It was 18 degrees on Friday, November 8, when I headed up to the Ravine Stand. The chain-on stand is about 18 feet up in a tree and, according to my range finder, is 14 yards from the bottom of the ravine. The morning dawned quiet and calm with a cloudless sky. Around 9 o’clock the sun peeked over the treetops behind me and began warming up the western hillside across from me. Soon the stillness was filled with the sounds of thousands of dry, crisp, falling leaves along with the occasional nut crashing down on the forest floor.
Sometime around 10 o’clock as I was standing and bouncing on my toes trying to warm up, I spotted movement up on the opposite hill where it wraps around to the north. Peering through the honeysuckle I got a quick glimpse of the back and rear end of a deer. In a split second it was out of sight. I thought to myself that I might have blown it with my movement and that the deer saw me and slipped away. For the next 45 minutes or so I concentrated on the general area, crossbow at the ready.
Finally around 10:45 I spotted more movement higher up on the hill straight across from me. Eventually, through the honeysuckle, I spotted antlers. It was a buck nosing around in the doe bedding area. I grunted a few times and moments later the buck came down the hill towards me on a mission. I followed him through my scope on my Excalibur Micro 335 and when he passed through an opening in the honeysuckle about 15 feet from the crossing at the bottom of the ravine I took the shot. He immediately went down and slid towards the ravine bottom and became hung up on a honeysuckle bush.
Luckily the landowner was home and he, along with his 5-year-old son, helped me haul the buck out of the ravine with his quad.
Sometime around 10 o’clock as I was standing and bouncing on my toes trying to warm up, I spotted movement up on the opposite hill where it wraps around to the north. Peering through the honeysuckle I got a quick glimpse of the back and rear end of a deer. In a split second it was out of sight. I thought to myself that I might have blown it with my movement and that the deer saw me and slipped away. For the next 45 minutes or so I concentrated on the general area, crossbow at the ready.
Finally around 10:45 I spotted more movement higher up on the hill straight across from me. Eventually, through the honeysuckle, I spotted antlers. It was a buck nosing around in the doe bedding area. I grunted a few times and moments later the buck came down the hill towards me on a mission. I followed him through my scope on my Excalibur Micro 335 and when he passed through an opening in the honeysuckle about 15 feet from the crossing at the bottom of the ravine I took the shot. He immediately went down and slid towards the ravine bottom and became hung up on a honeysuckle bush.
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