Like many of you, Saturday was our season opener.
So after seeing nothing but small bucks in the A.M. from a "safe" stand, I decided to get aggressive and get real close to a known buck bedding ground that evening. I have seen three mature deer venture from this area during the past several weeks while scouting with binos from a distance. This particular stand hunts best with an East wind or a North or Northwest wind. A south or west is an absolute "no".
A southeast is usually okay in the sense that I normally have a thermal that helps from that direction, but it can be a problem at times, depending on the actual route the deer choose to take on a particular night. Last night it was a southeast wind.
Seeing as though I knew that three "shooters" were using this area, my first thought was to wait for a better wind. But I also know that these deer will soon be pushed into a more nocturnal state and they barely make themselves visible in shooting hours already. I decided to be aggressive and take my chances rather than maybe having to wait for a week or more for the right wind in that none of the desired winds are our predominant winds.
Well it paid off. One of the three moved out of the area with a good thirty minutes of daylight left but went another route and was never closer to me than 100 yards of so. He went through my wind channel and thankfully it blew over the top of him and he went on his merry way.
The second shooter never showed himself but this one did in the last 5 minutes of legal shooting hours. I was only presented a hard quartering away shot at 23 yards. I took it.
Deer ran about 150 yards before expiration. Complete pass through with the Rage which I never got last year with my old bow that was only capable of 61#KE. This year, I am shooting the Hoyt Alphamax and producing 72#KE. Total arrow weight 427gr.
Oh and the funny look on my face? I was using a self timer on camera and its not easy to always get good pictures.
Entry Hole
Exit Hole
BBD (brush buck down)
