HuntingNet.com Forums - Decent Delaware Deer Down

Well this season has been a rough one for sure. I picked up a new piece of property the night before bow season opened. I had seen 5 great bucks out there throughtout the summer in a field that was land locked with mine but i actually couldnt hunt. I had seen the 5 bucks together the first wed. of season but they were just out of range. I hadnt seen any of them since. There have been people walking around the woods, and people sneaking in as well, which its been super hard to hunt i believe because of this. The amount of woods that i can hunt is super small, it may be 300-400 acres of woods, but i may be able to hunt 10 of them.

I hunted the same tree for a while, and always seen deer, but wanted to keep my presence low at the property, and passed many does and small bucks here. That began my drought. I hadnt seen a buck in a month and a half until yesterday. I was so frustrated i hadnt killed anything with the bow i was ready to give it up. Everything that could go wrong in the woods did go wrong. I spent plenty of hours in thebowshop whining how i was gonna give it up for the rest of the year if nothing happened soon.

Stayed up all night, and decided to hunt when 4 a.m. rolled around and i was still watching movies. Ive been so frustrated i havent been able to sleep at all. Made it to my stand about hour before light, and hadnt seen anything. Around 6:55am i said if i didnt see a deer that morning, i was done for a while. A minute later i noticed a body about 40 or so yards to my left. Before the thought processed through my headed realizing what it was, it started walkin directly at me, and i knew it was the buck from the trail camera pic. He was walking straight for me so i couldnt stand up nor could i even attempt to grab my bow. He walked to 20 yards and winded me and looked at me for a few moments and turned and walked away on an angle stopping every step, so i was still pinned down. He made it another 5 yards, and he lifted his head high and def winded me and trotted off. My heart broke because like i said i havent caught one break the last month or so. As he trotted off i jumped up and grabbed my bow hoping he would stop. He stopped sure enough, and i guess the thought of a couple of kernels of corn on the ground was bigger then his fear of me. He walked straight for the corn (was all gone, had been for a couple of days) and as he got behind a tree i drew my bow. Well you know how it goes he stood right behind that tree for literally two minutes. I started gettin tired and couldnt hold it anymore, but i didnt wanna come down from draw risking my arrow slamming the shelf with the drop away. So i toughed it out and he finally made the step into my shooting lane. You know the end of the story, i smoked him through the lungs and center punched the heart. He ran about 70 yards and crashed in sight. Goes to show you dont give up, its all a matter of being in the right spot at the right time. Patience pays off big time.