A Season to Remember
11-21-2005, 03:52 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 262
A Season to Remember
I will start out by saying if you are looking for a big buck story or pics unfortunately you will not find one here. This is just a heart-felt story of an emotional roller coaster of a deer season. This is long winded and if you don't have the patience to read it I don't blame you. For those who do, thanks for listening.
It's true that I spend less and less time bow hunting as each year passes. When I started bow hunting 15 years ago I didn't have any kids and I was bitten by the bow hunting bug big time. Reading back through my hunting notes reveals that in 1991 I logged 60 hours of scouting time before even hanging a tree stand! I would also take a full week of vacation and travel a couple hours to a prime hunting location in Hocking County Ohio. This allowed me to take my first P&Y buck in only my 2nd year of bow hunting. Life changes for all of us over the years and now with two boys ages 2 and 12 my priorities have changed. Now coaching my 12-year-old son's baseball and football teams are my passion and bow hunting is something I try to fit in between all the other commitments.
I still take a trip to Southern Ohio every year but now it is down to 2 or 3 days but it's still nice to get away. Last year I was successful in putting my son on a 10 point with a crossbow that scored 143 net at the age of 11 years old in his first year of hunting. I didn't carry my bow with us until after he had scored and I finished the bow season without taking a deer for the 2nd year in a row.
Now it's 2005 and in January I bought a BowTech Allegiance, my first new bow in 12 years. Shot a few 3D's in the spring and am looking forward to trying it out on the real thing in the fall. In May 2005 we find out my wife is expecting after we decided to have one more kid. In June 2005 my wife has a scare and goes to the doctor to find out she is having twins! The due date is set at December 24th so I tell her I still should be able to take my hunting trip in early November. In August 2005 my wife starts to go into labor way too early and she has surgery to keep her cervix from thinning any further. On October 13th my wife goes into early labor again and this time there is not stopping it. We are blessed with twin girls that are born 2 1/2 months premature. The girls are in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) at St. Vincent's Hospital, which is over an hour's drive to see them. Everything has been extremely hectic with trying to visit them, trying to work, and trying to keep some semblance of normality for my 2 and 12 year old boys. On November 1st my wife and I are told to drop everything because one of the twins has quit breathing on her own and she may not make it. She had a setback because she got an infection, which thankfully has cleared up once the antibiotics kicked in. They are both doing OK now and we expect them to come home mid-December.
Obviously taking a trip to Southern Ohio for bow hunting was not much of an option at this point. I did take my son out behind our house a few times. I hunted myself a few times and wondered if I should even be out there at all. My loving wife convinced me that it would be good to take a break even if it was only for a few hours here and there. Is it wrong to still desire to go hunting in this situation? I know the chances of taking a mature buck off my property are slim to none but I would love to take a management doe and try out my new bow, arrows, and broadheads.
This past Saturday I am sitting in a stand on my property when a 2 1/2 year old buck comes through with his mouth hanging open panting like a dog. I let him pass realizing he is likely the nicest buck I am going to see with my limited time and with the lack of mature deer in this area of Ohio. This past weekend was Youth gun season in Ohio and about 15 minutes later I see some trucks pull up and two orange vests enter my woods without permission. I wait until they get fairly close before I ask what they are doing. The guy tells me they hit a buck and are looking for him. I tell him he needs to ask permission next time but go ahead and was going to tell him which way the buck went when I realized something. These guys are walking about 100 yards apart and they are walking as fast as they can! I realized they surely were not tracking a deer by their actions and the fact that the truck had dropped them off and then drove around to the other side. It was obvious they were just trying to push the buck back off my property. I asked if he had a blood trail to follow and he said "not anymore". To make it worse this guy is the farmer who owns the crop fields all around me. He owns hundreds of acres including a 100 acre woodlot to my southeast yet he finds it necessary to conduct a deer drive through my little 20 acre woodlot????? They obviously saw the buck enter my woods and must have thought he was worth trespassing to go after. And remember this was YOUTH season so he sure is setting a good example for the boy that was with him.
Sunday morning I debated on whether it was even worth going back out. Only a few more chances to hunt before gun season so I got up and went out. I had just got up in my stand at 6:55AM when I saw a deer walking along my food plot about 50 yards away. I carry my jacket in to avoid over heating and still had it and my backpack resting on the seat and my bow is still down on the ground. I finished screwing in my bow holder, zipped up my Scent-Lok jacket and started raising my bow. I see three other deer now following a little ways behind her and about the time I get my bow up she cuts into the woods right at me. I see the flash on my trail cam go off one of the deer behind her.
I was able to take my Carter release out of my pocket and get it hooked onto my loop but as I am reaching to pull an arrow out of my quiver she looks up at me about 30 yards away. Those of us who have been hunting for years have played this game of showdown many times and it's one we rarely win. To make this one worse I have no jacket, no gloves, and no facemask on. I stood frozen with my bow in my left hand and my right hand awkwardly reaching for an arrow. She did the normal foot stomps and head bobs for a few minutes but continued on an angle that was taking her behind my stand. As soon as she moved I got the arrow out and got it nocked on the string but the cord was still attached and as I reached to remove it she stops and looks again. I stand frozen again and manage to convince her I am a tree for a 2nd time and she continues on an angle that is now taking her out of range. I get the cord off and finally have one hand on my bow and one on my release but she is now completely behind my tree about 35 yards away.
I have been focused on her so I gradually turn to see where the other deer went and I have two yearlings 15 yards directly in front of my stand and the other doe is 40 yards in front of me bedded down! All three of them are staring at the doe behind me as she circles downwind in an attempt to expose me for the smelly being I truly am. I now realize this is probably the doe that has been busting me for the 3 years that I have owned this property. She either sees or smells me about every time and if that wasn't enough she always teaches her fawns the ways of the woods and exposes me when they have no clue I am there. I double check the two deer standing 15 yards away to make sure they are in fact yearlings and I decide to wait and try for the mature doe behind me. The string at the end of my stabilizer shows the slight breeze is directly at her so it was no accident that she ended up behind me. I assume she is likely to wind me with my head exposed even though I have scent lock and always take scent-free showers before hunting. She stood back there for a long time; probably 5 or 10 minutes and I just leaned my head against the tree waiting for her move in this intense game of chess. The two fawns never took a single step and I couldn't believe it when I heard her start to walk back toward them! Somehow her nose was fooled this time and it was about to cost her dearly.
I kept my head pressed up against the side of the tree listening to each step bring her closer. Step-step-step-step-step-step-step, where was she? With my head in this position I could not see her until she was almost directly below me about 5 yards away. I had not even twitched a muscle for about 15 minutes now but I'll be damned if she didn't turn to look at me again! I just closed my eyes to avoid making eye contact and buried my head further into the tree waiting for the explosion of hooves that was sure to come. All was silent for another couple minutes and I kept my eyes closed until I heard footsteps again. I opened them and she had turned her back to me and was now about 10 yards away. It was now or never so I brought my cramped muscles into action and drew back. I don't know if she heard the arrow sliding across the MZE rest or if her 6th sense told her to move but when I drew she started trotting and I again feared I was busted. As I watched her trot off after this 20 minute battle she did the unthinkable…… she stopped…... broadside……at 18 yards……. I was already at full draw so I put the 20-yard pin on her chest and tried to remember everything I had told myself a thousand times. I even developed my own acronym RAPS to help me remember it but at the moment of truth our memory and all cognitive thinking somehow eludes us. Relax……Aim…..Pull……See (the arrow hit). The shot was gone and I watched the Slick-Trick tipped ACC 3-49 hit her dead nuts left and right but a few inches high. As she ran off with deer flying everywhere I wondered if I shot high or if she possibly dropped to run as an alert deer is likely to do. She ran full speed toward my food plot, crossed it and stopped in some tall CRP grass about 70 yards away. I thought I saw her fall but was not 100% sure since the grass was as tall as she is. A minute or so later I heard the "death cough" that many times accompanies a double-lung hit and I felt confident she was done. I stood for a long time savoring the last few moments of solitude before it's back to hospitals, kids, work etc…. I then sat down and smiled when I realized this was the first deer I have taken on my property and my 2-year-old was going to be able to help me recover it. He tells anyone and everyone he meets that he deer hunts with his daddy and now I have one down for him.
To anyone who sees a picture of me with this deer they could easily say it's just another doe taken with a bow. I KNOW better, with all the adversity we have been through this season, 2 kids in the hospital, the limited hunting time, the trespassers, the fact that she is a 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 yr. old deer I KNOW better. I have killed several P & Y bucks but have never had a showdown like this with one mature doe and eight eyes and ears to fool. This is a season to remember. Now excuse me I have two girls, Brooke and Alex, to attend to.
It's true that I spend less and less time bow hunting as each year passes. When I started bow hunting 15 years ago I didn't have any kids and I was bitten by the bow hunting bug big time. Reading back through my hunting notes reveals that in 1991 I logged 60 hours of scouting time before even hanging a tree stand! I would also take a full week of vacation and travel a couple hours to a prime hunting location in Hocking County Ohio. This allowed me to take my first P&Y buck in only my 2nd year of bow hunting. Life changes for all of us over the years and now with two boys ages 2 and 12 my priorities have changed. Now coaching my 12-year-old son's baseball and football teams are my passion and bow hunting is something I try to fit in between all the other commitments.
I still take a trip to Southern Ohio every year but now it is down to 2 or 3 days but it's still nice to get away. Last year I was successful in putting my son on a 10 point with a crossbow that scored 143 net at the age of 11 years old in his first year of hunting. I didn't carry my bow with us until after he had scored and I finished the bow season without taking a deer for the 2nd year in a row.
Now it's 2005 and in January I bought a BowTech Allegiance, my first new bow in 12 years. Shot a few 3D's in the spring and am looking forward to trying it out on the real thing in the fall. In May 2005 we find out my wife is expecting after we decided to have one more kid. In June 2005 my wife has a scare and goes to the doctor to find out she is having twins! The due date is set at December 24th so I tell her I still should be able to take my hunting trip in early November. In August 2005 my wife starts to go into labor way too early and she has surgery to keep her cervix from thinning any further. On October 13th my wife goes into early labor again and this time there is not stopping it. We are blessed with twin girls that are born 2 1/2 months premature. The girls are in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) at St. Vincent's Hospital, which is over an hour's drive to see them. Everything has been extremely hectic with trying to visit them, trying to work, and trying to keep some semblance of normality for my 2 and 12 year old boys. On November 1st my wife and I are told to drop everything because one of the twins has quit breathing on her own and she may not make it. She had a setback because she got an infection, which thankfully has cleared up once the antibiotics kicked in. They are both doing OK now and we expect them to come home mid-December.
Obviously taking a trip to Southern Ohio for bow hunting was not much of an option at this point. I did take my son out behind our house a few times. I hunted myself a few times and wondered if I should even be out there at all. My loving wife convinced me that it would be good to take a break even if it was only for a few hours here and there. Is it wrong to still desire to go hunting in this situation? I know the chances of taking a mature buck off my property are slim to none but I would love to take a management doe and try out my new bow, arrows, and broadheads.
This past Saturday I am sitting in a stand on my property when a 2 1/2 year old buck comes through with his mouth hanging open panting like a dog. I let him pass realizing he is likely the nicest buck I am going to see with my limited time and with the lack of mature deer in this area of Ohio. This past weekend was Youth gun season in Ohio and about 15 minutes later I see some trucks pull up and two orange vests enter my woods without permission. I wait until they get fairly close before I ask what they are doing. The guy tells me they hit a buck and are looking for him. I tell him he needs to ask permission next time but go ahead and was going to tell him which way the buck went when I realized something. These guys are walking about 100 yards apart and they are walking as fast as they can! I realized they surely were not tracking a deer by their actions and the fact that the truck had dropped them off and then drove around to the other side. It was obvious they were just trying to push the buck back off my property. I asked if he had a blood trail to follow and he said "not anymore". To make it worse this guy is the farmer who owns the crop fields all around me. He owns hundreds of acres including a 100 acre woodlot to my southeast yet he finds it necessary to conduct a deer drive through my little 20 acre woodlot????? They obviously saw the buck enter my woods and must have thought he was worth trespassing to go after. And remember this was YOUTH season so he sure is setting a good example for the boy that was with him.
Sunday morning I debated on whether it was even worth going back out. Only a few more chances to hunt before gun season so I got up and went out. I had just got up in my stand at 6:55AM when I saw a deer walking along my food plot about 50 yards away. I carry my jacket in to avoid over heating and still had it and my backpack resting on the seat and my bow is still down on the ground. I finished screwing in my bow holder, zipped up my Scent-Lok jacket and started raising my bow. I see three other deer now following a little ways behind her and about the time I get my bow up she cuts into the woods right at me. I see the flash on my trail cam go off one of the deer behind her.
I was able to take my Carter release out of my pocket and get it hooked onto my loop but as I am reaching to pull an arrow out of my quiver she looks up at me about 30 yards away. Those of us who have been hunting for years have played this game of showdown many times and it's one we rarely win. To make this one worse I have no jacket, no gloves, and no facemask on. I stood frozen with my bow in my left hand and my right hand awkwardly reaching for an arrow. She did the normal foot stomps and head bobs for a few minutes but continued on an angle that was taking her behind my stand. As soon as she moved I got the arrow out and got it nocked on the string but the cord was still attached and as I reached to remove it she stops and looks again. I stand frozen again and manage to convince her I am a tree for a 2nd time and she continues on an angle that is now taking her out of range. I get the cord off and finally have one hand on my bow and one on my release but she is now completely behind my tree about 35 yards away.
I have been focused on her so I gradually turn to see where the other deer went and I have two yearlings 15 yards directly in front of my stand and the other doe is 40 yards in front of me bedded down! All three of them are staring at the doe behind me as she circles downwind in an attempt to expose me for the smelly being I truly am. I now realize this is probably the doe that has been busting me for the 3 years that I have owned this property. She either sees or smells me about every time and if that wasn't enough she always teaches her fawns the ways of the woods and exposes me when they have no clue I am there. I double check the two deer standing 15 yards away to make sure they are in fact yearlings and I decide to wait and try for the mature doe behind me. The string at the end of my stabilizer shows the slight breeze is directly at her so it was no accident that she ended up behind me. I assume she is likely to wind me with my head exposed even though I have scent lock and always take scent-free showers before hunting. She stood back there for a long time; probably 5 or 10 minutes and I just leaned my head against the tree waiting for her move in this intense game of chess. The two fawns never took a single step and I couldn't believe it when I heard her start to walk back toward them! Somehow her nose was fooled this time and it was about to cost her dearly.
I kept my head pressed up against the side of the tree listening to each step bring her closer. Step-step-step-step-step-step-step, where was she? With my head in this position I could not see her until she was almost directly below me about 5 yards away. I had not even twitched a muscle for about 15 minutes now but I'll be damned if she didn't turn to look at me again! I just closed my eyes to avoid making eye contact and buried my head further into the tree waiting for the explosion of hooves that was sure to come. All was silent for another couple minutes and I kept my eyes closed until I heard footsteps again. I opened them and she had turned her back to me and was now about 10 yards away. It was now or never so I brought my cramped muscles into action and drew back. I don't know if she heard the arrow sliding across the MZE rest or if her 6th sense told her to move but when I drew she started trotting and I again feared I was busted. As I watched her trot off after this 20 minute battle she did the unthinkable…… she stopped…... broadside……at 18 yards……. I was already at full draw so I put the 20-yard pin on her chest and tried to remember everything I had told myself a thousand times. I even developed my own acronym RAPS to help me remember it but at the moment of truth our memory and all cognitive thinking somehow eludes us. Relax……Aim…..Pull……See (the arrow hit). The shot was gone and I watched the Slick-Trick tipped ACC 3-49 hit her dead nuts left and right but a few inches high. As she ran off with deer flying everywhere I wondered if I shot high or if she possibly dropped to run as an alert deer is likely to do. She ran full speed toward my food plot, crossed it and stopped in some tall CRP grass about 70 yards away. I thought I saw her fall but was not 100% sure since the grass was as tall as she is. A minute or so later I heard the "death cough" that many times accompanies a double-lung hit and I felt confident she was done. I stood for a long time savoring the last few moments of solitude before it's back to hospitals, kids, work etc…. I then sat down and smiled when I realized this was the first deer I have taken on my property and my 2-year-old was going to be able to help me recover it. He tells anyone and everyone he meets that he deer hunts with his daddy and now I have one down for him.
To anyone who sees a picture of me with this deer they could easily say it's just another doe taken with a bow. I KNOW better, with all the adversity we have been through this season, 2 kids in the hospital, the limited hunting time, the trespassers, the fact that she is a 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 yr. old deer I KNOW better. I have killed several P & Y bucks but have never had a showdown like this with one mature doe and eight eyes and ears to fool. This is a season to remember. Now excuse me I have two girls, Brooke and Alex, to attend to.
11-21-2005, 03:54 PM
#2
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 262
RE: A Season to Remember
This is a picture of the doe from my trail cam showing how big she was. The distinguishing feature is that she had an injury on her left front foot, you can see the bulge in this picture. The area of the foot is all mangled up and looks like raw hamburger, does anyone think this would have any effect on the meat (my wife is concerned).
If you use your hand to cover her head and neck you would expect to see a huge rack on that body!
If you use your hand to cover her head and neck you would expect to see a huge rack on that body!
11-21-2005, 04:07 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The OH-IO
Posts: 7,103
RE: A Season to Remember
Troy
For starters, I wish you and your family the best of luck.
I really enjoyed your story and can appericiate all your efforts with all that is going on around you.
Hope to see you this 3D season, but I understand you will most likely have your hands full.
But you never told us..... How'd the new bow, arrows and broadheads perform???
For starters, I wish you and your family the best of luck.
I really enjoyed your story and can appericiate all your efforts with all that is going on around you.
Hope to see you this 3D season, but I understand you will most likely have your hands full.
But you never told us..... How'd the new bow, arrows and broadheads perform???
11-21-2005, 04:22 PM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Mont County, Pa
Posts: 7,368
RE: A Season to Remember
Hey Blodg, the best of luck with all of those kids. Sounds like you have your hands quite full. Also congrats on that big doe!A mature doe like that one is every bit as wise as a mature buck for my money. They don't miss a trick! And yes, even with all that stuff going on it's still OK to think about getting in the woods. A hunter is a hunter, period.
11-21-2005, 07:47 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Almost Heaven,WV
Posts: 4,087
RE: A Season to Remember
Great story and good pics. Just more proof that deer hunting isn't always about big antlers. One of my most memorable ML hunts was when I took a doe. Give my best to the family.
11-21-2005, 08:31 PM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jackson, Missouri
Posts: 7,051
RE: A Season to Remember
Blodg,
I always look forward to your posts, and can see why they've been slow in forthcoming this year! After having become a father myself a couple years ago, I can certainly understand all the emotions and trying times you've endured this past year.
Congratulations on the exceptional trophy, and may God bless your family as they grow stronger every day.
I always look forward to your posts, and can see why they've been slow in forthcoming this year! After having become a father myself a couple years ago, I can certainly understand all the emotions and trying times you've endured this past year.
Congratulations on the exceptional trophy, and may God bless your family as they grow stronger every day.
