I got a pretty good memory today;
A few weeks ago, I decided to take my 12-year old nephew hunting with me this morning. I figured it would be a bust as far as really hunting, but I thought I'd take him to my favorite spot and let him get the whole experience. I usually hunt down by the river that runs through the state-park I hunt in. It's about 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot. I planned on getting into the woods about an hour before first light, sit for 3 or 4 hours, and then head out and show him some of the other areas I like.
Well, first off, I left the house about 45 minutes late, so we hadalot less time to get in and setup. I thought that since it was so late, I'd try a spot I had passed a few times over the years and always said 'I have to set up heresome time'. The area is a great intersection of three ancient trails. They are so well-used, the leaves on them are like tissue-paper. I thought this would be a good spot for him to at least see something moving. I put him in a make-shift blind at the base of a nice wide tree about 75-feet from where I was going to be in a climber.
The wind was blowing out of the north-east, and I was facing west, so I kept looking over my shoulders behind me. I wasn't expecting anything to come from in front of me. At 8:45, I thought I should pack it up and take him down to the river, like the original plan. Nothing was moving and he decided to lay on the ground for almost the whole hour and a half we were there. I was sure he would be cold by now, so I thought I better move so he still gets some sort of a good experience today. I stood up, turned around and unhooked my harness from the tree, and when I turned back forward, there was a deer standing right in front of me! Now keep in mind, I hunt public-land, so sightings are alot more rare than alot of you guys see, and since this was only the 6th time I had been out this year, and this was the 4th buck I had seen, I was shocked. How did he get that close that quick without me seeing him? In one fluid motion, I grabbed my bow, clicked on the release, drewand had him sighted. When he cleared the tree in front of me, I gave a mouth-bleat and let loose when he stopped.
At the hit, I immediately thought it was high, but I was sure I at least hit the off-side lung and the liver. When he stopped he was slightly quartering toward me. He gave a big mule-kick and took off right towards Joey! He got about 10-12 feet from him, hooked a big left and disappered into the woods. Then I heard an unmistakeable crash. Then about 2 seconds later, another, bigger crash. I thought "Oh no. Was that really a crash or is he still running?" Before I could get my bow tied off and lowered, my nephew was at the base of my tree yellingwhether I hit him or missed. I assured him I hit him and started down. Joey noted where the deer left his view, he lead the way right to the first drops of blood (about 50-yards from poi), and was right there with me through the whole tracking-job. He even found blood after I lost it a couple times! This kid has never been hunting before in his life! He was absolutely awesome.
Anyway, I wasn't happy about the blood-trail and I was stating to wonder of we should back off or not. We started tracking as soon as I was out of my harness, only because I was sure we heard the deer crash. Just as I was starting to tell Joey we should back off, he says "Aw man, look at all that blood!!" We found what looked like a half a dixie-cup of blood splashed over the leaves with bubbles in it. I have never been so relieved! I was just starting to think I had shot even higher that I thought and that maybe the hit was just meat. We found the deer about 40-50 feet after that. I think the deer ran a total of maybe 90-yards from the hit. And the deer crashed no more than 30 seconds after the hit. I must've hit the near lung too for it to expire that fast, but I forgot to look when I dressed him out.
Either way, here's a picture. I've passed on 2 bucks this size in the last 2 weeks, but I knew no matter what walked out, short of a fawn, I was going to shoot it just because my nephew was with me, and I'm really glad I did. It was a great experience for him all the way around.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h188/bowman55/shooting/JoeyandI0710-pointer.jpg?t=1193541648
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h188/bowman55/shooting/My10-point07buck.jpg?t=1193541850
Got my first of the year this A.M.
