post your first bow kill story...
I would like to remember my bow hunting experience as long as possible so I thought it would be best to type up a short narrative on what happened.
Whew I remember waking up that morning 3:30am. It would be a first to wake up that early, but we had plenty of rest the night before. It would also be a first for me to make coffee, bacon, and toast for a full stomach. Once James and I woke up we were drinking coffee and talking about what we might see. This would be our first experience in our new cabin as well, so we had all the amenities. I got my bow ready with the arrows and such and then took my first morning shower with all the scent free soaps etc... Once that was complete I went outside to get dressed. We were soon on our way up the hill side to the hunting stands. I dropped James off as usual wished him good luck and off I went. Once I was at my parking spot I got everything ready to make the quiet walk to the tri-pod about ¼ mile away. I quietly made my way to the tri-pod in the dark taking every step on a big rock or clump of grass so to limit the noise during the short travel. Finally I arrived, everything in hand but had to be sure of one thing first. A year ago this same opening morning I ended up in a tree with a porcupine, man what a tale that was, but I’ll leave it for another time. So before I crawled up in the tri-pod I carefully looked the Oak tree over for porcupines and other critters. I then carefully crawled up in the tri-pod as quietly as possible and began my hunt.
Through the years hunting in this exact stand I have learned a few things and one of those is to remain motionless and as quiet as possible. A hard thing to do but it works. I was there listening to the sound of darkness when I heard some rocks clink. It’s still dark but I remained silent. A few moments go by and I hear it the sound you don’t want to hear. It was a deer snorting. It was not the distress snort, but just the snort where a deer is trying to get some attention and make something move that might not be right. He wasn’t sure of something but it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was a deer staging before the feeder went off. It was still dark. The deer snorted three times turned and walked off. The same familiar event that happened two times before, but on the other side of the game trail closer to me. It just started to get light and the feeder went off. As usual it scared the daylights out of me, but soon after I heard some rocks clinking behind me coming down the main trail. Could it be the same deer? I stayed there motionless and didn’t look over my shoulder. I could barely manage it cause by instinct you want to look but I didn’t. I waited but the deer turned and ran. I thought maybe it was a human that turned and ran as it sounded like something with two legs. Maybe it’s the legendary Bigfoot? Anyhow I thought to myself my hunt was over. A few minutes go by and I heard what sounded like a horse coming down the trail again for another attempt. Maybe this time the deer will keep going? Yes it did and I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye a grey deer “Whitetail” came out behind the cedar tree and I saw horns, I about lost it. My nerves were so bad I could hardly think straight. I told myself that he’s not a shooter and I instantly began to calm down. I’m about 12ft. up thus the reason to remain motionless. I watched and heard the deer eat, this beautiful 7 point crunching on the corn picking up 10 pieces or so at a time. Then he turned his back to me, no eyes could be seen and I thought why not he would be my first bow buck so I began to draw back. Wouldn’t you guess with my luck everything at that moment stopped right when my shoulder popped and the deer bolted. Well he only ran about 5 yards, turned and came back the shoulder didn’t alarm him to much. He came back to the same position with his back to me and I started to draw again. This time there was no pop. I couldn’t believe it I actually got the bow back. I wanted to yell yippee that this was about to happen. The buck turned quartered slightly away so I aimed for the opposite shoulder and let her fly. Time slowed as soon as I released, everything was in slow motion. I could hear the string twang and see the arrow flying. The arrow seemed to take for ever getting to the deer. Finally it made its destination and the arrow disappeared. I actually connected I couldn’t believe it. My body felt like it was going in convulsions after the shot. During the shot everything was as practiced so many times before. Once the bow had been drawn all buck fever suddenly vanished. The deer, he took off like a rocket and out of site. I listened but couldn’t hear much because of the pulse of blood rushing in my head. I stayed in the stand for what seemed like an eternity but actually was only 30 minutes. I inched my way out of that tri-pod holding on for dear life as I could not control my legs as they shook un-controllably. I followed the arrows path and found the arrow. The Mighty Mite new and pretty, shooting 290fps, a 350 grain gold-tip pro hunter with an 85 grain NAP spitfire the bow and arrow did its job. All the blades opened and there was blood completely covering the arrow. I was sure of the shot as I had seen it connect right were I was aiming. I tracked steps of the deer as no blood was found for about 15 feet. I found blood and began to track. The deer ran about 60 yards and never left the most obvious path. There he was in all his glory. I was confused did it actually happen? I had every emotion possible going on at one time I had to actually sit and think what had just happened.
Well I was congratulated by my best long time friend, he looked a little mad when I walked to his stand but understood that I wanted to share the excitement. I’m sure he’ll do the same one day and I will be just as happy for him as he was for me.