Opening Night had me 22-25ft over a large scrape surrounded by rubs and trails. To say the least I was hopeful to see a nice buck. I haven't had the opportunity to archery hunt really since i graduated high school,mostly due too college. Now that I am out of college living with a friend and really have no commitments besides work I plan on hunting my ass off this year! Opening day brought success in the morning with a doe, now I'm sitting in the Mecca of buck sign. I crawled up into my stand around 3PM planning on sitting for a long night (I had no idea). 6pm rolls around and a mature doe begins to feed toward my stand, I just watch her come to the scrap and work it alittle and finally feed off about 20 yards toward a soy bean field behind me. Still standing I now see a buck munching apples about 70 yards away. He entered the woods from the same exact spot as the doe so I really have no doubt hes coming to the scrap. Walking like a buck walks he covered ground quickly and offered me a 20 yard shot BUT as I come to full draw he quickly gets behind some trees and begins to rip the ground apart seemingly for minutes (still at full draw) Finally with my arms burning he steps out for a quartering away shot.
After releasing the arrow I had a perfect pass thru BUT I had hit him a tad lower than I had wanted. He ran about 20 yards and stopped dead and stood there. I am unable to do anything now he is behind a wall of brush but still easily in view because he is on the exact trail I use to enter the woods!! Watching and waiting for him to go down I am tortured as he lays down. It is now 7pm and I can still see him laying there head down and not moving alot. I have no plans of getting down early to check him and jump him so I wait...and wait...............STILL WAITING!! Pitch dark 8pm rolls around and my cell phone is dead now. So I climb down and walk over to my buck. I am within 5-10 FEET and he picks his head up and looks at me!! First thought was #$% me, holy #$@%! I freeze and try to back step and he jumps up and runs off. I'm sick.....
I go to my arrow which is saturated in bright red blood. I'm confused to say the least. I head home with my pride still in the tree and tell my father and good friend that I think I just let one get away. I show them the arrow and tell the story 50 times trying to make myself feel better but nothing is making sense to me and i cant figure out why i didn't punch his heart out the opposite side. So now I to explain to my girlfriend why i didn't make it to dinner like I planned and its 9pm . That didn't help the situation much FYI.
Fast forward to 0730 I'm circling the area while Ben is nose down on the trail. The trail is light, really not providing promise. Finally after an hour Ben and I limit the area to a 2 foot high soy bean field. We now have an easy blood trail but it is leading us hundreds of yards away and every step is smashing any hope of recovering this deer. I call my father to give him another update and it had to sound grim. Finally Ben yells HES DOWN!! Holy crap I was pumped to find him, I think I hung up on my dad!! Not having archery hunted in years I almost forgot the adrenaline rush you get from these situations. My exit hole was about an inch to 2 to low and I took out the liver and 1 lung. I'm pleased to recover the animal but upset I didn't make a better shot.
So the first day was a good one for me. I filled 2 of my 3 tags for PA. I now have 6 weeks to get a doe here, but I fully intend on turning my attention to Ohio and the monsters my brother and I have found. Its going to be a great fall!
First day buck turns into first sleepless night
