On Saturday, October 14th, I had a great morning. The week before, I had seen an 8pt. with high tines, but a fairly small spread (maybe 15") come in to my stand, but I quickly realized I had blown it with the setup. He was in close and looking my way so fast I could not get the bow ready to shoot. I doubt it would have mattered anyway. He got really nervous when he came to the place where I had approached the stand. Even though I had all rubber "scent free" boots on, he immediately spooked when he came to my tracks, bounding off a short way, never to return. Later that day, I moved the stand back about 40 yards to a place that I could access via a grassy road. The new stand location would also let me see the deer coming for a longer distance, if they approached from the west, as the nice 8 pt. had. I would have a 20 yard shot to the trail the deer seemed to be using, so I anticipated a better outcome this time. On the 14th, I walked up the grassy road as quietly as possible with the newly fallen leaves being a minor problem. I climbed up my ladder as quietly as I ever had (it often creaks when left in the woods for several days. I had just put my feet solidly on my stand platform when I heard a deer very close by. I was surprised how much noise the deer seemed to be making, but it was frosty and those leaves were pretty crunchy. I was wearing a safety harness, but needed to hook it up to the tree, and that meant fastening my nylon strap which would make some noise. I didn't want to chance spooking the deer, so I just reached around the tree to hang on. I tried not to move at all, and just hang on to the tree, but the deer just stayed close, walking around, feeding. I was not exactly thrilled about my career as a "tree hugger" which lasted close to a half hour. Finally the deer moved off, and I could hook up the safety strap, take off my bow quiver, nock an arrow, and get settled in. It was still dark, but moonlit. The sun was coming up soon, and the woods were so quiet I could hear deer moving not far away. The sun still seemed to shine horizontally when I spotted movement, not on the trail, but on the grassy road itself. As the deer approached, I could see that it was a doe, and she was about 30 yards away, passing the last really thick brush between us along the road. I stood slowly, making no noise that I could hear. The doe stopped, but perked her ears back in the opposite direction. Something was catching her attention, and made her reverse direction. No spooking, just something she wanted to investigate, so she slowly headed away. Ironically, that was the first doe I had seen while hunting during this Pennsylvania archery deer season. The 4 other deer were a 4 pt., a 6 pt., and two 8 pointers, the one I mentioned before, and an even bigger one that I had seen on the first day. By now, it was getting close to 7:30, but it was still quite chilly. In a few more minutes, I caught movement on the grassy road again, close to where I had seen the doe. With family obligations, I don't have all that much time to hunt, so I knew I would take the doe without hesitation if she gave me a chance. To my surprise, it was a buck, and he was walking pretty fast. I was actually afraid to stand and get my bow ready to shoot, as he appeared to be looking in my direction, but when he passed some thin brush, I got to my feet. I guess the Sun at my back was a big factor in my favor. Now the buck was about 25 yards away, still walking down the road, and approaching quickly. There remained only two fairly big trees between us that he would pass. When his head went behind the first tree, I got the bow up and ready to draw. I was aware that he had a legal rack for PA, with 4 pts. on the side closest to me. When his head passed the second and last tree, I came to full draw. Nice to have a smooth, easy drawing bow as I had very little time until I could again see his eyes. The buck never slowed down. He just kept walking along like he had an important appointment to get to, just the opposite of the spooky buck from the week before. When he passed right beside my stand at 5 yards I could clearly see my 20 yard pin behind the shoulder, and released the arrow. The sound of the bow and even the sound of the arrow cutting through ribs was almost silent compared to the sound of the arrow hitting the ground on the far side of the deer. The deer hit high gear, and ran down the road. I could clearly see a hole in his side behind the shoulder. He ran about 30 yards, and I thought he seemed to be getting a little sloppy with his movement, especially the back legs. He slowed down to a walk about 40 yards out, then just stood there flicking his tail. He seemed to be trying to figure out what had just happened. He slowly moved off into the brush on the far side of the road. For a while I could see his tail flicking, then he was out of my sight. I knew the deer was hit well, but the last thing I wanted to do was make him run onto the neighboring property. I stayed in the tree stand, now shivering more from excitement than cold. I put my hood up again to stay keep my head a little warmer. After what seemed like much too long, I heard some thrashing and then it was quiet again. I waited as long as I could, since the deer seemed to take longer than expected to go down. He was within 75 yards of the neighbor's property, and I didn't want to have to try to call him, since I knew he was hunting as well. I looked for my arrow from the tree stand, but could not seem to see it. Finally I had to get down and go look for the arrow. From ground level, it was easy to see, and completely covered in blood. There was even blood right were the deer was hit. The good blood trail, provided by the Slick Trick 100 gr. magnum broadhead, was easy to see. I followed the blood trail down the road, and noted several spots where the deer seemed to make skidding marks in the moist ground. I knew I was approaching the place where the deer had moved off the road, but before I had to search for where the blood trail left the road, I could see the white belly of the deer in the brush ahead. He was a decent 8 point, smaller than the other two I had seen this season, but I was very happy with him. In fact, I don't think I could have been happier, Through all the work that was to follow, I know I had a grin that just wouldn't go away.
