Buellhunter

I was in southern Iowa BP hunting.
I had taken my bow with me in case I filled my BP tag on Sat.
I had not so I left my bow in the hotel Sunday morning.
My hunting partner and I were both BP hunting and his son Chris was with us bowhunting.
We sat in our stands Sunday morning with, again, no luck.
We decided to move my stand to a finger of woods that went out into the CRP field.
As we approached the finger 2 doe stood up.
I dropped the stand,shouldered my rifle and shot one of them. They took off!
We went to where they had been standing and started on the blood trail while Chris started to put up my stand.
We found my doe about 30 yards past the finger laid up against the fence. Dead.
I propped my gun up against the post and got out my knife to field dress the deer.
As I worked, Larry held the leg out of the way.
I happened to look up and the doe that had been with the dead one was watching us from the top of the hill, about 60 yards away.
I told Larry to slowly get his gun and shoot it.
He did, dropped it right there.

I finished up my deer and then went up the hill to dress Larry's.
Pretty good day so far but it gets better!

Chris had my stand up and I was down to my bow tag but the bow was 15 miles away!
I went back to the truck,drove to town,got my bow and went back and got in my stand.
45 minutes later, a doe comes along the finger. I draw and shoot her at about 20 yards. She runs and I see her drop. About 10 yards from where we have the other 2 deer laying in the shade of the brushy fence!

She was my first bow kill. What a day!

Washington Hunter

It wasthe September of 2004, I was 16, and she was a doe.

You've most likely all read the story by now, but I'll post it again... It's written in the form that it is because it was a submission to BowHunter Magazine's Youth Hunter Essay contest. The question to answer was "What does it mean to be a bowhunter." Rather than just answer the question, I felt like incorporating the story of my first archery kill into it. I won a Winn Archery Free Flight release.

“What does it mean to be a bowhunter?”

“Patience is the key to any successful archery hunt.” I had heard or read those words dozens of times before in magazines, on TV, or on one of the many online hunting forums that I visit regularly. Never had I taken them completely to heart though, until my first archery season that is.

I had seen her on several occasions from the same stand overlooking a lush green alfalfa field. I had watched her use the same trail to come out into the alfalfa field for three days. I had watched her hop the same rusted barbwire fence on three separate occasions, each time stopping at an apple tree some 80 yards away taking time to nibble on the fruit that had fallen in the course of the day. Each time she hopped the fence my adrenaline rose. Each time I attached my release to a carefully tied string-loop my hands would shake. Each time she took a trail just out of range I learned a little more about our sport.

I had visited numerous websites, talked to a countless number of people online, and read everything I could in books and magazines on shot placement on whitetail deer. The answers were all the same, right behind the front shoulders, in the lungs.

When she finally presented me with a good broadside shot, I was more than ready. My bow at full draw, my 20-yard pin behind her shoulder, I mentally told myself I was ready. Even as I squeezed the trigger of my release, I knew she was mine. As I climbed down out of my stand a half-hour later, I silently thanked God for the animal he had allowed me to harvest.

Hunting patiently, ethically, and with a positive attitude is what it means to be a bowhunter.

ChasintheTrophys

It was oct 2000 . I was in the "3 tree" stand on my buddies farm . It was an afternoon hunt . The stand is perpendicular to a point that has a small creekbed on each side . I was on the western side of the point . I hardly got my bow up and an arrow knocked when i heard the distinct sound of a deer at a trot coming down of the hillside behind me . As he crested the hill about to head into the creek bottom i saw horns and quickly counted 7 points . I drew and found my opening . By now he slowed down to a cautious walk . As soon as I let the arrow fly he stopped and my arrow flew harmlessly about 2 inches in fornt of his chest at 10 yards. LOL , Dang it I thought he then trotted across the creek bottom and up over the point and disaapeared . Not 30 seconds later I hear more deer coming this time coming around the hillside from my left . I could see them from a longer distance in this direction . 2 doe were trotting down the trail that would put them at about 30 yards in my lane . I drew a bead on the second doe as it slowed a little to duck under a tree limb and to cross the small creek . When she entered my lane i let fly . Thwack ! A little bunny hop and she took off like a bat outta Hell . I heard her crash about 30 yrds on the other side of the point . About 1 min later I heard the unmistakeable jingleing of a dog collar . Just then 2 dogs came running down the same trail the 2 does were one . Hot on their trail . I yelled at them and they stopped dead in their tracks . They could not figure out where the sound was coming from . They started to proceed towards my deer so I yelled again and this time I also banged on my tree so they would see me . I finally got them to go away . I climbed down and marked off my shot . 30 yards exaclty . Perfect shot right behind the shoulder 4 balde 125 muzzys . straight pass thru . I still to this day am amazed by that shot i made . I often relive the moment when I walk passed that spot . The doe was on the smaller side , about 120 pounds . Made for an easy drag . That night I went to my buddys house and he taught me how to butcher my own deer . It was cool . Backstraps striaght from the deer to the fryin pan ! MMMMMM . So not only was it my first bowkill it was also my first butchering! LOL