The Padua Buck

Delaware County NY 8-Point

As told by Evan Padua

We got some snow in early December this year. I had been on Thanksgiving vacation in Colorado for a week. I was able to hunt one morning at the Russel Brook area before the Vacation. That morning I bumped two deer about fifteen minutes before legal light. I thought it sounded like a buck and a doe. It smelled like a buck in the air. They ran up over a ridge to my right. I put that in the back of my mind and planned to hunt back down that way on my way out.

I tromped to my predetermined spot and had a seat. I saw no deer after two hours and decided to get up and take a walk. I hunted in a large circle towards where those deer had run earlier in the morning. Following a mountain ridge on an old snowmobile trail, barely distinguishable except for the sign pegs in the occasional tree.

On my way down the ridge I bailed to the left toward the creek bottom. As I did I jumped a herd of bedded deer at the bottom, protected by the wind. They could see and hear just about anything coming... I took note. As I crossed the creek and climbed the steep bank to the south east, I stopped and looked back at where I had come from. I could see close to 300 yards through the open timber. The could view the entire creek bottom in front of me and it felt as if I was in a tree stand above. I decided this would be my next rifle morning hunt spot. It was an easy 300 yards off the road and had a great vantage point. In theory the deer ought to be moving from left to right or up the drainage, based on what I had observed in my previous hunt.

On December 7, 2024, after some convincing, my buddy Ethan and I set out at 4:45 am to be at our zone around 5:45 am to hike in and be sitting before legal light. There was about 16 inches of dry, cold, smoke powder snow on the ground, making it easy to see deer tracks and see in general.

There were tracks where we pulled the truck over leading straight down the hill to where I was headed... a good sign. It was still dark, but got light slowly as I walked in. I situated myself in a spot that I thought was the right spot, but as the light came up I realized my view wasn’t open enough. So, I moved to the left about thirty yards giving me a wide open view of the creek bed and basin to my northwest.

At 6:45 am the sun came up and legal light began. About twenty minutes into legal I saw two doe moving from left to right about 100 yards out in the timber... another good sign. Behind the doe was a younger deer moving erratically.Then, sure enough, behind that young deer came a buck. I was hunting solely for a buck as that was my regular season tag to be filled.

The two doe began to move up the hill away from me and almost out of sight. The younger deer, which I assumed the buck was tailing, ran in a circle almost back in the direction it came from and dissapppeared. I was worried the buck would do the same. but to my surprise he did not chase the young deer. Instead he continued walking along that same path essentially coming into my window.

I got my crosshairs up on the buck, recognizing that it was a shooter by my standards. So I readied myself for a shot. The deer was quite far away so I cranked up my vortex sight to nine and found the deer in the glass. When he entered the first window of shot opportunity, the immature hunter in me squeezed the trigger with authority and nothing happened. I had not released the safety... whoops! It was probably for the better as I likely would have pulled that shot with such an aggressive trigger strike. I tried to calm myself and set up for the next available opportunity. He walked ten or fifteen more yards and stopped. I was ready this time and touched off a 30.06 round at about a 175 yards... the longest shot I’ve ever taken.

The bucks hind legs kicked up, a good sign, and he ran to the right at full speed. He ran about 130 yards and stopped. I had reloaded and was ready to shoot again... so I did. He ran again to the right and disappeared out of view. I was confident that the first shot hit him and after the second shot he disappeared funny and I thought maybe he'd crashed. I was unsure honestly.

I sat there and shook for a minute, during a large adrenaline dump, and contemplated my shots. I began to think of how I rushed everything and maybe he would have come closer and I would have had a better shot on him. I started thinking I missed him, I was being harsh on my self.

After about thirty minutes, I got up and walked to cut the track of where the deer had run off. It was large leaping bounds from left to right. I saw no blood. I followed the track back to the point of impact, or so I thought, but saw no blood. I did see a small amount of fluid which had frozen in the twenty degree air temp. I determined it was pee, so I turned around and followed the track in the direction the deer had run. I eventually saw some hair and his first bed. It had blood, pee, and poop in it... all a good sign.

I continued following the track for about forty yards, I found more blood and another bed. I stopped, looking ahead, and saw a rack sitting just above the snow about 80 yards away. It was the buck bedded against a big rock... and still alive. I could see just the top of his neck and head and was unsure if I could get closer or not. So, I pulled my rifle up, leaned into the tree, and let one rip. I missed! He jumped up and ran down the hill then began walking away... out of sight.

The bow hunter in me took over at this point and I backed out. I was able to call my buddy Ethan who was hunting about a mile down the road. He was going to hunt until about 10:30 am then meet me at his truck. We regrouped after discussing each of our morning hunt experiences which led to my shot and Ethans walk in the woods without much deer interaction.

Weaded back in just before 11:00 to my sit spot, then the creek crossing to the track. Ethan found hair, and what appeared to bile fluid, almost immediately. He said, “You hit him." Even though I already knew I hit him, I wasn’t sure if it was the first or second shot honestly. I was more confident in the first shot for sure.

We tracked him to the bed where I last shot at him, it yielded more blood. We kept walking down the hill tracking him, but being sure not to disturb the deer track and always watching ahead. I was loaded and ready to make another shot if necessary. As we approached a flat pine stand, Ethan said, “ We’re probably gonna find him down here, dead or alive.” We spotted another bed with blood in it and instantly Ethan said, “There’s your buck! He’s a nice one.” At fifteen yards to our left the buck layed, facing away from us with half of his rack poking out of the snow. Just in front of him, leaning on a pine tree, was an old two handed saw from likely over 100 years ago. It was a 'Kodak moment'. Ha.

We celebrated and soaked up that morning of beautiful snow... a great hunt and a deer who had its life taken with purpose and meaning. After a few pictures I gutted him out, then rigged up my rope and two NRS shoulder straps for dragging a deer out. We were about 550 yards from the road, just down hill, across the creek and uphill a bit. The creek gave the deer a nice wash out as we crossed. Together Ethan and I dragged the deer up the hill. Once we neared the road I wanted to drag the last bit myself to the truck. Great success.

Moosehead lagers were enjoyed at the truck. Then we loaded up the deer and went to the local bar that had a deer scale and a big buck contest. My deer was all of eight points and weighed 135 pounds dressed. We cut a bit of skin off and he had almost no fat on him from a busy season running does. He was a beautiful deer with a black face and nice symmetrical rack. Not too many deer looked like this one.

We brought him to Paul’s to hang. Erik and Paul were there to check out the deer. We all harvested bucks that year and spirits were high. After some deer talk, and muzzleloader prep, Ethan and I left and headed back to PA for the night.

This was my third buck harvest of the year. I am forever grateful to have experienced a season like this one.