Fridays hunt

[eyedr]

I had the whole day off Friday and planned to sit from sun up to sundown in efforts to bag my first archery deer and possibly have a chance at a big buck that we know is out there. I was hoping to go after the buck in the a.m. And take any mature deer I could after  about noon. 

I sat in my stand on what seemed like a perfect deer day. Right when shooting time started I stood up and readied myself as I learned last year that things can happen quickly. As it happens, I stood for about an hour and a half with no action. I then decided to grab a seat and rest my legs. As sure as the sun comes up a group of 5 does came running down a path and ran behind me not 30 seconds after I sat down. They stopped right under my stand and kept looking back.  I'm new to archery hunting but even I know that's a good sign. I looked back where they came from an saw a big bodied deer with its tail up walking around all weird. It never came close enough for me to see what it was. 

It wasn't long after they came through that a little fork fallowed very casually behind them. His nose wasn't to the ground and he actually split off and didn't follow them exactly. He gave me somewhat of a shot at 10 yards but there was enough branches between me and him where I didn't feel great about taking the shot.  That encounter however made me rethink my strategy and I was willing to take the next mature deer that gave me a good shot.  I have a home addition that I need to finish before my little one gets here and hunted hard last year without putting meat in the freezer. 

Not long after that encounter a mature doe came from the opposite direction and started my way. She was at 40 yards and closing quickly. I grabbed my bow and clipped the release, she was now at 25 yards and still walking my way. Just as she turns broadside at 20 yards I feel the wind swirl,  hit my back, and she was off. 

By now it's roughly 8:45 and I'm pretty excited at the number of deer I have seen so far. Still standing with my bow in hand I see a deer coming from the same direction the first group came from. She slowly worked her way toward me. She was a big bodied deer and one I was willing to take. I clipped my release on and got into position. The doe stops at 15 yards and looks the other way. The only thing going through my head was, do I really want to end my day and my season this early with all the deer I'm seeing already? This was the last day for me to hunt this property as the owner has let a group slug hunt it for the past few years. Shooting this doe would give me plenty of time to track her, quarter her, and get her home without having to rush. 

I decide to take the shot. I let the arrow fly and heard the hollow pumpkin sound you want to hear.  She takes off running and gets over a hill and disappears. With my heart nearly pounding out of my chest I take a seat and relive the shot over and over. Pretty certain it was a double lung I gave her a half hour and went to locate my arrow. I found it sticking in the ground covered in blood some of which had good bubbles. 

 

The one concerning thing for me was there wasn't blood right where she was standing when the arrow hit her. Roughly 15 yards later however there was a good spray of blood. I got up over the hill expecting to see her laying near by. I have to admit my heart sank a bit when she wasn't where I thought she would be. I followed a good blood trail winding in the woods for probably another two hundred yards.

as I kept going the blood started getting less and less and I started second guessing myself. I decide to back out and give her a couple hours. I must have pictured my shot a hundred times in those couple hours. I wanted to resume the search because I knew the place and surrounding properties would be crawling with pumpkins the next day and I likely wouldn't get permission to search for her. 

After resuming the search the blood trail was sparse but it was a cloudy bright red with bubbles. At this point I start to wonder if I only clipped one lung. I looked down at the trail and saw a glob of what looked like lung matter about as big as my thumb and probably 4 inches long, but after that the blood trail stopped and so did I. I sat down for another hour and waited.

when I resumed the search I got on my hands and knees and fund what looked like prints disturbed  in the leaves breaking off from the main trail. Then I found another spot of blood but that was it. 

By this time worst case scenarios filled my mind and I was starting to think I wouldn't find her before gun season started. I lookd on my hands and knees again but found nothing. I looked for a good hour for blood or disturbed ground. I followed trails and searched high and low to no avail. 

Discouraged, and feeling sick I wasn't sure what to do. Turning back now was almost assuring me I would never find her. With the slug hunters coming in and a less than warm relationship between my land owner and the neighbor I was feeling like I was going to end the day and the search empty handed. But with no more sign or blood I didn't know what other options I had. 

Just when hopelessness was setting in I looked and saw a leaf with a faint drop of blood in the exact opposite direction I figured she was heading. Right after the blood was disturbed ground. I walked over roughly 75 yards in that direction and there over a hill,  in a group of sumac lay my first ever archery deer, dead. 

Upon inspection I realized that I had failed to account for the steeper angle resulting from being in a tree stand. I had barely clipped the first lung making a tiny laceration before completely deflating the second lung. The feeling of relief was equally as overwhelming as the discouragement of thinking I had lost her. The only thing I can think  is that the first lung was good enough to function for a long enough time to get her as far as she got. 

I still wonder if I would have waited might I have seen deer all day and maybe even a big buck? Maybe, but I could not be more thrilled to have the experiences I did this year and have fresh venison in the freezer.

As luck would have it I got invited to rifle hunt in Wisconsin for the opener on a farm that holds quite a few deer. I begged my wife and she agreed to let me do it. Hopefully I will have another write up in a few weeks. At the very least its one more day in the woods enjoying the sites and sounds of deer hunting and doing something I love. Sorry for the ramblings but thanks for reading!

 

 

 

[Boar]

Awsome for Yu!! Nice Job..

[DonBo]

Nothing wrong with having to work hard for that first one. Congrats!

[Ohboytimmy]

Good read. Sometimes when the arrow flies the journey has just begun. Not giving up just like you did brought you home that deer.  A hunter can get discourage from the 1000 what if scenarios that torments the mind.

[nbadger23]

Way to stick with it!!  You recovered a deer that a fair amount of hunters would not because you kept at it.  I had a similar track job to that a few years ago that took almost 8 hours, involved crossing a black top road, finding a piece of lung like you did, and quite a bit of time on my hands and knees looking for little droplets to track.  It ended with a very nice buck and a very sore back but it was all worth it. Like you, I clipped just the top of one lung and deflated the other one.  Those shots look so darn good when you make them and then when things don't start adding up with a deer a short distance away it starts making one wonder.  Congrats!

[deerminator]

WTG! And "By now it's roughly 8:45 and I'm pretty excited at the number of deer I have seen so far." That's what I call a great hunt. As I've been getting older and hunted longer, I have been passing on a lot of deer just so I can be out there and see so many. I feel like its such a rush to just have lots of deer come by at 10-15 yards (mostly hunt the ground out of blinds). This morning had same thing happen. I am starting to embrace your strategy though. After this weekend, its the first mature deer I can take. I enjoy the venison too much so I will take the sure thing it walks by.

[eyedr]

Just spent a couple hours prepping jerky. I cannot wait to fire up the smoker Sunday.