Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
10-04-2004, 09:35 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 4,679
Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
Well what a weekend..........
Some may recall from other posts that this year is my first year bowhunting in 3 years, and my first year hunting Vermont for 8 years. I just moved back to the Vermont area I originally grew up in after being in Central PA for quite some time.
I had quite a difficult time finding permission to hunt this year, most all of the land I had access to as a kid has changed ownership and now is posted. I still have one farm just south of Rutland that I have access to that is around 900 acres. It is beautiful farm country there, lots of fields, hardwoods, softwoods, and is bordered by state land, a 300 acre apple orchard, and a huge swamp. Unfortunatly it is hit hard by other hunters however they do seem to be quite lazy there. I managed to get my stand up early, I actually placed it in the same spot that I shot my very first buck with my father as a 12 y/o. This place is still very special to me, and it means the world to me to sit there and watch the sunrise like I did as a kid with my dad.
Saturday morning, I was the first guy in. Unfortunately the weather wasnt looking good from midmorning on, so it was quite a long day in the rain. I got on stand at around 5:30am, and stayed there till dark. I saw nothing but squirrels till around noon, when a mother bobcat came out with two kittens. They put on a good show for me and had me grinning ear to ear under my facemask for about an hour. Despite the rain, and lack of deer at that point I was quite content. After that I didn't see anything else till just before dark, I saw a good size buck and smaller doe come out of the woods about 80 yards away and head in the opposite direction from me. 10 minutes later I got out of my stand as it was too dark in the timber to see my pins anmore. It was still plenty light in the fields to shoot so I still hunted back to my truck on the field edges. Right before I got to the truck, I saw about 6 deer in the last field between my spot and the parking area, and I managed to stalk within 45-50 yards of a pair of does. Unfortunatly it was probably the last 5 minutes of light, the does were small, and they were just out of range for me, 35 yards is about my max when hunting. I passed on them and went home for a few cold ones and some much needed sleep.
Sunday morning I woke up early, got to my stand again at around 5:15. 6:30 rolled around and it was barely light enough in the timber to see sight pins. An average sized spike horn came by slowly feeding on acorns and I watched him for about 10 minutes. I had several shots on him anywhere from 10 - 30 yards, but passed on them all. In Vermont you only have the ability to take one buck and one doe during bow season, and I have plenty of time to hunt so I passed on him. There is enough big buck sign in this area that I am not pressed on shooting a spike. About 10 minutes after he disappeared, a HUGE Doe walked out about 75 yards away heading strait towards me. She for some reason didn't have any fawns with her though. She walked strait in offering no shots till she was directly under my stand. For some reason when she was under me, she decided to look strait up at me......my heart stopped. She then snorted quickly, and slowly trotted off with her tail down, and then stopped at 35 yards completely broadside and looked back. I held my 30 pin just below her back line (I have a slow bow...
) and let one go. WHACK!! It sounded like someone hit her with a baseball bat. I hit her with a perfect double lung, however she was very slightly quartering away so it went in with perfect placement behind her closest shoulder blade but hit the inside of the blade on the far side with no pass thru. She took off like a bat out of hell with the arrow sticking out, and her tail down. She made it about 50 yards and crashed dead as a doornail, the Vortex Mini Max 3 100 grain did it's job well. I could see the white of her belly from my stand when she went down and heard the crash. I waited for about 1/2 an hour just to be sure, and called my dad from the tree to tell him (he's in PA now retired) that I just shot a deer in our spot that we used to hunt as a kid. He was absolutely thrilled, as was I. I have shot a lot of deer with a bow for how old I am, this one was #7 for archery, and I am only 24, but the fact that I haven't sat in this patch of woods since I was about 16, and I shot my first buck there with my dad makes it a very a special place. It meant much more to me than any other archery kill I have yet to date.
When I brought her to the check in station, it was the biggest doe they had seen in quite some time. She weighed in at 143lbs dressed out....
I have pics on my digi cam, however I left the cam at my girlfriends parents house and won't have time to get it till next weekend. I will post pics then.
Some may recall from other posts that this year is my first year bowhunting in 3 years, and my first year hunting Vermont for 8 years. I just moved back to the Vermont area I originally grew up in after being in Central PA for quite some time.
I had quite a difficult time finding permission to hunt this year, most all of the land I had access to as a kid has changed ownership and now is posted. I still have one farm just south of Rutland that I have access to that is around 900 acres. It is beautiful farm country there, lots of fields, hardwoods, softwoods, and is bordered by state land, a 300 acre apple orchard, and a huge swamp. Unfortunatly it is hit hard by other hunters however they do seem to be quite lazy there. I managed to get my stand up early, I actually placed it in the same spot that I shot my very first buck with my father as a 12 y/o. This place is still very special to me, and it means the world to me to sit there and watch the sunrise like I did as a kid with my dad.
Saturday morning, I was the first guy in. Unfortunately the weather wasnt looking good from midmorning on, so it was quite a long day in the rain. I got on stand at around 5:30am, and stayed there till dark. I saw nothing but squirrels till around noon, when a mother bobcat came out with two kittens. They put on a good show for me and had me grinning ear to ear under my facemask for about an hour. Despite the rain, and lack of deer at that point I was quite content. After that I didn't see anything else till just before dark, I saw a good size buck and smaller doe come out of the woods about 80 yards away and head in the opposite direction from me. 10 minutes later I got out of my stand as it was too dark in the timber to see my pins anmore. It was still plenty light in the fields to shoot so I still hunted back to my truck on the field edges. Right before I got to the truck, I saw about 6 deer in the last field between my spot and the parking area, and I managed to stalk within 45-50 yards of a pair of does. Unfortunatly it was probably the last 5 minutes of light, the does were small, and they were just out of range for me, 35 yards is about my max when hunting. I passed on them and went home for a few cold ones and some much needed sleep.
Sunday morning I woke up early, got to my stand again at around 5:15. 6:30 rolled around and it was barely light enough in the timber to see sight pins. An average sized spike horn came by slowly feeding on acorns and I watched him for about 10 minutes. I had several shots on him anywhere from 10 - 30 yards, but passed on them all. In Vermont you only have the ability to take one buck and one doe during bow season, and I have plenty of time to hunt so I passed on him. There is enough big buck sign in this area that I am not pressed on shooting a spike. About 10 minutes after he disappeared, a HUGE Doe walked out about 75 yards away heading strait towards me. She for some reason didn't have any fawns with her though. She walked strait in offering no shots till she was directly under my stand. For some reason when she was under me, she decided to look strait up at me......my heart stopped. She then snorted quickly, and slowly trotted off with her tail down, and then stopped at 35 yards completely broadside and looked back. I held my 30 pin just below her back line (I have a slow bow...
) and let one go. WHACK!! It sounded like someone hit her with a baseball bat. I hit her with a perfect double lung, however she was very slightly quartering away so it went in with perfect placement behind her closest shoulder blade but hit the inside of the blade on the far side with no pass thru. She took off like a bat out of hell with the arrow sticking out, and her tail down. She made it about 50 yards and crashed dead as a doornail, the Vortex Mini Max 3 100 grain did it's job well. I could see the white of her belly from my stand when she went down and heard the crash. I waited for about 1/2 an hour just to be sure, and called my dad from the tree to tell him (he's in PA now retired) that I just shot a deer in our spot that we used to hunt as a kid. He was absolutely thrilled, as was I. I have shot a lot of deer with a bow for how old I am, this one was #7 for archery, and I am only 24, but the fact that I haven't sat in this patch of woods since I was about 16, and I shot my first buck there with my dad makes it a very a special place. It meant much more to me than any other archery kill I have yet to date.When I brought her to the check in station, it was the biggest doe they had seen in quite some time. She weighed in at 143lbs dressed out....
I have pics on my digi cam, however I left the cam at my girlfriends parents house and won't have time to get it till next weekend. I will post pics then.
10-04-2004, 11:04 AM
#5
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,555
RE: Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
That's awesome Rick! It's always nice to get back to familiar woods and even nicer to arrow one from an old stand. If you keep this up you'll have to come to New Hampshire because you're going to run out of tags. I guess that wouldn't be the worst dilema in the world though.
10-04-2004, 12:05 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 4,679
RE: Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
Ha, I already have PA Archery tags just in case I run out of tags in Vermont.....I might end up spending a few days down there during the rut in the first two weeks of November, and will definately spend the first week of December in Huntington County for the rifle opener.
10-04-2004, 12:36 PM
#7
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Manorville NY
Posts: 312
RE: Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
Congrats....nice job.
Just curious, where did you put your stand up? I remember you posted an aerial photo earlier and I was curious where on that picture did you post up?
Again..nice job!!
Just curious, where did you put your stand up? I remember you posted an aerial photo earlier and I was curious where on that picture did you post up?
Again..nice job!!
10-04-2004, 01:38 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 4,679
RE: Results from Vermont Opening Weekend... ;)
My stand is at the purple dot on the southeast corner of the map. That is my favorite spot, lots of hunters get in there and push deer up the hollow that you can see the orange line on when there is pressure in there. It is also a beech/oak flat in front of the spot to the west that they bed and feed in during the day when they can't get into the fields.
