Today was a good day, to say the least. We've been hunting down here at WNF since last Friday and things have been fairly slow. Tons of hunters in the area has made getting into unpressured ground next to impossible, and the late leaf-drop is making it tough to see very far in the timber. Saturday morning I had a really close call with a nice 10-pt that was chasing a doe, but I just couldn't get him to stop in a shooting lane. After that I had a couple tough days sitting all day and not seeing squat. Today that all changed in the blink of an eye, as these things usually do.
I had moved to a new spot that butts up to some private ground, roughly 0.82 mile in from the truck. I hunted it two nights ago but today was my first morning in this spot. After not seeing anything but squirrels all morning, at 10:45 I caught movement off to my right about 80 yds away. A second later I noticed antlers. I scrambled for my grunt tube and gave a couple loud grunts to get his attention. When he finally stopped I gave him a sequence of grunts. Brrrraaaaappp brrp brrp brp brp brp... Without hesitation he spun around and started coming my way. After a few steps he started thrashing a beech tree sapling. Right away I knew if he gave me a shot I was going to take it. I've been carrying my recurve all week, just waiting for an opportunity like this.
So he closed the distance and marched right toward my tree. I was in a maple tree, about 18-19 high, with another make right in front of be. When he got within 10 yds he hit an opening in the understory and looked right up at me. Bow in hand, I froze. He stopped his head, took another step, then stared me down once again. He then turned and walked out towards my front, and started up a trail on a bench about 20 yds away. I leaned out to clear the maple that was in front of me, bleated softly to stop him, then slowly drew my bow and let it fly. I could tell immediately I hit him slightly higher than I wanted, but the arrow passed through and I could see it was covered in bright red blood. My windage was absolutely perfect, right in line with the crease. Anyway... Blah blah blah... He ran about 100-150 yds and I found him piled up. Perfect double-lung shot. Nothing but ribs. I won't bore you with the rest of the story... But basically we spent the next 90 minutes getting him off that hill. What a workout!
He's the first deer I've shot at with my recurve and I couldn't be more happy with the results. This is the most satisfaction I've gotten from shooting a deer in quite a while and I am really considering putting my compound away for good. I want to thank everyone here for the tips, encouragement, and support, and for helping light this stickbow fire inside of me. This one is truly special for me.
I had moved to a new spot that butts up to some private ground, roughly 0.82 mile in from the truck. I hunted it two nights ago but today was my first morning in this spot. After not seeing anything but squirrels all morning, at 10:45 I caught movement off to my right about 80 yds away. A second later I noticed antlers. I scrambled for my grunt tube and gave a couple loud grunts to get his attention. When he finally stopped I gave him a sequence of grunts. Brrrraaaaappp brrp brrp brp brp brp... Without hesitation he spun around and started coming my way. After a few steps he started thrashing a beech tree sapling. Right away I knew if he gave me a shot I was going to take it. I've been carrying my recurve all week, just waiting for an opportunity like this.
So he closed the distance and marched right toward my tree. I was in a maple tree, about 18-19 high, with another make right in front of be. When he got within 10 yds he hit an opening in the understory and looked right up at me. Bow in hand, I froze. He stopped his head, took another step, then stared me down once again. He then turned and walked out towards my front, and started up a trail on a bench about 20 yds away. I leaned out to clear the maple that was in front of me, bleated softly to stop him, then slowly drew my bow and let it fly. I could tell immediately I hit him slightly higher than I wanted, but the arrow passed through and I could see it was covered in bright red blood. My windage was absolutely perfect, right in line with the crease. Anyway... Blah blah blah... He ran about 100-150 yds and I found him piled up. Perfect double-lung shot. Nothing but ribs. I won't bore you with the rest of the story... But basically we spent the next 90 minutes getting him off that hill. What a workout!
He's the first deer I've shot at with my recurve and I couldn't be more happy with the results. This is the most satisfaction I've gotten from shooting a deer in quite a while and I am really considering putting my compound away for good. I want to thank everyone here for the tips, encouragement, and support, and for helping light this stickbow fire inside of me. This one is truly special for me.
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