What an unnbelievable night! My dad and I decided, with the gusty winds, to take the boys on a field edge of a local farm that us, and my good friend, have permission to hunt. The huntable woods isn't very much, but the feeding fields draw the deer in all season. This was a last minute decision and we had to set the blinds up and get settled in as quick as possible. My dad smoked our tent up earlier in the day and I had to grab my buddies tent from the barn, so it stunk like hay and cow. Not bad...
We got dressed at the truck, attempted to smoke up in the stiff breeze, and went on our way.
On the way in we walked across the field and as we came across the rise we could see down into the cut we would be hunting that lead to the field. I spotted a deer feeding down in the bottom. We all knelt down and saw that it was a small buck that we thought was a 4 point. He was facing away from us so, since my younger son Klay hasn't killed anything yet, we began the stalk. We got withing 60 yards and the buck turned slightly and caught us out of the corner of his eye. He stared us down and then bolted.
My dad made his way down with Kody and snuck over the electric fence to where he was going to set up shop. I took Klay on the other side of the cut, about 200 yards away, and set up there. The wind was perfect blowing from the woods to the field.
About 6:00 I caught movement to my left. It was that buck again. He came back and was pulling two does with him. They made their way past us hugging the other side of the fence/weed/tree line at about 20 yards. Unfortunately for Klay, they never stopped in a clearing and never popped out into the field. However, they were walking directly below Kody and my dad.
I told Klay to stay ready because they were now downind of them and I figured, eventhough they smoked up, the deer may still catch a whiff and turn back our way. We are patinetly waiting when all of sudden... Thwack! Thump!!
We hear Kody's crossbow go off and see the buck jump, turn, run, crash... Klay yells in my ear, "I heard him go down!" I'm thinking to myself that there was no way he went down that fast. If he did, it was a matter of what I thought to be 30 yards and that was it.
Now the texting begins...
Me, "What do we got?"
Dad, "He is down."
Me, "Give it time"
Dad, "50 yard"
Me, "Holy Shit!!!"
Me, "Spike or 4 point?"
Dad, "4 I think"
It ended up that my dad put his range finder on the deer after Kody kept begging him to shoot it. He told Kody it was 50 yards and Kody assured him he could hit it. Then my dad asked him if he was sure that was the buck he wanted and Kody said, "yes". So Kody got the green light. My dad figured he was just going to waste an arrow and miss at that distance, but how can he tell his grandson no... right? The buck was slightly quartering away and he drilled him. The entrance was right behind the rib cage and the exit was right behind the opposite shoulder. Unbelieveable...
It ran only about 50 yards at the most and crashed. They could see his white belly from the tent.
It ended up being a 5 point and we are pretty sure it was the same deer we jumped on the way in. It's not a giant trophy, but for an 11 year old boy it sure is. And to share the moment with his grandfather along side it doesn't get much better. :smiley_clap:
My dad got to see it all happen and me and Klay got to hear it all. The cool thing was that Klay was just as thrilled to see Kody get him as he would've been had he shot it on his own.
After field dressing him, his lungs were destroyed and I'm assuming for him to drop that fast, he had to catch some of the heart, but I'm not positive on that.
Oh! I almost forgot... my dad is now sold on the smoker because those deer were dead downwind of them and they never flinched.
Here are the hero shots... I wish I would've washed my face first :tantrum:
We got dressed at the truck, attempted to smoke up in the stiff breeze, and went on our way.
On the way in we walked across the field and as we came across the rise we could see down into the cut we would be hunting that lead to the field. I spotted a deer feeding down in the bottom. We all knelt down and saw that it was a small buck that we thought was a 4 point. He was facing away from us so, since my younger son Klay hasn't killed anything yet, we began the stalk. We got withing 60 yards and the buck turned slightly and caught us out of the corner of his eye. He stared us down and then bolted.
My dad made his way down with Kody and snuck over the electric fence to where he was going to set up shop. I took Klay on the other side of the cut, about 200 yards away, and set up there. The wind was perfect blowing from the woods to the field.
About 6:00 I caught movement to my left. It was that buck again. He came back and was pulling two does with him. They made their way past us hugging the other side of the fence/weed/tree line at about 20 yards. Unfortunately for Klay, they never stopped in a clearing and never popped out into the field. However, they were walking directly below Kody and my dad.
I told Klay to stay ready because they were now downind of them and I figured, eventhough they smoked up, the deer may still catch a whiff and turn back our way. We are patinetly waiting when all of sudden... Thwack! Thump!!
We hear Kody's crossbow go off and see the buck jump, turn, run, crash... Klay yells in my ear, "I heard him go down!" I'm thinking to myself that there was no way he went down that fast. If he did, it was a matter of what I thought to be 30 yards and that was it.
Now the texting begins...
Me, "What do we got?"
Dad, "He is down."
Me, "Give it time"
Dad, "50 yard"
Me, "Holy Shit!!!"
Me, "Spike or 4 point?"
Dad, "4 I think"
It ended up that my dad put his range finder on the deer after Kody kept begging him to shoot it. He told Kody it was 50 yards and Kody assured him he could hit it. Then my dad asked him if he was sure that was the buck he wanted and Kody said, "yes". So Kody got the green light. My dad figured he was just going to waste an arrow and miss at that distance, but how can he tell his grandson no... right? The buck was slightly quartering away and he drilled him. The entrance was right behind the rib cage and the exit was right behind the opposite shoulder. Unbelieveable...
It ran only about 50 yards at the most and crashed. They could see his white belly from the tent.
It ended up being a 5 point and we are pretty sure it was the same deer we jumped on the way in. It's not a giant trophy, but for an 11 year old boy it sure is. And to share the moment with his grandfather along side it doesn't get much better. :smiley_clap:
My dad got to see it all happen and me and Klay got to hear it all. The cool thing was that Klay was just as thrilled to see Kody get him as he would've been had he shot it on his own.
After field dressing him, his lungs were destroyed and I'm assuming for him to drop that fast, he had to catch some of the heart, but I'm not positive on that.
Oh! I almost forgot... my dad is now sold on the smoker because those deer were dead downwind of them and they never flinched.
Here are the hero shots... I wish I would've washed my face first :tantrum:
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