It has been an interesting season so far for me. I have been out a number of times, at various locations and properties. It has been a bust so far, not even having a Doe any where near shootible with the bow, I have two additional Doe tags, for archery only, burning a hole in my pocket, and it just hasn't happened. Have got a good look at some 60 - 100 yards away, and none are hitting my deer feeder with corn, that has been operating for months; lots of turkey's, but just no deer.
This morning I was out at a location that I have permission from 4 different property owners, 3 of them are in a row, with one adjoining 2 of the properties, to the north, that I only have access to from either of the three from the south. They don't mind me hunting on the back of the property, but just don't want me anywhere near their house. Anyways, I was set up on one of the properties to the extreme East this morning, in my climber, and got completely, and utterly soaked, with the downpour that we got, about 5 minutes after I got in the tree. After an hour of this I decided to get down, and have a wander around. Well I was walking down this muddy path that connects the 3 properties to the other 1, just 20 yards short of the field edge in the bush, when I see a Doe, giving me the EVIL EYE
. I stop in my tracks, lift the crossbow up slowly, get her in the Red Dot, and I have NO shot. Way to many twigs and brush in the way. I slowly lower the bow, and we have a stare down for about 5 minutes, until I finally gave up and went down on one knee. Well, as soon as I did that, she turned tail and ran, and so did the other two fawns that were trailing her.
I make a dash to the field edge, and one of the fawns bolted across the mouth of the path, and the other is standing on the grass headlands, about 35 yards away. I just knelt there, waiting for Mama to come out and collect the fawns. She eventually did, but she went the opposite direction, taking fawn 2 and also the other one that had circled around in the corn.
All in all it was an exiting morning compared to the rest of the season. I decided I would set up on this trail that they were using, for an evening hunt. Went in about 5:00 pm tonight, and also dribbled some doe estrus on my boots, just to get any Bucks interested, that might be in the area, though I hadn't seen any activity around as of yet. Find a tree to lean against, in the thick nasty crap, that the trail winds through, and set in for a wait. About 45 min. later I can see movement at the trail head, and lift the crossbow up to my knee. Well, in walks this somewhat, strangely antlered 6 - 8 - 10 pointer, that I have never seen before, and he is following the estrus trail, right to me.
The heart is a wonderful organ. I have shot my fair share of deer over the years, but nothing makes the pounding in your ears so loud, as when your have a deer in close proximity. I am following him through the brush with the scope, waiting for my shot, when he just stops and looks right at me. I HAVE NO shot again, as his body is pointed directly at me, at about, what I figure was 15 yards. The stare down begins again. Well this time the deer gave up after about 5 mins. of peering around a tree, this way and that, and finally decides that I am just a twig or something. He turn, quarters towards, front leg forward and I let the bolt fly. Solid thud , and the bolt enters, just behind the leg.
He took off towards the corn field, and I gave out a Whoop, as the season was getting on for me not having a deer yet. Waited about 5 mins. before I called buddy to help me track him down, and load him onto the truck. Was quite a tracking job, he lost an amazing amount of blood in the first 50 yards, slowed to a trickle, and we had to get down on our hands an knees looking for tiny drops, for the last 175 yards. Ended up expiring 3 yards into the corn, 225 yards from where I shot him.
Hope you enjoyed the story, and heres some pics:
This last photo is another funny story, that I will have to tell later, ended up breaking the Antlers.
7.62mm
This morning I was out at a location that I have permission from 4 different property owners, 3 of them are in a row, with one adjoining 2 of the properties, to the north, that I only have access to from either of the three from the south. They don't mind me hunting on the back of the property, but just don't want me anywhere near their house. Anyways, I was set up on one of the properties to the extreme East this morning, in my climber, and got completely, and utterly soaked, with the downpour that we got, about 5 minutes after I got in the tree. After an hour of this I decided to get down, and have a wander around. Well I was walking down this muddy path that connects the 3 properties to the other 1, just 20 yards short of the field edge in the bush, when I see a Doe, giving me the EVIL EYE
. I stop in my tracks, lift the crossbow up slowly, get her in the Red Dot, and I have NO shot. Way to many twigs and brush in the way. I slowly lower the bow, and we have a stare down for about 5 minutes, until I finally gave up and went down on one knee. Well, as soon as I did that, she turned tail and ran, and so did the other two fawns that were trailing her. I make a dash to the field edge, and one of the fawns bolted across the mouth of the path, and the other is standing on the grass headlands, about 35 yards away. I just knelt there, waiting for Mama to come out and collect the fawns. She eventually did, but she went the opposite direction, taking fawn 2 and also the other one that had circled around in the corn.All in all it was an exiting morning compared to the rest of the season. I decided I would set up on this trail that they were using, for an evening hunt. Went in about 5:00 pm tonight, and also dribbled some doe estrus on my boots, just to get any Bucks interested, that might be in the area, though I hadn't seen any activity around as of yet. Find a tree to lean against, in the thick nasty crap, that the trail winds through, and set in for a wait. About 45 min. later I can see movement at the trail head, and lift the crossbow up to my knee. Well, in walks this somewhat, strangely antlered 6 - 8 - 10 pointer, that I have never seen before, and he is following the estrus trail, right to me.
The heart is a wonderful organ. I have shot my fair share of deer over the years, but nothing makes the pounding in your ears so loud, as when your have a deer in close proximity. I am following him through the brush with the scope, waiting for my shot, when he just stops and looks right at me. I HAVE NO shot again, as his body is pointed directly at me, at about, what I figure was 15 yards. The stare down begins again.
Well this time the deer gave up after about 5 mins. of peering around a tree, this way and that, and finally decides that I am just a twig or something. He turn, quarters towards, front leg forward and I let the bolt fly. Solid thud , and the bolt enters, just behind the leg. He took off towards the corn field, and I gave out a Whoop, as the season was getting on for me not having a deer yet. Waited about 5 mins. before I called buddy to help me track him down, and load him onto the truck. Was quite a tracking job, he lost an amazing amount of blood in the first 50 yards, slowed to a trickle, and we had to get down on our hands an knees looking for tiny drops, for the last 175 yards. Ended up expiring 3 yards into the corn, 225 yards from where I shot him.
Hope you enjoyed the story, and heres some pics:
This last photo is another funny story, that I will have to tell later, ended up breaking the Antlers.
7.62mm
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