Suburban bow season continues in Virgina and I hunted a property in Mclean, VA for the third time on Saturday morning. The place is crawling with deer and I was hoping that my stand site selection would be right this time. The woods around here are never completely dark. Light from nearby Washington, DC filters through the trees during all hours of the night – especially if there is a low overcast to reflect it. Distances to stand sites are very short and are marked by manmade features like gazebo’s and fences. On this morning, I found my way to my tree and climbed up as the sky started to gray out. Before I sat down, I heard a deer approaching from across the creek. It was still too dark to shoot but I could see two deer working their way across the small valley towards me. I left my bow on the hanger but turned to watch their approach. Both deer crossed the creek and made their way directly to my stand in a slow manner. As shooting light started to appear, I could see the lead deer was an ancient doe. Her partner was a small doe fawn in trail formation. The old doe stopped at the base of my tree and sniffed around. Although she must have been able to smell my scent on the ground where I set my bow, she didn’t act suspicious. She moved uphill towards the house and I got my bow off the hook. Unfortunately, she did not offer a shot and moved out of range. In the meantime, the doe fawn swung around to my left and stopped to paw for acorns at exactly 20 yds. Because I was at the end of a very long dry spell and the season is antlerless only, there was no way I was passing up the shot opportunity. I drew down on her and dotted her behind the shoulder on a slight quartering away angle. At the shot, she crumpled to the ground, bawled loudly once and expired quickly. The impact sound was a loud crack (large bone snapping). I thought this was odd because the impact location did not look high enough for spine (pic below).
At the sound of the fawn bawling, the doe raced back down hill. I nocked another arrow and waited. Thus began an odd standoff. The doe circled the dead fawn and my stand three times. Her attention was totally focused on the fawn and I was able to draw twice without getting busted but the old doe would move before I could shoot. On her third trip around the tree, she stopped facing away and slightly uphill and I shot her (pics below).
ENTRY:
EXIT:
Despite the quartering away angle, the ACC/expandable BH combo passed completely through her. She sprinted about 60 yards up the creek. I saw her stumble and the blood trail was plainly visible from the tree without bino’s so I climbed down and recovered her immediately.
The snapping sound on the small doe shot was the opposite shoulder bone breaking. The broadhead cleanly cut the bottom inch off her heart before breaking the opposite shoulder.
After suburban season closes, landowners may apply for year-round kill permits becuase of the incredible deer population and damage from over-browsing & car accidents. One landowner's dog contracted lyme desease from a deer tick. Essentially, there is no such thing as deer 'season' in Northern VA.
I was fairy high (25') as you can tell from the big does entrance/exit path. Plus, the little one's opposite leg was wrecked. She certainly acted like she was spined but the arrow did not touch her spine directly. Maybe the impact was close enough to 'shock' her small spine.
Suburban Season Double
