The private land that I hunt lies in the Little Miami River Valley in Warren County. It is only 15 acres or so and consists mostly of a north/south Y-shaped ravine where the east and west hillsides are covered with a thick, tall canopy of honeysuckle and mature trees. My hang-on stand is about 18 feet up a tree on the east hillside and faces the opposite hillside. The slopes of both hillsides are steep and the platform of my stand to the bottom of the rocky, limestone covered ravine is about 48 feet.
During late October through November 14th I hunted this stand 16 times averaging about 5 hours per sit while seeing only 20 deer. I am sure that around 6 of the 20 were the same ones. There were times that I questioned my sanity of why a 72-year-old man would get up early in the morning to climb a tree and wait for a buck to walk by.
On two occasions I thought that it was ‘Game On’. The first happened on November 8th when a young doe came down the opposite hillside diagonally from left to right and behind her I heard another deer trailing her, grunting all the way. Well, it turned out that the second deer was a spike buck. Later that same morning a big buck came down the hill about 120 yards away to my right and walked up towards the head of the ravine. I grunted at him a few times and he stopped and stared my way, but eventually he lost interest and moved on over the ridge behind me and to my right. On November 13th a doe again came down the hill on the same path as the previous doe on the 8th. This time she was followed by a little basket-rack buck.
By the 15th my confidence was dwindling and I was close to being burned out so I decided to take a week off to recharge during the so called ‘lock down’ phase of the rut. On Monday the 21st I was back at it again. As I pulled into my parking spot just off the road at the mouth of the ravine the temperature gauge on my Jeep read 18 degrees. On the walk up the logging road to my stand the air felt cold but very dry, and the leaves were crunchy. I got settled in my stand around 6:30 and prepared myself for another long sit.
At daybreak the squirrels became active and I could hear them rustling herky-jerky in the dry leaves. It is not unusual to see a dozen of the bushy-tails at one time. Around 7:30 I thought that I heard a different cadence in the leaves down in the ravine bottom about 60 yards to my left towards where I parked. Soon I caught a glimpse of a deer and it was heading to the logging road and I assumed that it would take the travel route that they have been using lately, the one to my left.
I grabbed my Excalibur Micro crossbow off the hook and pointed at the spot where they cross the logging road and go up the hill behind me and to my left. The same spot where I shot my 2020 buck. Suddenly the deer appeared in my window in the honeysuckle and I spotted antlers. I grunted at it and he stopped and looked my way. I quickly settled my 30-yard pin, aimed low on his vitals, and fired.
At the sound of the shot he dropped, spun to his right and recklessly ran down the logging road a ways and disappeared into the honeysuckle. I lost sight of him but I could hear him run across the bottom of the ravine, then up the thick hillside to my left. Then the sound of his running slowed at the point of the hill, and I thought I heard him crash. Was he down or maybe I just couldn’t hear him running because he went around the point?
I waited a half of an hour before I got down from my stand to look for my arrow. For 20 minutes I searched the hillside where he was standing when I shot, but I couldn’t find it. Almost all of the deer that I shot in the past 6-7 years have been pass throughs. When I didn’t find my arrow or any blood I began to worry that it was a bad shot or possibly a miss.
I decided that my best chance to pick up a blood trail was to go down to the bottom of the ravine and walk it while looking for any sign of blood. As I walked along the rocky bottom I found the top half of my arrow where it must have broken off when the buck brushed up against a log. Half of the broken arrow was covered with blood. That meant that the arrow must have penetrated about 12 inches or so.
After finding the arrow I decided not to try to fight my way up through the honeysuckle but instead walked up a path on the point. As I walked up to the area where I thought I heard him crash I found him. He was down, and only about 30 yards uphill from my Jeep! How I love a downhill drag.
During late October through November 14th I hunted this stand 16 times averaging about 5 hours per sit while seeing only 20 deer. I am sure that around 6 of the 20 were the same ones. There were times that I questioned my sanity of why a 72-year-old man would get up early in the morning to climb a tree and wait for a buck to walk by.
On two occasions I thought that it was ‘Game On’. The first happened on November 8th when a young doe came down the opposite hillside diagonally from left to right and behind her I heard another deer trailing her, grunting all the way. Well, it turned out that the second deer was a spike buck. Later that same morning a big buck came down the hill about 120 yards away to my right and walked up towards the head of the ravine. I grunted at him a few times and he stopped and stared my way, but eventually he lost interest and moved on over the ridge behind me and to my right. On November 13th a doe again came down the hill on the same path as the previous doe on the 8th. This time she was followed by a little basket-rack buck.
By the 15th my confidence was dwindling and I was close to being burned out so I decided to take a week off to recharge during the so called ‘lock down’ phase of the rut. On Monday the 21st I was back at it again. As I pulled into my parking spot just off the road at the mouth of the ravine the temperature gauge on my Jeep read 18 degrees. On the walk up the logging road to my stand the air felt cold but very dry, and the leaves were crunchy. I got settled in my stand around 6:30 and prepared myself for another long sit.
At daybreak the squirrels became active and I could hear them rustling herky-jerky in the dry leaves. It is not unusual to see a dozen of the bushy-tails at one time. Around 7:30 I thought that I heard a different cadence in the leaves down in the ravine bottom about 60 yards to my left towards where I parked. Soon I caught a glimpse of a deer and it was heading to the logging road and I assumed that it would take the travel route that they have been using lately, the one to my left.
I grabbed my Excalibur Micro crossbow off the hook and pointed at the spot where they cross the logging road and go up the hill behind me and to my left. The same spot where I shot my 2020 buck. Suddenly the deer appeared in my window in the honeysuckle and I spotted antlers. I grunted at it and he stopped and looked my way. I quickly settled my 30-yard pin, aimed low on his vitals, and fired.
At the sound of the shot he dropped, spun to his right and recklessly ran down the logging road a ways and disappeared into the honeysuckle. I lost sight of him but I could hear him run across the bottom of the ravine, then up the thick hillside to my left. Then the sound of his running slowed at the point of the hill, and I thought I heard him crash. Was he down or maybe I just couldn’t hear him running because he went around the point?
I waited a half of an hour before I got down from my stand to look for my arrow. For 20 minutes I searched the hillside where he was standing when I shot, but I couldn’t find it. Almost all of the deer that I shot in the past 6-7 years have been pass throughs. When I didn’t find my arrow or any blood I began to worry that it was a bad shot or possibly a miss.
I decided that my best chance to pick up a blood trail was to go down to the bottom of the ravine and walk it while looking for any sign of blood. As I walked along the rocky bottom I found the top half of my arrow where it must have broken off when the buck brushed up against a log. Half of the broken arrow was covered with blood. That meant that the arrow must have penetrated about 12 inches or so.
After finding the arrow I decided not to try to fight my way up through the honeysuckle but instead walked up a path on the point. As I walked up to the area where I thought I heard him crash I found him. He was down, and only about 30 yards uphill from my Jeep! How I love a downhill drag.
