Big Doe Down!! I am so happy!
11-05-2009, 11:35 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: New York
Posts: 105
Big Doe Down!! I am so happy!
Hey All, Here's the story for anyone that has time to read it. My husband and i had 3 of our bottom rails stolen from our set-up on opening day here in NY. We do not know why they didn't take the whole set - it was 2 stands and 9 Gorilla sticks with a Fall Guy. By the way, I am selling all this in the classified section as we are buying climbers.
All I had left was a ground blind that i put in a spot and had my husband help cut some lanes for me. I know he was a little doubtful about getting a deer out of it, but i had all the faith in the world
Last Friday, I got out at 1pm from work, went grocery shopping and came home to go out hunting. I did not have time for a scent free shower which is oh so very important to us when we hunt, but i had a good wind and the Dream Season Scent suit and a hat and a face mask. I got in the blind about 3pm and started reading my book, lol, because i forgot my binoculars
I knew i would hear anything moving and it was still a little early being the sun wasn't setting until after 6.
About 5:15 or so, I heard movement to my left where I knew I had the wind in my favor. It was a doe and her fawn and they were coming towards my shooting lane. They were moving slow as all deer do when you want them to come to you fast, lol, but they were coming none the less. The big doe got into my shooting lane and turned her head and looked dead at me! I was at full draw and had to hold it for a little too long. I finally moved my head real slow to the left out of the window opening, and my bow to the right, but she knew something was up and ran back the way she came. Well, my heart was absolutely pounding by now as she was only about 7 or 8 yards away from me when she spotted me in the blind.
I called my husband after that because he got home at 5:30 and i am hunting right behind our house. After i hung up with him, I just about gave up because i figured anything coming the way she had come, the favorable wind way, would not come in now. I knew i had absolutely NO shot behind me into the field because the wid was blowing dead that way. But of course, as we all know, the deer show up where you least expect them to. I just happened to take a glance behind me, and there, not 20 yards away were 3 deer. It was a little on the dark side by now, still enough shooting light, but being in the blind, it was hard to see. I slowly turned so that i could shoot the total opposite way i was set up for, and the deer were still there. They wouldn't come far enough for a shot because, like i said, the wind was blowing into their faces and they knew something just wasn't right.
However, one deer in the group spooked another forward and into my lane and i took a shot at her. I missed - this was my first ever hunt out of a blind or on the ground, for that matter - so I am chalking it up to that. There were 6 deer - two spooked directly away from me, two went back the way they came, and the one i took the shot at and a buddy of hers stayed put. I began to wonder if i had hit her and she was going to keel over like they do sometimes, but she started walking towards me in the blind. Now this was a VERY slow walk, one step every minute maybe, and it was getting darker and i started wondering if I should shoot her. She was a very curious doe and wanted to know what the heck I was. So in the midst of all this, I called my hubby. i told him the situation and he told me to aim where i always do and take the shot. I had to reload my bow, but it was dark in the blind, so I was having trouble nocking the arrow, ugh! I finally got it knocked, she was still there and i took a shot at her. She was slightly quartering towards me at about 18-20 yards.
This is what happened: as I shot, she was so on edge that as soon as I let go, she turned to run the way she had come and i ended up shooting her in her neck, oh no! She went down like a ton of bricks, but I felt awful because i would NEVER aim at that particular spot, even though it dropped her. I believe my shot was right on. I was aiming at the left side of her lungs, and when she spun, she spun to her left, and the right side of her neck replaced her vitals. I know it was a humane shot, but I felt like I had to go over to her and put her out of her misery because i felt bad about the shot. I was actually crying. Now please do not make fun or tell me I shouldn't be hunting. I absolutely LOVE bowhunting whitetails. I have a total of 3 in the 3 years I have been hunting, this doe and another and a 3 pointer that is hanging in my living room. I always want to take the best shot and the one that puts the deer down as fast as possible. However, it didn't work out that way, and i thought i owed it to her to kill her faster.
I will NEVER walk over to a deer again!!! I walked out of my blind and over to her on the ground. She saw me and got up and ran about 3 or 4 yards and dropped again. I then took my second shot at her and killed her. I say i will never do it again because she could have run right into me and knocked me down or who knows what. I should've just gotten my gear together in the blind, called my husband and waited for him, and she would have died by then, no worse for it. I let my emotions get the better of me, but it won't happen again.
So my first hunt of the season was out of a blind and on the ground, a way i have NEVER hunted, and i wound up shooting a beautiful BIG doe and reducing the herd. We are over run with does! I am so ecstatic. We hung her over night, went back out Saturday and quartered her, put her in our fridge and butchered her together on Sunday. We enjoyed our first bowl of venison chili last night, after being shut out for 2 years!!!
Anyone still reading this, I appreciate it and i hope you can enjoy it. I cannot wait to get out there tomorrow afternoon after work!! I am chomping at the bit. Here is the doe I got. Yipee!!
We hung her with her skin on so that i could get a picture in the daylight. She is, however, gutted in the picture. I would rather she wasn't, but what can you do?? She was a really big girl!
All I had left was a ground blind that i put in a spot and had my husband help cut some lanes for me. I know he was a little doubtful about getting a deer out of it, but i had all the faith in the world
Last Friday, I got out at 1pm from work, went grocery shopping and came home to go out hunting. I did not have time for a scent free shower which is oh so very important to us when we hunt, but i had a good wind and the Dream Season Scent suit and a hat and a face mask. I got in the blind about 3pm and started reading my book, lol, because i forgot my binoculars I knew i would hear anything moving and it was still a little early being the sun wasn't setting until after 6. About 5:15 or so, I heard movement to my left where I knew I had the wind in my favor. It was a doe and her fawn and they were coming towards my shooting lane. They were moving slow as all deer do when you want them to come to you fast, lol, but they were coming none the less. The big doe got into my shooting lane and turned her head and looked dead at me! I was at full draw and had to hold it for a little too long. I finally moved my head real slow to the left out of the window opening, and my bow to the right, but she knew something was up and ran back the way she came. Well, my heart was absolutely pounding by now as she was only about 7 or 8 yards away from me when she spotted me in the blind.
I called my husband after that because he got home at 5:30 and i am hunting right behind our house. After i hung up with him, I just about gave up because i figured anything coming the way she had come, the favorable wind way, would not come in now. I knew i had absolutely NO shot behind me into the field because the wid was blowing dead that way. But of course, as we all know, the deer show up where you least expect them to. I just happened to take a glance behind me, and there, not 20 yards away were 3 deer. It was a little on the dark side by now, still enough shooting light, but being in the blind, it was hard to see. I slowly turned so that i could shoot the total opposite way i was set up for, and the deer were still there. They wouldn't come far enough for a shot because, like i said, the wind was blowing into their faces and they knew something just wasn't right.
However, one deer in the group spooked another forward and into my lane and i took a shot at her. I missed - this was my first ever hunt out of a blind or on the ground, for that matter - so I am chalking it up to that
. There were 6 deer - two spooked directly away from me, two went back the way they came, and the one i took the shot at and a buddy of hers stayed put. I began to wonder if i had hit her and she was going to keel over like they do sometimes, but she started walking towards me in the blind. Now this was a VERY slow walk, one step every minute maybe, and it was getting darker and i started wondering if I should shoot her. She was a very curious doe and wanted to know what the heck I was. So in the midst of all this, I called my hubby. i told him the situation and he told me to aim where i always do and take the shot. I had to reload my bow, but it was dark in the blind, so I was having trouble nocking the arrow, ugh! I finally got it knocked, she was still there and i took a shot at her. She was slightly quartering towards me at about 18-20 yards. This is what happened: as I shot, she was so on edge that as soon as I let go, she turned to run the way she had come and i ended up shooting her in her neck, oh no! She went down like a ton of bricks, but I felt awful because i would NEVER aim at that particular spot, even though it dropped her. I believe my shot was right on. I was aiming at the left side of her lungs, and when she spun, she spun to her left, and the right side of her neck replaced her vitals. I know it was a humane shot, but I felt like I had to go over to her and put her out of her misery because i felt bad about the shot. I was actually crying. Now please do not make fun or tell me I shouldn't be hunting. I absolutely LOVE bowhunting whitetails. I have a total of 3 in the 3 years I have been hunting, this doe and another and a 3 pointer that is hanging in my living room. I always want to take the best shot and the one that puts the deer down as fast as possible. However, it didn't work out that way, and i thought i owed it to her to kill her faster.
I will NEVER walk over to a deer again!!! I walked out of my blind and over to her on the ground. She saw me and got up and ran about 3 or 4 yards and dropped again. I then took my second shot at her and killed her. I say i will never do it again because she could have run right into me and knocked me down or who knows what. I should've just gotten my gear together in the blind, called my husband and waited for him, and she would have died by then, no worse for it. I let my emotions get the better of me, but it won't happen again.
So my first hunt of the season was out of a blind and on the ground, a way i have NEVER hunted, and i wound up shooting a beautiful BIG doe and reducing the herd. We are over run with does! I am so ecstatic. We hung her over night, went back out Saturday and quartered her, put her in our fridge and butchered her together on Sunday. We enjoyed our first bowl of venison chili last night, after being shut out for 2 years!!!
Anyone still reading this, I appreciate it and i hope you can enjoy it. I cannot wait to get out there tomorrow afternoon after work!! I am chomping at the bit. Here is the doe I got. Yipee!!
We hung her with her skin on so that i could get a picture in the daylight. She is, however, gutted in the picture. I would rather she wasn't, but what can you do?? She was a really big girl!
