Where to even begin? Last December, I got the bug to dive into traditional archery and dipped a toe. The toe dip turned into a plunge off the cliff. My compound has not been touched since last year. For anyone who has followed my boring, drawn out thread titled "What have I done?" you'll know that I have been shooting a lot. Only a small handful of days per month have I not shot my recurve. Running home at lunch, at home before dinner, sometimes after dark, in the cold, heat, rain, and snow...I shoot. Sometimes only 8-10 arrows, sometimes 30, sometimes 50+. Shots were taken from standing and kneeling positions, from my ground blind chair, and from my newly acquired Tree Saddle. I made an effort to practice as many situations I might find myself in.
As if it weren't enough to make a plunge into trad archery, I also decided last winter to start scouting public ground for this fall. I'm not going to lie, I had never hunted public Ohio ground for deer. Small game and turkeys, yes...deer, no. Many, many miles were put onto my boots hoofing the local public ground. I found some promising places, and it seemed like every time I did, I found clear sign of other hunters. It was obvious to me that it was probably going to take some effort to go where other hunters aren't going. At the relentless suggestions of a hunting buddy who now lives out of state, I decided to give an isolated spot a try a little less than two weeks ago. It was a marathon hike in there, for me. Roughly 1.5 miles on foot to reach what appeared (on maps) to be a great pinch point between two potential bedding areas.
My first hike in there, in the dark, felt like it would never end. I followed my HuntStand app (until I lost signal) and then I had to make a guesstimation in the dark. Of course, I chose the wrong point to climb up and I felt like my noisy, off-course access probably sunk my morning. I had considered not hanging my platform until sun-up to avoid hanging in the wrong location and chose not to do that. Another mistake. As soon as the sun came up, I saw the small bench below me (I was nearer the crest of the ridge saddle) and said to myself "Well, I'm going to see deer down there." About two hours after daybreak, a pretty chocolate racked 8-pointer crossed through the saddle 80 yards from me, hit the bench, and skirted past me. I watched him rake some trees and chase two does before I called it a morning. On my way out, I marked a tree on my app that I thought was THE spot to be. I snuck out and decided to come back the following day and see if that buck repeated his route. The area around the beech tree was littered with rubs and scrapes, it was clear bucks were running this pinch. He didn't return that day, only a pair of does worked by me. It did, however, hit me that without a deer cart I'm never getting a deer out from that deep in the woods. Thank you, Amazon and speedy shipping. I'm a fairly superstitious person, so I was hoping the cart purchase wasn't a hex I just put on myself.
A week later, I was trying to decide where to go for my morning, and wanted to give that pinch another shot. As I was finishing my hike in, only about 150 yards from my tree atop a virtual sheer slope, I heard a deer start running. I was thinking this deer had to be, HAD to be, right by my tree. I was hoping it was just a doe, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking it had to have been a buck. Sure enough, as the sun came over the ridge top and I had light to see, guess what is under the tree right next to me inside 10 yards? A brand new scrape.
I sat there most of the morning in the saddle, waiting, without surprise that I hadn't seen a deer for the first few hours. Movement in this spot the previous two sits was late, with first deer not being spotted until roughly two hours after daybreak. The one direction I expected no deer to come from was my right. Why? Because 10 yards to the right was the sheer vertical hillside that plunged into the hollow below me. I even set up my saddle and platform with that to my right for a reason, because shooting in that direction is really tough from the saddle. It all but requires you to stand on your platform, twist around so your back is to the tree, then shoot. At about 10AM, I catch movement to the right. Of course, the right. I see antlers coming up over the hill and knew I was in a tricky spot. With the buck inside 25 yards, I quickly but quietly got my back to the tree and got ready to shoot. With the buck at 16-17 yards, I half drew and made a soft grunt to try to stop him. He kept walking. He popped around a large tree and stopped, but I had brush issues. I had a small hole to shoot through, and figured it was a now or never situation because he was going to walk right away from me. I anchored, aimed, and released...and almost made it through the hole.
My heart sunk when I saw the arrow deflect and bury into the base of his neck. I could tell I got 10-12" roughly of penetration and he ran off looking hurt and I lost sight of him near the ridge top. After half an hour or so, I climbed down and got my gear packed up. I cautiously started looking for blood and was shocked to see really good blood. I followed slowly and as quietly as I could, but the blood trail was so good you could have practically ran along it.
Then I reached the ridge top and knew the buck had crossed over onto private ground. With that side of the ridge being some pretty open terrain with few trees, I wasn't about to start tracking without making a call. I looked up a phone number on my phone and made the awkward call, not knowing what to expect. Fortunately, I was told that it was fine to continue tracking and was thanked for calling for permission. I breathed a big sigh of relief and continued tracking. Good blood continued, but the trail didn't seem to end even though there was buckets of blood on the ground. The deer also never bedded and, judging by the trail, rarely stopped.
As the buck left the open area and reentered the woods, he started heading downhill into thick cover. I finally was feeling like the blood trail was coming to an end. It had to be. And that's when I saw a belly shining up at me from the brush. I'd be lying to you all if I said I wasn't a little emotional. I sat with the deer for several minutes thinking about the journey of how I ended up in that spot with this deer. Shooting a weapon that was new to me, hunting in a way that was new to me, and in public locations that were also new to me. I've killed a lot of better bucks in terms of size, but I can say with 100% honesty I've never been more proud of a deer because I know what went into this moment.
About then, the jolly feels ended when I realized now I have to get this deer home. I tagged and field dressed the deer, marked the path back to my stand on HuntStand, and packed my gear out first. Once I got out, I met my dad and retrieved the deer cart from the house. The cart would be great, but first we had to get the deer up and over the ridge and down to the bottom where we could actually use the cart. Stupidly, I skipped breakfast and lunch that day and I thought I was going to die of exhaustion before we got the deer out. The cart, though, saved our asses.
I know I'm by no means in great physical condition, and when I got home I could barely lift my legs to get up the stairs. I. Was. Beat. Dinner and a celebratory beer definitely helped. Back in the summer, I knew my goal of a recurve deer on public ground from the saddle was a little lofty, but I also felt like it was in reach. It took a lot of effort and some good fortune on the shot deflection to make it come to fruition, but everything worked out. A lot of reflection took place on Saturday, and I was left with the overwhelming feeling that walking up to this deer where he lay was not the end of a journey, just the beginning. It's going to be a ride with highs and lows, but what a great ride it's going to be.
As if it weren't enough to make a plunge into trad archery, I also decided last winter to start scouting public ground for this fall. I'm not going to lie, I had never hunted public Ohio ground for deer. Small game and turkeys, yes...deer, no. Many, many miles were put onto my boots hoofing the local public ground. I found some promising places, and it seemed like every time I did, I found clear sign of other hunters. It was obvious to me that it was probably going to take some effort to go where other hunters aren't going. At the relentless suggestions of a hunting buddy who now lives out of state, I decided to give an isolated spot a try a little less than two weeks ago. It was a marathon hike in there, for me. Roughly 1.5 miles on foot to reach what appeared (on maps) to be a great pinch point between two potential bedding areas.
My first hike in there, in the dark, felt like it would never end. I followed my HuntStand app (until I lost signal) and then I had to make a guesstimation in the dark. Of course, I chose the wrong point to climb up and I felt like my noisy, off-course access probably sunk my morning. I had considered not hanging my platform until sun-up to avoid hanging in the wrong location and chose not to do that. Another mistake. As soon as the sun came up, I saw the small bench below me (I was nearer the crest of the ridge saddle) and said to myself "Well, I'm going to see deer down there." About two hours after daybreak, a pretty chocolate racked 8-pointer crossed through the saddle 80 yards from me, hit the bench, and skirted past me. I watched him rake some trees and chase two does before I called it a morning. On my way out, I marked a tree on my app that I thought was THE spot to be. I snuck out and decided to come back the following day and see if that buck repeated his route. The area around the beech tree was littered with rubs and scrapes, it was clear bucks were running this pinch. He didn't return that day, only a pair of does worked by me. It did, however, hit me that without a deer cart I'm never getting a deer out from that deep in the woods. Thank you, Amazon and speedy shipping. I'm a fairly superstitious person, so I was hoping the cart purchase wasn't a hex I just put on myself.
A week later, I was trying to decide where to go for my morning, and wanted to give that pinch another shot. As I was finishing my hike in, only about 150 yards from my tree atop a virtual sheer slope, I heard a deer start running. I was thinking this deer had to be, HAD to be, right by my tree. I was hoping it was just a doe, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking it had to have been a buck. Sure enough, as the sun came over the ridge top and I had light to see, guess what is under the tree right next to me inside 10 yards? A brand new scrape.
I sat there most of the morning in the saddle, waiting, without surprise that I hadn't seen a deer for the first few hours. Movement in this spot the previous two sits was late, with first deer not being spotted until roughly two hours after daybreak. The one direction I expected no deer to come from was my right. Why? Because 10 yards to the right was the sheer vertical hillside that plunged into the hollow below me. I even set up my saddle and platform with that to my right for a reason, because shooting in that direction is really tough from the saddle. It all but requires you to stand on your platform, twist around so your back is to the tree, then shoot. At about 10AM, I catch movement to the right. Of course, the right. I see antlers coming up over the hill and knew I was in a tricky spot. With the buck inside 25 yards, I quickly but quietly got my back to the tree and got ready to shoot. With the buck at 16-17 yards, I half drew and made a soft grunt to try to stop him. He kept walking. He popped around a large tree and stopped, but I had brush issues. I had a small hole to shoot through, and figured it was a now or never situation because he was going to walk right away from me. I anchored, aimed, and released...and almost made it through the hole.
My heart sunk when I saw the arrow deflect and bury into the base of his neck. I could tell I got 10-12" roughly of penetration and he ran off looking hurt and I lost sight of him near the ridge top. After half an hour or so, I climbed down and got my gear packed up. I cautiously started looking for blood and was shocked to see really good blood. I followed slowly and as quietly as I could, but the blood trail was so good you could have practically ran along it.
Then I reached the ridge top and knew the buck had crossed over onto private ground. With that side of the ridge being some pretty open terrain with few trees, I wasn't about to start tracking without making a call. I looked up a phone number on my phone and made the awkward call, not knowing what to expect. Fortunately, I was told that it was fine to continue tracking and was thanked for calling for permission. I breathed a big sigh of relief and continued tracking. Good blood continued, but the trail didn't seem to end even though there was buckets of blood on the ground. The deer also never bedded and, judging by the trail, rarely stopped.
As the buck left the open area and reentered the woods, he started heading downhill into thick cover. I finally was feeling like the blood trail was coming to an end. It had to be. And that's when I saw a belly shining up at me from the brush. I'd be lying to you all if I said I wasn't a little emotional. I sat with the deer for several minutes thinking about the journey of how I ended up in that spot with this deer. Shooting a weapon that was new to me, hunting in a way that was new to me, and in public locations that were also new to me. I've killed a lot of better bucks in terms of size, but I can say with 100% honesty I've never been more proud of a deer because I know what went into this moment.
About then, the jolly feels ended when I realized now I have to get this deer home. I tagged and field dressed the deer, marked the path back to my stand on HuntStand, and packed my gear out first. Once I got out, I met my dad and retrieved the deer cart from the house. The cart would be great, but first we had to get the deer up and over the ridge and down to the bottom where we could actually use the cart. Stupidly, I skipped breakfast and lunch that day and I thought I was going to die of exhaustion before we got the deer out. The cart, though, saved our asses.
I know I'm by no means in great physical condition, and when I got home I could barely lift my legs to get up the stairs. I. Was. Beat. Dinner and a celebratory beer definitely helped. Back in the summer, I knew my goal of a recurve deer on public ground from the saddle was a little lofty, but I also felt like it was in reach. It took a lot of effort and some good fortune on the shot deflection to make it come to fruition, but everything worked out. A lot of reflection took place on Saturday, and I was left with the overwhelming feeling that walking up to this deer where he lay was not the end of a journey, just the beginning. It's going to be a ride with highs and lows, but what a great ride it's going to be.
