So I have been doing saddle hunting for a couple of years and have learned a lot, little things that make it completely worth the time and effort to sneak in places and setup, I settled on doing one stick for most situations.
Now unfortunately on Monday I was out hunting this public property I have been super excited to try, I had previously hunted this area before a full week during the rut/lockdown and even missed an opportunity at a beautiful 8 point who would make any public land hunter happy, I have also missed my opportunity at getting a nice doe early in season but life lessons and only my second year using compound.
So back to Monday, morning temp low 40's, walk is about 700 meters to a nice spot I see some one left their old bow holder still screwed into the tree but seems to have been there a while, setup before sun up, and didn't see anything until about 1030 am when I saw 3 coyotes running/jogging from the direction the deer like to bed. figured well that's cool, then around 1130-noon, I see this little spike running from the direction the coyotes were heading, figured they scared em out, i practice grunting to him to see if I can hone my skills and if possible maybe he will be my live decoy for a larger buck, but he didn't stop or even look in my direction and ran into the bedding area and no more than 5 mins I see 2 does running out of there, they were showing their white flag and everything. 30 seconds later a bigger doe starts to jog and starts to walk right next to me at 20 yards and a easy shot broadside facing me if not maybe slightly quartered away, perfect I'll take a doe, she was at least medium size not huge but a keeper none the less. as I had drew, put my pin on her but i completely forgot to hollar at her, as I released she took one more step forward and then my heart sank as I see this in almost slow mo in my mind. Elevation was perfect, arrow seemed to be a little back, but noticed arrow stuck inside her and didn't pass through, so knew it was liver/gut shot, was hoping it clipped the back of the lungs, so I waited. 4 hours later last hour of light, I slowly got down, creeped around so if I got close I wouldn't bump her and maybe even have another shot.
I saw where she could have bedded down because she was about 100-125 yards and from what I saw up in the tree she was slumped over like a gut shot as she was walking, but didn't want to push just incase, couldn't even find my arrow nor any blood before it was complete darkness, so went ahead and backed out, got back out first thing in the morn, the temp was 34 degrees through most of the night so was thinking at least the meat will still be good.
I started to walk about 150 yards from my spot hit a good turn around and was slowly looking for sign of her, continued process so I could clear my entire area I thought she might be in, then I saw some white underbelly and that's when my heart sank again, yep she bedded down right where I thought she was. That's when I saw she was already claimed...... completely sucks, not sure if I should have tried to look some more that night or if I should have done what I did and waited till first light.... either way going to practice more so this doesn't happen again.
Now unfortunately on Monday I was out hunting this public property I have been super excited to try, I had previously hunted this area before a full week during the rut/lockdown and even missed an opportunity at a beautiful 8 point who would make any public land hunter happy, I have also missed my opportunity at getting a nice doe early in season but life lessons and only my second year using compound.
So back to Monday, morning temp low 40's, walk is about 700 meters to a nice spot I see some one left their old bow holder still screwed into the tree but seems to have been there a while, setup before sun up, and didn't see anything until about 1030 am when I saw 3 coyotes running/jogging from the direction the deer like to bed. figured well that's cool, then around 1130-noon, I see this little spike running from the direction the coyotes were heading, figured they scared em out, i practice grunting to him to see if I can hone my skills and if possible maybe he will be my live decoy for a larger buck, but he didn't stop or even look in my direction and ran into the bedding area and no more than 5 mins I see 2 does running out of there, they were showing their white flag and everything. 30 seconds later a bigger doe starts to jog and starts to walk right next to me at 20 yards and a easy shot broadside facing me if not maybe slightly quartered away, perfect I'll take a doe, she was at least medium size not huge but a keeper none the less. as I had drew, put my pin on her but i completely forgot to hollar at her, as I released she took one more step forward and then my heart sank as I see this in almost slow mo in my mind. Elevation was perfect, arrow seemed to be a little back, but noticed arrow stuck inside her and didn't pass through, so knew it was liver/gut shot, was hoping it clipped the back of the lungs, so I waited. 4 hours later last hour of light, I slowly got down, creeped around so if I got close I wouldn't bump her and maybe even have another shot.
I saw where she could have bedded down because she was about 100-125 yards and from what I saw up in the tree she was slumped over like a gut shot as she was walking, but didn't want to push just incase, couldn't even find my arrow nor any blood before it was complete darkness, so went ahead and backed out, got back out first thing in the morn, the temp was 34 degrees through most of the night so was thinking at least the meat will still be good.
I started to walk about 150 yards from my spot hit a good turn around and was slowly looking for sign of her, continued process so I could clear my entire area I thought she might be in, then I saw some white underbelly and that's when my heart sank again, yep she bedded down right where I thought she was. That's when I saw she was already claimed...... completely sucks, not sure if I should have tried to look some more that night or if I should have done what I did and waited till first light.... either way going to practice more so this doesn't happen again.