first one!
10-25-2003, 12:09 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2003
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Posts: 108
first one!
Hi everyone,
I finally got a deer with a bow, and want to share the story. It most likely will be long, but hey, you can always press the back button.
I' ve been gun hunting for 30 years. Even when I graduated from college and move out to LA in 88, I would come back to WI for the hunt. I moved back home in 95, and took up bow hunting in 97 (has it been that long, wow). With the exception of a total greenhorne job my first year, I have not drawn on a single deer.
My dad, brother, and I purchased 60 acres, and it is really loaded with turkey and whitetails. Very tough to hunt, a big, thick hill. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I have some rubs that will really impress. Gun hunting has gone great, but with the herd the way it is, not all that challenging. I like to think that my hunting has gotten better as well.
I digress. On to the hunt.
I moved my stand about a months ago. Due to just being busy, I did not get to hunt until last Thursday. On Wednesday evening, we went ' near' our land, and put my brothers stand up. Thursday evening, we went to the stands taking a new approach. Usually, we just walked a logging trail on our land, but that took us too close to a bedding area. I met our neighbor last spring during the turkey hunt, and he gave me permission to use his fields to get to our land. This completely bypassed most of our property, and kept me well away from the bedding area. It was close to a two mile walk.
At about 5:00, a deer came walking straight at me from the bedding area. It was a doe, but the biggest doe I had ever seen (I mean, she was just a pig). As I watched her, a fawn came in behind her. Now, I had made the decision to shoot a doe already, obviously I want to get a nice buck, but at this point in my bow hunting life, I need some basic experience.
As she looked away, I slowly stood, and was not busted. I waited for her to give me a decent shot, but she kept coming straight at me. A few times she taunted me by threatening to give me a quartering or broadside shot, but would continue forward. thumpthumpthump, calm down.
When it became apparent that she was not going to stop, I drew on her. She was no more than 10 feet from my tree (the draw was not pretty, tried to go to slow and almost did not get it back). Again, not busted. My goal was to try and hit her in the neck, in front of the shoulders, if I missed the spine, I was pretty sure that the arrow would get into the vitals.
WHUPPP (is there a sweeter sound?)
And she takes off like a bat out of .... The fawn took off in a completely different direction. The arrow never went through, I could see that she had an antenne on her, and had time to see that I just missed the spine to the right. Pretty sure I heard her crash just after she went out of sight. I bet it took less than a minute from sighting to shot.
About half an hour later, the fawn shows up again, but from where the doe went down, not where it ran to. It sure was wary of my ' area' , but never looked at me. After the fawn past by me, I used a bleat, and it came back, giving me all kinds of shots. I also had 3 other does stop below my stand that night. It was just awesome.
When I got out of my stand near dark, I headed toward my brother. As I neared his location, I spotted a large doe in the field he was hunting in. I nocked up and waited, the doe finally took off (she was ticked off!!!). Apparently, my brother had tagged her companion.
We found his arrow, and decided to look for blood. We found blood where his deer had entered the woods, but while standing there, heard a deer crash away. He has about the worst luck bow hunting that I have ever seen (we call him the woundmaster). So we headed into town to get our tracker. We are both extremely colorblind, and tracking without snow by ourselves is more than difficult.
We got back to the woods at about 10:30, knowing that he had an existing blood trail, we tried to find his first. The trail dried up (as usual), and we carefully checked the obvious paths, nothing, it would have to wait for better light.
We then went to look for my deer. Obviously bummed out, we were somewhat skeptical to continue looking with no blood. Since I knew the arrow had not gone through, I didn' t expect to find blood right away. Sure enough, about 25 yards down the path we finally found some. While my friend and I worked the trail, my brother went ahead (beside) the trail (it' s what us colorblind people can do). And all of the sudden. " HERE SHE IS!!!"
wow, what a pig.
The arrow was broken off with no exit wound. I left the upper cavity intact until I had better light. Home at 3:00, and up by 6:00 to find his deer. When we got there, you could see his from the field. We had walked withing 25 feet of it. The coyotes had got there first, but had not done much damage.
What of my missing broadhead you ask. That was found buried in the sternum, right through the heart. The deer running had done some nasty stuff to the heart, it was incredible. I think she went about 60 yards.
What a night/day, I' ll never forget it.
Thanx for listening, and good luck all. I' ll tell you the story and show you the pictures when I get " Robobuck" in a few weeks
The Trashcanman
I finally got a deer with a bow, and want to share the story. It most likely will be long, but hey, you can always press the back button.
I' ve been gun hunting for 30 years. Even when I graduated from college and move out to LA in 88, I would come back to WI for the hunt. I moved back home in 95, and took up bow hunting in 97 (has it been that long, wow). With the exception of a total greenhorne job my first year, I have not drawn on a single deer.
My dad, brother, and I purchased 60 acres, and it is really loaded with turkey and whitetails. Very tough to hunt, a big, thick hill. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I have some rubs that will really impress. Gun hunting has gone great, but with the herd the way it is, not all that challenging. I like to think that my hunting has gotten better as well.
I digress. On to the hunt.
I moved my stand about a months ago. Due to just being busy, I did not get to hunt until last Thursday. On Wednesday evening, we went ' near' our land, and put my brothers stand up. Thursday evening, we went to the stands taking a new approach. Usually, we just walked a logging trail on our land, but that took us too close to a bedding area. I met our neighbor last spring during the turkey hunt, and he gave me permission to use his fields to get to our land. This completely bypassed most of our property, and kept me well away from the bedding area. It was close to a two mile walk.
At about 5:00, a deer came walking straight at me from the bedding area. It was a doe, but the biggest doe I had ever seen (I mean, she was just a pig). As I watched her, a fawn came in behind her. Now, I had made the decision to shoot a doe already, obviously I want to get a nice buck, but at this point in my bow hunting life, I need some basic experience.
As she looked away, I slowly stood, and was not busted. I waited for her to give me a decent shot, but she kept coming straight at me. A few times she taunted me by threatening to give me a quartering or broadside shot, but would continue forward. thumpthumpthump, calm down.
When it became apparent that she was not going to stop, I drew on her. She was no more than 10 feet from my tree (the draw was not pretty, tried to go to slow and almost did not get it back). Again, not busted. My goal was to try and hit her in the neck, in front of the shoulders, if I missed the spine, I was pretty sure that the arrow would get into the vitals.
WHUPPP (is there a sweeter sound?)
And she takes off like a bat out of .... The fawn took off in a completely different direction. The arrow never went through, I could see that she had an antenne on her, and had time to see that I just missed the spine to the right. Pretty sure I heard her crash just after she went out of sight. I bet it took less than a minute from sighting to shot.
About half an hour later, the fawn shows up again, but from where the doe went down, not where it ran to. It sure was wary of my ' area' , but never looked at me. After the fawn past by me, I used a bleat, and it came back, giving me all kinds of shots. I also had 3 other does stop below my stand that night. It was just awesome.
When I got out of my stand near dark, I headed toward my brother. As I neared his location, I spotted a large doe in the field he was hunting in. I nocked up and waited, the doe finally took off (she was ticked off!!!). Apparently, my brother had tagged her companion.
We found his arrow, and decided to look for blood. We found blood where his deer had entered the woods, but while standing there, heard a deer crash away. He has about the worst luck bow hunting that I have ever seen (we call him the woundmaster). So we headed into town to get our tracker. We are both extremely colorblind, and tracking without snow by ourselves is more than difficult.
We got back to the woods at about 10:30, knowing that he had an existing blood trail, we tried to find his first. The trail dried up (as usual), and we carefully checked the obvious paths, nothing, it would have to wait for better light.
We then went to look for my deer. Obviously bummed out, we were somewhat skeptical to continue looking with no blood. Since I knew the arrow had not gone through, I didn' t expect to find blood right away. Sure enough, about 25 yards down the path we finally found some. While my friend and I worked the trail, my brother went ahead (beside) the trail (it' s what us colorblind people can do). And all of the sudden. " HERE SHE IS!!!"
wow, what a pig.
The arrow was broken off with no exit wound. I left the upper cavity intact until I had better light. Home at 3:00, and up by 6:00 to find his deer. When we got there, you could see his from the field. We had walked withing 25 feet of it. The coyotes had got there first, but had not done much damage.
What of my missing broadhead you ask. That was found buried in the sternum, right through the heart. The deer running had done some nasty stuff to the heart, it was incredible. I think she went about 60 yards.
What a night/day, I' ll never forget it.
Thanx for listening, and good luck all. I' ll tell you the story and show you the pictures when I get " Robobuck" in a few weeks
The Trashcanman
