Eric's buck:
1996, mid-November, Eric and I are in a permanent stand out back, on a wooded hillside. It’s a relatively warm November afternoon, about 35 degrees or so. Late afternoon, about 1700, I see a very slight movement down the hill and whisper for Eric to get the bow (cross bow) up. He’s standing fully erect and shaking like a leaf. I can feel it through the tree! I’ve lost track of the deer and Eric sees it next. He whispers to me, voice literally quivering, "Oh gosh, it's so big!" Just then I see him coming, directly towards us, just moseying along. He begins moving around to our left, I crouch down, because that's the way the shot is developing. On the way into the woods, I had talked with Eric about us conversing while in the stand. I told him that if something came, we would have to be quiet, but I would put my hand on him, and remove it if a deer came into range. That would tell him he had the green light; he would then have to find the shot. Now, as this buck nears the stand, I remove my hand from Eric’s calf. I see what I figure is a good shot, but Eric’s still holding and I'm wondering what it looks like from his angle. Now he's only about ten yards out, takes a couple of steps, and looks right up at us! I take a chance and whisper very softly for Eric to sit still, which is what he’s trying to do. In reality, I can still feel the tree jiggle, he’s shaking so hard! The buck is only about 7 yards out, looking dead at us. The only thing I see is face and rack. No shot. I’m thinking, "Well, it was exciting. But that's all it's going to be, 'cause this customer is leaving here pretty quick." After we do the stare down for about 8 or 10 agonizingly long seconds, he turns to our left and takes two big hops. Then he hesitates and looks back, and I'm surprised to hear the bow go off. I think I see a low chest (side) hit, and he's running down the hill! Eric says something like "Oh gosh, I hope I didn't hurt him" in a shaking voice, and I know right away that what he means is he hopes he doesn't get away with an arrow in him. We had talked a lot about the importance of getting a good, killing shot. I look at my watch and see that we only have a half hour or so of light, and quickly begin to untie us. As Eric says "I can't stop shaking" for the third or fourth time, I'm halfway down the tree. "Be careful, take your time, don't fall out of the tree!" I'm telling him, as I trot for the bottom of the hill. I arrive at the bottom of the hill, where it becomes a steep bank just above the creek, and there he is! I let out a whoop and jump down over the creek. I make sure he's dead and have counted the ten points by the time Eric arrives.
That’s the story. The kid really kept his cool, and kept the sights on the kill zone the whole time. Incidentally, I’ve learned a lot since then, like not getting after them right after the shot. I didn’t have these forums from which to learn, and no one was teaching me.
Last edited by usmc1978; 12-05-2009 at 06:08 AM.