It promised to be a good weekend for rifle season based on the trail cam pictures and buck sighting during the bow season. Do to hunting pressure in my usual hunting area, I made the decision to make the trek over to a newer piece of property on our family farm. With the exception of the prior youth season, the property had not been hunted for deer in close to 4 years.

We knew there were plenty of deer, it was now time to take pursuit of them. I arrived at the stand, which was a box blind over looking a deep valley. The dry creek bed lined with trees ran through the bottom of the valley that was used as a cow pasture. A cow pond also lay 100 yards to my right, which was frequented by both deer and turkey as well.

It wasn’t long after sun up, that I saw a group of turkeys work their way down to the pond for a drink. Across the hill, I spotted a young buck at 150 yards. The buck began working his way towards me, when he suddenly stopped and changed direction working his way to my left down the hill.

Curious to his sudden change of course, I peered to my right to see the cows who pasture in this area had come in for a drink. One by one, they filtered into the field I was looking over. I remained patient as they began to filter 30 yards in front of my stand. I had been taking some video footage of the group of turkeys that came in and decided to take some footage of the cows as well.

Big mistake. The cows spotted me as I was filming and they all stopped and stared towards me; and stared, and stared, and continued to stare. 1 hour later they were still there. With the cows now more relaxed, but going nowhere. I made the decision to pack up and move somewhere else, knowing this was an unproductive situation going nowhere fast.

Cursing the cows as I began my trek back up the hill, my new cow friends, all began to chase behind me. I must say, having a herd of 1,000 lb animals chasing behind you is a bit unsettling. Especially when there is a 2,000 lb bull in the mix. Finally they backed off as I worked my way into the tree line on the edge of the field.

I made my way to the crest of hill and decided to investigate a cedar thicket on a south facing ridge that looked promising. The wind was in my face and I noticed a stump surrounded by a fallen cedar that would give me good cover and a good view down the cedar ridge.

I had been standing there no more than 30 seconds, getting ready to settle in when I heard a deer running through the woods. My first impression was that I had spooked a doe not more than 60 yards away. I soon realized, the doe was being pursued by a buck.

At this point, I stood frozen waiting to see what would happen. I quickly realized the buck was of decent size. There was little room for a shot in the cedars, and just as I thought the deer where going to head further to my right, giving me no shot, the doe turned back to my left and made her way up the hill.

I raised my muzzleloader and placed the cross hairs on a small clearing where she would pass, preparing for an off-hand shot. I watched her pass through my sights and a second later watched the buck quickly step into view. With little time, I settled the cross hairs and pulled the trigger. The black powder smoke engulfed me as I strained to see.

The doe ran closer to me in confusion as I peered around the smoke cloud to see the buck had dropped in his tracks. The entire scenario took place in less then a minute and a half as I stood stunned. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I placed my scope on the downed buck to see he was even bigger than I first realized. No ground shrinkage here!

Turns out the same cows I was cursing, I was now thanking. One of them even came by to observe the photo shoot and join the celebration.