite Buddy up to come shoot some ducks. I didn't do much of any thing Friday so we decided to postpone. That is the first good thing to come of the deer. Because he didn't come up, he stumbled upon him this morning. He was a little ripe, so all I got was the head.
So here he is. Judging by the jaw he is only 4.5 years old. He has 22 inch main beams, 18.5 inch inside spread, 7 inch brow tines, 9 inch G2's, 7.5 inch G3's. We are guessing 140's. What do yall think. I haven't scored him yet.
