Sunday evening Cam closed the door on his 2022 deer season. It was our 14th sit together and one we won’t forget. We have been alternating between a ladder stand and natural ground blinds depending on the wind. We had planned on hunting the ladder stand last evening but changed our minds late in the day and went to a new location. This summer, a storm had knocked over a good sized tree along the edge of a bean field providing us with the perfect natural ground blind. We got set up around 4:30 and saw nothing but squirrels and chipmunks. Around 6:00 I looked up to see a deer walking off the hillside about 150 yards to the southeast. After a quick look, I could tell he was a pretty decent deer. He worked a couple of scrapes and then started heading west. I grunted at him and he stopped and looked our way but then keep on heading west. I threw out another series of grunts which caught his attention. He looped back around to the northeast and meandered around for a few minutes. Cam kept asking me “How far is he”? How far is he? Dad, how far is he”? It all happened so fast I didn’t have the range finder ready. I was finally able to get a “22 yards” reading for him. Meanwhile, the buck starts to move back to the west so Cam let’s out a “Meh” and stops him just before Cam’s view is blocked by a clump of weeds. I hear Cam pull the trigger but nothing happens! He didn’t push the safety far enough ahead
. Luckily he was able to get the safety off and let an arrow fly. My view of the deer was blocked by the weeds but I could hear the arrow crack upon impact. Cam looks at me and says “I smoked him! That’s a dead deer” With the rain coming in we let him go for about an hour before starting to track him. We had good blood and a dead deer a short distance later. This makes 4 bucks in 4 years of deer hunting (3 crossbow and 1 muzzleloader) and none of them have been killed over bait. I am proud of the time he puts in and his passion for the outdoors.
. Luckily he was able to get the safety off and let an arrow fly. My view of the deer was blocked by the weeds but I could hear the arrow crack upon impact. Cam looks at me and says “I smoked him! That’s a dead deer” With the rain coming in we let him go for about an hour before starting to track him. We had good blood and a dead deer a short distance later. This makes 4 bucks in 4 years of deer hunting (3 crossbow and 1 muzzleloader) and none of them have been killed over bait. I am proud of the time he puts in and his passion for the outdoors.
