Top_Heavy's World

The opener was finally here, we had made it through the tough trip last night and I was ready to hunt. I was up about 5:30, even without an alarm. I did the scentfree shower thing and got the blood flowing. We slept on the floor so I was hurting a little, but I knew I would loosen up. My truck was having fuel filter issues last night so Jody and I piled into Todd's truck and off we went. We stopped to pick up another tag, like I didn't have enough, but we were going to push across county lines, so we each got an antlerless tag, breakfast and waters for the day.
The first push started slowly, Jody and I were to push a long brushy ditch to the N and meet 2 others and push the pockets of brush to the W towards the blockers. Jody and I hadn't been there 5 minutes when a group of 4 does moved out into the corn field on Jody's side. He moved out into the field and they got nervous and moved into the timber ahead of us. As one of the blockers got into position he bumped a group of 2 does and 2 fawns and they moved towards me. I sat down with my back to the fence and I laid the gun across my left knee. The wind wasn't up much yet, so I only held about 1' into it and held about 1'over the deer's back and the echo hadn't died as the big doe dropped! I turned to the other big doe and at the angle she was at I held into the wind too much and shot her fawn that was infront of her, but on the other side of her. The slug barely missed the does neck, but at about 200 yards, I was impressed. 2 shots, the first 2 of the drive, and I had 2 deer down! The drive finally started and we moved down the ditch. Several does were visible ahead, so we were doing our part. A big doe busted to my left and I shot 3 times at her about 75 yards out. Usually that is a good shot for me, going left to right, but she kept gaining speed and took a couple of other deer with her as she crossed the corn field. Another group of does busted left from the ditch, and I picked one, adjusted the lead and with each shot I added more lead. 3 shots later and she was running across the corn... I was in disbelief. 6 shots, my favorite angle and at a range that is perfect for me, and I missed everything! A doe popped out from behind a big log and I shot... High. Well, atleast I knew the problem. I lowered the POA and squeezed again, she didn't make it 40 yards. I now had 3 deer in the first 200 yards of the first drive! Jody yelled "Big Buck!" and fired, he fired again and stood there for a second. The huge bodied 10 pnt had slowed almost to a walk, both of the quartering away shots were good, when another pusher from our group shot him in the shoulder. The deer dropped and Jody had his buck and we were up to 4! We finished the drive and at the very end 6 does busted out and one of the blockers took a shot but missed. The first drive resulted in 7 or 8 deer down. It was hard to keep track of the group total until the end of the day because we had 6 trucks, and we kept moving.
The second, third and fourth pushes brought lots of deer to the blockers and we piled them up pretty good, Jody and I finally ended the day with only the 4 we got on the first drive.
KFC and ham sandwiches whils showing off the "Moose Buck" I shot with my bow last month, and then stories of the day. The gang finally left and Todd, Craig and Jody helped me change the fuel filter in my diesel and we turned out the lights after midnight. I was one sore puppy as I climbed into the extra bed, I was in heaven after planning on using the floor! The forecast for the morning was a big front moving in, massively falling temps, snow and huge wind. I was a little nervous but excited just the same. I closed my eyes on opening day,