On the south farm I have 3 shooters. Only have pictures of 2 of them. 2 are really big 10 points that almost look identical. The only difference being one of them has no tail. The other is a narrow but tall 8. The tall 8 may get a pass if he shows up early.
I have hunted a couple times already and seen the big 10 that has a tail. I have also managed to kill one coyote from the treestand. I will be hitting it as hard as I can for the next week while maintaining my work schedule. I will be taking vacation from work the week of the 12th. Stay tuned.
Congrats!
Light Grey - My path to take to get down wind and circle in on them. My plan is to get within 50 yards and do a snort wheeze. Figuring he will want to keep other bucks away from his doe. Where the light blue ends is my last sighting of the doe and buck. They are working their way south.
Yellow - I change my direction and have to circle way down wind and around. Once I get in the timber I immediately know this is going to be even harder than I thought. Snow is sticking to everything and everything is white. The snow is very crunchy so walking isn't an option. I have to slightly pick up my feet and shuffle them forward. This is very slow going.
Purple Dot - "Here they come!" I thought to myself. Movement ahead of me in the Trees. At 20 yards a doe crosses the trail like she is being followed. I get set and get ready. Then ahead and through the brush to my left I see more movement. "This has to be him" at 10 yards about to come out from behind brush, all I can see is legs. I draw back.
Out steps the one thing I NEVER hesitate to shoot - COYOTE. Yet this time I didn't even think about it. Had him dead to rights but I had a bigger goal. The coyote moves off and I continue working slowly back north.
Dark blue - Where are these deer???? How could I have missed them. I was starting to get frustrated. I decide to head back up to where I saw them from the road. Maybe they circled and went back? Maybe the coyote scared them?
Dark Blue dot - Movement.... 20 yards and closing...its a buck...its a shooter...its not the BIG 10 though. A big buck 145-150" deer with 5 on his left and palmated 3 on his right was at 10 yards and coming down the same trail I was on. At ten feet I am getting a little nervous. How could he not see me right in front of him. At about seven feet I start to draw in case he wants to get aggressive being that close. He saw my movement and stopped. He was trying to figure out what I was but couldn't. He slowly turned and went back to the north. He was a very hard deer to pass but I knew the one I wanted was around somewhere. I give him about 5 minutes and then continue north.
Brown - Where are they??? I am beyond frustrated at this point and really contemplating on whether I just made a big mistake not shooting that buck. I decide to circle around and try to cut their tracks where I saw the deer earlier. The only downfall with this is I lose my wind advantage. I pick up there tracks pretty easily and follow them for about 50 yards nice and slow. Looking ahead I see movement and then a rack come out behind a cedar tree. I stop frozen in my tracks. Its HIM! ITs the BIG 10. at 35 yards. He is facing west towards the creek. I see the doe about 10 yards ahead of him bedded and looking south. I adjust my HHA to 35 yards and wait. He starts to move towards her and clears the cedar tree. I draw in one smooth motion and get to my anchor point. This is it. This is what I have worked towards all summer and fall. I go to put my pin in the sweet spot and what do I see???
Nothing...white...
My peep is full of snow...............I go into panic mode. As careful as I can I move my head over and blow out the snow, or enough of it anyways.....
How didn't he hear me? OR see me? Now he is looking right at me. I am calm and collected. Not shaking and remembering my shooting form. I release and the arrow hits the deer. It looks a little high, good penetration though. One he disappears I go to sight of impact and immediately see blood. I look the directions he went and it looks like the Kool-aide man went walking drunkenly through the forest. I call dad and wait. He is there within a half hour. The deer made it 80 yards. What a season!!! Now to help the neighbor kid gabe try to get his first archery deer. Thanks everyone for tagging along on my hunt and I will keep posting on Gabe's hunt. Hope everyone has a good of bow season as I had!!!
Good results!
Excitingly Satisfying!
Good description, felt like I was there, almost.
Thx for taking us along. My first hunt of the season starts tomorrow evening....can’t wait!
