Yesterday started off with me getting home from work at 3:30 am and in bed at 4 with my alarm set for 7 am. I got up and got my shower and put on my Copperhead base layers and my smoke scented clothes and head out into the drizzly and misty cold morning weather. With the wind coming out of the WNW my mind was bouncing around as to which stand to hunt. My most favorite set is set up best for a SSW or even SE wind but after reading several successful hunts here on TOO with hunters killing or seeing nice bucks on their downwind side due to the cold wet and blustery conditions I thought, "WTH" it's a great cruising location and I have the smoke on my side TOO!
After arriving at the property I grabbed all my gear which I carry in my new "Badlands" fanny backpack which really has impressed me so far, my bow and made my way down to the creek. I use this creek more and more as my entry because it is low and covers me with the it's natural noise of running water over the ripples. It was really wet and relatively light at which it was 7:50 am by now as I was nearing my treestand. After my ascent to my perch I quickly hooked on my HSS safety strap and pulled up my bow and hung my backpack on a near by screw in step. I then made a nice long check of my surroundings and mental notes of the obvious wind direction(WNW) as it blew mostly up towards this nice transition area at a corner of standing cornfield and honeysuckle choked draw which sits off to the SE of my tree. My decision to hunt this set was ALSO based on the fact that deer have trails and have been seen approaching this area in ALL directions so my head was basically on a swivel during my hunt. After my check, I visited the TOO site on my phone and made a few posts and was checking to see who else was hunting with me in this less than perfect weather. As I glance up(8:32am) I see a doe slipping thru this corner to my SE and she never winded me which was very comforting and I put the phone away reading myself in case a shooter was following behind her. It is now about 8:35 and I decide to start hitting the grunt tube 3 times every 15-20 minutes just in case a buck was close by. My 3rd series of grunts was about 9:25 and things were still pretty quiet other than the 3-4 gray squirrels I've been watching since I started my hunt. About 5 minutes passed and my head is on a swivel and as I look back towards the downwind corner I see a nice buck coming towards me. He is about 50 yards out and is closing fast. He stopped just momentarily to look around as if he might have heard my grunts and was looking for the action. Before I could get my binos up he continued on his fast paced walk right towards my shooting lane which lays out to about 33 yards off to the east. I knew the distance to every landmark along this shooting lane and he was getting ready to cut through it about 25 yards out. Seeing him with a decent spread and being at least a main framed 10 with some junk I was thinking shooter. With only about 20 seconds to react and size him up I grabbed my bow and kill mode took over.
When he entered my shooting lane I was already at full draw following him with my 20 and 30 yard pins centered behind his shoulder. Then he stopped momentarily to sniff the ground and I settled in and made a perfect mental shot concentrating on his kill zone. At the impact, I heard that hollow empty barrel thud sound and he bolted down the hill to a spot below me at a distance of 35 yards and stopped. Within 15 seconds since the shot he just tipped over and died. After quickly grabbing my binos and looking down at him I immediately started fist pumping and silently doing my celebration. Then I as started to reflect on what just happened I thought, "WOW, what just happened!" How fast can things change during a hunt at this time of year. Clearly he was out looking for a doe and I was in the right place and at the right time.
I must add, with all the discussion with mechanical broadheads not opening and the cost of them as well, I purchased a set of 6 100 grain Muzzys a few months ago a few weeks before season. I didn't even get them out till last week and figured if I could get a few arrows to fly great with them, I'd stick them in my qwiver. Truth be known, I got 3 Muzzy tipped arrows shooting great just like the 3 bladed Rages I carry but just about 1.5"s lower but great line. So going into my hunt I had 3 Muzzys and 2 Rages in my qwiver. I figured if I saw a yote or other critter worthy of an arrow I'd use a Muzzy but this particular morning I had an urge to use one on this deer. I have no regrets as it blew right thru his ribcage and did it's job. I must say though, whether it was due to the rain or short distance he ran, I found little to NO blood from point of impact to his final resting place.
Pictures will follow momentarily.
After arriving at the property I grabbed all my gear which I carry in my new "Badlands" fanny backpack which really has impressed me so far, my bow and made my way down to the creek. I use this creek more and more as my entry because it is low and covers me with the it's natural noise of running water over the ripples. It was really wet and relatively light at which it was 7:50 am by now as I was nearing my treestand. After my ascent to my perch I quickly hooked on my HSS safety strap and pulled up my bow and hung my backpack on a near by screw in step. I then made a nice long check of my surroundings and mental notes of the obvious wind direction(WNW) as it blew mostly up towards this nice transition area at a corner of standing cornfield and honeysuckle choked draw which sits off to the SE of my tree. My decision to hunt this set was ALSO based on the fact that deer have trails and have been seen approaching this area in ALL directions so my head was basically on a swivel during my hunt. After my check, I visited the TOO site on my phone and made a few posts and was checking to see who else was hunting with me in this less than perfect weather. As I glance up(8:32am) I see a doe slipping thru this corner to my SE and she never winded me which was very comforting and I put the phone away reading myself in case a shooter was following behind her. It is now about 8:35 and I decide to start hitting the grunt tube 3 times every 15-20 minutes just in case a buck was close by. My 3rd series of grunts was about 9:25 and things were still pretty quiet other than the 3-4 gray squirrels I've been watching since I started my hunt. About 5 minutes passed and my head is on a swivel and as I look back towards the downwind corner I see a nice buck coming towards me. He is about 50 yards out and is closing fast. He stopped just momentarily to look around as if he might have heard my grunts and was looking for the action. Before I could get my binos up he continued on his fast paced walk right towards my shooting lane which lays out to about 33 yards off to the east. I knew the distance to every landmark along this shooting lane and he was getting ready to cut through it about 25 yards out. Seeing him with a decent spread and being at least a main framed 10 with some junk I was thinking shooter. With only about 20 seconds to react and size him up I grabbed my bow and kill mode took over.
When he entered my shooting lane I was already at full draw following him with my 20 and 30 yard pins centered behind his shoulder. Then he stopped momentarily to sniff the ground and I settled in and made a perfect mental shot concentrating on his kill zone. At the impact, I heard that hollow empty barrel thud sound and he bolted down the hill to a spot below me at a distance of 35 yards and stopped. Within 15 seconds since the shot he just tipped over and died. After quickly grabbing my binos and looking down at him I immediately started fist pumping and silently doing my celebration. Then I as started to reflect on what just happened I thought, "WOW, what just happened!" How fast can things change during a hunt at this time of year. Clearly he was out looking for a doe and I was in the right place and at the right time.
I must add, with all the discussion with mechanical broadheads not opening and the cost of them as well, I purchased a set of 6 100 grain Muzzys a few months ago a few weeks before season. I didn't even get them out till last week and figured if I could get a few arrows to fly great with them, I'd stick them in my qwiver. Truth be known, I got 3 Muzzy tipped arrows shooting great just like the 3 bladed Rages I carry but just about 1.5"s lower but great line. So going into my hunt I had 3 Muzzys and 2 Rages in my qwiver. I figured if I saw a yote or other critter worthy of an arrow I'd use a Muzzy but this particular morning I had an urge to use one on this deer. I have no regrets as it blew right thru his ribcage and did it's job. I must say though, whether it was due to the rain or short distance he ran, I found little to NO blood from point of impact to his final resting place.
Pictures will follow momentarily.
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