Decided to do a morning hunt on thursday. At about 745 I was busted by a doe that i didn't even know was there. There was strong winds out of the west and she had no problem catching a wiff of me.
About 15 minutes later after rattling a bit, i had this fellow walk into my salt block from the south, which was the way i was facing. This was the same one that busted me 2 weeks ago and he definately knew to check the tree. He looked up at me numerous times but decided he didn't see anything. I drew back when he walked behind a group of trees and waited for him to get to the block. I had a the spot that i wanted to aim at was about an inch away from a small tree and he refused to move foreward and give me a more comfortable shot.
As he was at my lick, which was down wind from me, i was at full draw and i could tell he smelled something. He began to look in my direction and move his head up and down. I decided to take him and let the arrow fly. The boradhead did its trick and I knew he was hit bad by the way he just walked off.
Here is where I made my mistake. I saw him bed down about 40 yds away from my stand, and i thought that he had expired a lot earlier than i should have since i had never experienced a deer bed down injured in eyesight before. I got down from my stand and pushed im back towards the south. I decided i would back out at that point and marked where i first saw blood.
I went back 6 hours later with my dad and brother to track. The blood led toward an open field and seemed to stop about 30 yards into the field. I searched the field, which is about 250 yds by 500 yds and filled with willows, tall grass, and small pine trees. I did small circles around the last blood sign for about 2 hours and was getting extremely frustrated at my stupidity to push it. After sitting at the last blood sign, i thought that the deer may have cut back into the west wind once out in the open field (the opposite direction of which i was originally tracking).
I walked west into a smaller patch of hardwoods and saw him no more than 15 yards in. Shot went exactly where i was aiming. This is my first bow buck and only my second deer with a bow in 6 yrs!
It was also extremely satisfying that I played the wind and used my knowlege to find him. It tells me that I am growing as a hunter and i know that i can now be successful in this sport. Just want to thank everyone that posts on here for all of the advise which i have looked through for awhile before signing up.
Now I have meat in the freezer i can hold out for a little bigger one!
WOOOO!!! First bow buck! (been 6 yrs!) long read
