Rack Magazine

This Kentucky hunter recombobulates in time to make his last bullet count.

Most people who miss a buck four times would either keep their mouths shut or sing the blues. Daniel Lay is not most people.

If he’d had the presence of mind to stand up and leave after firing all but one of his bullets in 2016, the hunter from Williamsburg, Kentucky, might have more wall space today.

Daniel’s saga begins about 10 years ago, when he started hunting a 300-acre farm in neighboring McCreary County.

Anyone who hunts whitetails knows the advantage swings toward the hunter the more he or she becomes familiar with the lay of the land. After a decade, Daniel knows where deer like to sleep and eat, along with the trails they take.

He was lucky to kill a 9-point buck the first year he hunted the place. After that, his success began to rest more and more on his acquired knowledge of the resident whitetails’ habits.

“The farm was logged over about two years ago,” Daniel said. “It was select-cut for oak and other hardwoods. At first, the cutting seemed to change deer movement, especially the bigger buck’s.

“I think a lot of deer moved out of the area,” he continued. “I didn’t see many at all. What I did see were smaller bucks.

“But the following season, things seemed to get back to normal, and the deer resumed their routines,” he said.

One of Daniel’s favorite places to hunt is a point that extends into a big hollow. Out on the end of the point, he can cover deer coming out of the hollow and watch a nearby power line.

“You can probably see for 3 miles down the power line cut,” he said. “There is a good trail crossing the power line about 100 yards from where I like to sit on the point. There’s another crossing out past that. The second one is at least 250 to 300 yards out, maybe even farther.

“I hunt with a .30-06 with a 3x9 scope and can cover a good distance out the power line. I just clear off a spot on the ground next to a shrub and sit there.

“Last August, a couple of days after he put up hay, the owner of the farm told me about seeing a huge buck. He wasn’t close to the deer, but he could tell the rack was still in velvet. He was pretty sure the deer would be easily recognized because its rack had a bunch of long tines, and the second tine on the left side was split.

“I had been seeing another buck on a regular basis that had eight points, and the end of one main beam was real odd. It curled kind of like a pig’s tail,” he said.

The presence of two nice bucks was plenty of incentive for Daniel. He hunted the farm during the bow and early muzzleloader seasons without success. Kentucky’s modern gun season opened Saturday, Nov. 12.

“The first morning, I hunted out on the point. I saw two does, a spike and a 6-pointer. They all crossed the first (closest) trail on the power line cut,” he said. “On Sunday, I saw a nice buck run across the power line in the same place. I would’ve probably shot it if it had stopped.

“I had to work late most days of the following week, but I managed to hunt some in the evenings. I didn’t see anything I wanted to shoot.

“The second weekend, I had planned to move and hunt down in the hollow, but when I got up that Saturday morning, the wind was howling and blowing in the wrong direction. Knowing the wind would still be in my face where I had been sitting at the shrub, I went back there.

“I set up on the point before daylight. The wind hadn’t changed. I could feel it strong in my face,” Daniel continued. “The previous day’s temperature had been in the mid-60s. Friday night, a cold front came in, and the temperature dropped into the 40s.

“Right after sunrise, a doe walked to within 10 yards, and I felt sure she was going to spook. She didn’t see me, though, and moved off,” he said.

“About two hours after that first doe left, an 8-point buck came out on the farther trail. A doe was right behind him. I thought the deer were somewhere around 250 to 300 yards away, but they could have been even farther.

“The buck stopped in the middle of the power line. I put the crosshairs on its chest, squeezed the trigger and saw dirt kick up where the bullet went low. The buck ran forward a little ways and looked back.

“I chambered another round, put the gun back up and missed again. The deer acted like it didn’t know what to do. It was moving away, but still in sight,” he added.

Having missed twice, Daniel was pretty rattled. He tossed a couple more rounds at the buck, which was picking up speed, and watched hopelessly as the dirt sprayed from clean misses.

The only consolation the hunter had as the buck left the country was that he was sure all four shots had been clean misses. The doe ran back in the direction from which the two deer had appeared.

“I just laid the gun down,” Daniel said. “I was ready to quit. I had one bullet left.”

He sat there a couple of minutes, stunned. Judging from where his bullets had been hitting, the second crossing must have been farther than he thought. Dejected, he was just waiting to calm down a little bit before leaving.

But things got better in a hurry.

“I looked down the power line, and the doe came back out,” Daniel said. “I watched her for about a minute, and then, all of a sudden, I saw this huge rack moving through the woods toward the opening.

“The buck was coming to the doe. It popped out and stopped right in the middle of the power line. I put the crosshairs about an inch above its back and squeezed off my last round. The deer went down immediately and rolled out of sight.

“I had to make my way through some thick stuff, cross a creek and then climb back up to get to where the buck had been standing when I shot. After climbing up, I saw a white tail disappear into the woods, and my heart sank until I looked around and saw my deer’s white belly.

“The deer running off had been the doe,” he added.

This article was published in the Jan/Feb 2018 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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