By John

It was a bluebird day last Nov 15th. Decided to do a bit of
goose hunting in the morning on the farm we hunt, and figured I may bowhunt
in the afternoon, so I brought my gear along. As luck would have it we
limited out early in the morning and by 11am we had picked and cleaned
the birds. I am usually the only one who bowhunts this lease, so the
rest of the guys went home to take care of the usual weekend chores. I
decided to strike out with the bow to see what may be sneaking around in
the cool of the deep woods, even though I really don't hunt this farm
during the midday. Climbed into one of my stands at 12 and settled in
for what I figured would be a slow afternoon until the deer started to
move in the late afternoon. The rut was waning, but there was still some
signs of activity, so I just figured I would hunt this stand until late
pm and move to a field edge stand for the last couple of hours. A
combine was working the farm next door, and I fugured maybe it would !
chase a baldie over my way, so I decided to hunt for a few hours before
relocating.

Sat for about 45 minutes and started to get a bit chilly. Had a
sweatshirt in my day pack, as I had dressed lightly for the warm afternoon.
Had not seen any deer to this point, so I looked around real good and
slowly got up, set my bow in the holder, put my release in my scentlok
jacket pocket and took off my jacket. Stood up to set down my jacket on
the seat and get my sweatshirt from my pack. Looked back around real
good, and pulled my sweatshirt over my head. Just as I poked my head and
arms from the sweatshirt, I heard a twig snap to my left, where the
stream comes out of a thicket. looked to see a big doe (I mean big!) coming
from the thicket along the stream towards my stand. Her path would take
her past my 25 yard tree right in front of the stand. She was moving
pretty steadily, and I scrambled (but steathfully)to get my bow in hand.
Just then I realized I had my release in the jacket pocket on the seat
behind me. Took me a minute to reach blindly behind me and find t!
he pocket with my release and free if from the jacket. Fortunately I
was shooting a hotshot, which is just a hand-held release. I was able to
get the release on the string and ready myself for the impending shot
(she was big enough to tag, and we have unlimited antlerless in this
county with a bow). Just as she was approaching my lane at the 25 yard
tree, I looked back where she came from and thought I saw movement and a
flash of silver along the same trail.

The moment of truth - should I take a shot at her or let her get past
my lane and hope that whatever was moving behind her was worth letting
her go..... Decided to pass on the doe. 15 seconds later a monster wide
racked buck (at least for around here)appeared from the thicket! He was
head down, following in her exact footsteps. Drew back as he passed
behind the 25 yard tree and grunted at him to stop him as he reappeared.
It worked like a charm and he stopped broadside at 25 and turned to look
up at my direction. TOOO late! the arrow was already on it's way. He
took off like an F16 as the arrow struck and they both hauled butt out of
there, around a thicket and out of sight. I listened real good and
heard them head uphill, and then heard a crash, and silence.

I know I should wait for 1/2 hour or so, but the anticipation had me
jumping and I did not see the exact spot the arrow hit, so about 15
minutes later I eased down, crossed the stream and tried to locate my arrow.
Found it at the exact spot where the buck stopped and it was covered in
lung blood. Now it was time to slow down and smoke a cigarette to calm
my nerves. Sat by the stream for about 5 minutes and couldn't take it
any longer, so I knocked another arrow and eased around the thicket and
glassed up the hill. Could not believe my eyes - the buck was laying
down, appeared bedded, next to a tree about 30 yard up the hill. Went to
full draw and slowly - I mean slowly, started to ease up the hill
towards him. I never realized how long I could stay at full draw while
stalking, cause it seemed like 10 minutes (probably 2) as I approached the
seemingly bedded buck. His eyes were closed, but I was certain he was
going to jump up and take off at any second. The closer I got, the!
more I realized he was not going to get up. I got within about 5
yards, and eased down the bow. He was down! My impending heart attack had
passed, thank God.

Lesson #1 - don't hesistate to hunt midday!
Lesson #2 - don't let go of your release even to get dressed!

Pictures attached. The first is how I found him. Second shows my
elation.

Good hunting to all.....

John

Back To Deer Hunting Stories

Home