Redo
10-14-2015, 11:38 PM
This story dates back to the early archery season, however I love reading about all your hunts and thought I would share my own.
This story begins over the summer as I had identified an area I intended to hunt and did some pretty extensive scouting. I was sure to be in the area at least once a week to watch either the dawn or dusk movement of the deer. Between scouting and my camera I had identified 2 areas to hunt. One was my honey hole with several deer, including a really nice 5X5 moving through each day. The other area hadn't shown too much promise, however it just looked right and I had a good feeling about it.
I headed out with my father and son the afternoon before opening. Dad and son stayed in and played cards, I headed to the second of my locations to watch from a tree stand (I felt like my best chance was at the first location, but didn't want to be in my blind until opening morning). That evening was very quiet as only a doe and her fawn hung around for about an hour.
The next morning, I headed to my number 1 location about an hour before shooting light. I was feeling very confident, after all, my camera had bucks on it every day leading up to this hunt. As dawn arrived, I was excited to see that my plan was coming together as the field below my blind had 8 deer feeding, including the big 5X5 whitetail I was hoping to get a crack at. As the deer continued feeding towards me, the skies opened up and the deer were pushed into cover away from me. That evening, the rain continued and we only saw a few does in the distance.
Day 2: My father and I headed back to the area where we had seen many deer and set up, again it was raining and the deer were not moving at all, called it quits early and headed to town for a hot coffee and a good breakfast. That afternoon, I decided to head to my stand in location 2. I had a really good feeling however, despite sitting in the solo tree stand from 2:00-8:20 I had only seen a few does and a bear cub.
Day 3: Woke up to rain again, dad decided to stay in. He was not too concerned about success as he was heading on a 2 week elk/deer trip in a couple of days. I, on the other hand was on day 3 of my 4 day hunt and had not had any real excitement. I went back to location 2 tree stand and waited for light. When the sun began to rise, I could see a doe and a fawn in an alfalfa field about 300 yds away. I occupied myself by watching them frolic in the field and then they stopped. Both stood still and the mother ran at the fawn, forcefully nudged it in the rear and they both ran off. I figured a bear or coyote was in the area until I spotted 8 deer jumping a fence. I could see that 4 were bucks 2 really nice 4x4's, a smaller 4X4 and a tall spike. Being 300 yds off, I didn't get too excited at first but when they fed to within 100 yds of my stand my blood began pumping. And then they were gone . . . into the bush and out of sight. I knew that they would do one of two things, move slowly along the tree line towards me or, more likely, head up into the bush to bed down.
Anticipating that they would move towards me, I stood up and knocked an arrow. 5 minutes later, I could see hooves moving through the brush and out came the spiker, (being a meat hunter with only 1 day left in this hunt I would have taken him) as I prepared to draw back, I glanced over to see a smaller 4X4 coming out of the bush. This buck stood broad side at 20 as I drew back my bow. I took one last look into the bush to see if one of the bigger bucks was coming out, and seeing nothing I released my arrow. The spike took off, I heard crashing in the bush behind me (I guess the other deer were not too far off) and I watched as the deer slowly turned, took 5 steps and arched his back. I half expected hip to drop right there, but I decided to nock a second arrow and took another shot. The buck seemed un alarmed as the arrow passed through, he slowly walked to the closest tree, lay down and expired.
This truly was one of the best hunting experiences I have had! It was my second archery buck, but the first really didn't have a story.
To make it even better, I got to share the experience with my father and son!
http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah236/rwakefie93/IMG_3828_zpssflbktgv.jpg (http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/rwakefie93/media/IMG_3828_zpssflbktgv.jpg.html)
This story begins over the summer as I had identified an area I intended to hunt and did some pretty extensive scouting. I was sure to be in the area at least once a week to watch either the dawn or dusk movement of the deer. Between scouting and my camera I had identified 2 areas to hunt. One was my honey hole with several deer, including a really nice 5X5 moving through each day. The other area hadn't shown too much promise, however it just looked right and I had a good feeling about it.
I headed out with my father and son the afternoon before opening. Dad and son stayed in and played cards, I headed to the second of my locations to watch from a tree stand (I felt like my best chance was at the first location, but didn't want to be in my blind until opening morning). That evening was very quiet as only a doe and her fawn hung around for about an hour.
The next morning, I headed to my number 1 location about an hour before shooting light. I was feeling very confident, after all, my camera had bucks on it every day leading up to this hunt. As dawn arrived, I was excited to see that my plan was coming together as the field below my blind had 8 deer feeding, including the big 5X5 whitetail I was hoping to get a crack at. As the deer continued feeding towards me, the skies opened up and the deer were pushed into cover away from me. That evening, the rain continued and we only saw a few does in the distance.
Day 2: My father and I headed back to the area where we had seen many deer and set up, again it was raining and the deer were not moving at all, called it quits early and headed to town for a hot coffee and a good breakfast. That afternoon, I decided to head to my stand in location 2. I had a really good feeling however, despite sitting in the solo tree stand from 2:00-8:20 I had only seen a few does and a bear cub.
Day 3: Woke up to rain again, dad decided to stay in. He was not too concerned about success as he was heading on a 2 week elk/deer trip in a couple of days. I, on the other hand was on day 3 of my 4 day hunt and had not had any real excitement. I went back to location 2 tree stand and waited for light. When the sun began to rise, I could see a doe and a fawn in an alfalfa field about 300 yds away. I occupied myself by watching them frolic in the field and then they stopped. Both stood still and the mother ran at the fawn, forcefully nudged it in the rear and they both ran off. I figured a bear or coyote was in the area until I spotted 8 deer jumping a fence. I could see that 4 were bucks 2 really nice 4x4's, a smaller 4X4 and a tall spike. Being 300 yds off, I didn't get too excited at first but when they fed to within 100 yds of my stand my blood began pumping. And then they were gone . . . into the bush and out of sight. I knew that they would do one of two things, move slowly along the tree line towards me or, more likely, head up into the bush to bed down.
Anticipating that they would move towards me, I stood up and knocked an arrow. 5 minutes later, I could see hooves moving through the brush and out came the spiker, (being a meat hunter with only 1 day left in this hunt I would have taken him) as I prepared to draw back, I glanced over to see a smaller 4X4 coming out of the bush. This buck stood broad side at 20 as I drew back my bow. I took one last look into the bush to see if one of the bigger bucks was coming out, and seeing nothing I released my arrow. The spike took off, I heard crashing in the bush behind me (I guess the other deer were not too far off) and I watched as the deer slowly turned, took 5 steps and arched his back. I half expected hip to drop right there, but I decided to nock a second arrow and took another shot. The buck seemed un alarmed as the arrow passed through, he slowly walked to the closest tree, lay down and expired.
This truly was one of the best hunting experiences I have had! It was my second archery buck, but the first really didn't have a story.
To make it even better, I got to share the experience with my father and son!
http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah236/rwakefie93/IMG_3828_zpssflbktgv.jpg (http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/rwakefie93/media/IMG_3828_zpssflbktgv.jpg.html)