mathhunter
Member
I have access to a narrow strip (about 80 yards wide) of woods across the road from my house that connects to a much bigger piece of woods. I only have permission to hunt the narrow strip, but the deer travel this during the rut. The wind was forecast to come from the East, so I climbed a tree in my saddle 20 yards to the west of the main trail. The wind was calm but ended up being from the west, so my scent was blowing right across the trail I was watching. At about 8:30 I saw 4 deer coming from the northeast, past where my one man ladder stand was. The two lead deer were big does, and the other two were fawns. I think the second deer was slightly bigger, but I was afraid the lead deer would scent me so I wanted to shoot her if I had the chance. When she got close to where I wanted to shoot, I slowly drew back. I don’t know if she heard or smelled something, but she got nervous and stopped for an instance. However, she quickly calmed down and walked a few more steps. She stopped broadside at about 20 yards, so I let an arrow fly. It looked like it hit farther forward than I wanted, she gave a big mule kick and as she ran away I saw the arrow fall out of her. She ran to the other edge of the narrow strip of woods then south down the field edge. She stopped briefly a few times while running, but I never saw or heard her crash. I was afraid that I had hit her shoulder blade and gotten no penetration. The other three deer that were with her hadn’t moved at all when I shot, so I nocked another arrow hoping the other big doe would come by. However, they were nervous at that point and they circled around out of range and then followed where the doe I shot had gone.
I was really unsure about my shot, so I decided to wait up in the tree for a few hours to give her time (and to see if anything else came by). About 5 minutes after the does left, a small buck came from the same path the does had come, but instead of following the trail by me he short-cut the path to where they ended up going when they left. Another 10-15 minutes later I saw a second buck coming from the same direction, but he never came down the path towards me. I think he was just hanging out in that area about 100-150 yards away, because at about 9:15 I saw a doe and two fawns (I’m pretty sure these were the 3 deer that were with the doe I shot based on the direction they came from) about 150 yards away in the field to the east of me. That second buck came out of the woods and met them in the field, separated the doe from the fawns and pushed her into the woods. Seeing the three deer without the one I shot gave me confidence that maybe the deer I shot was dead.
At 10am I decided to climb down out of my stand. I was going to check my arrow and first blood and then go back to the house to change into lighter clothes for tracking. I had just pulled my platform off the tree and was about to pull my first climbing stick off the tree when I saw another buck in the same spot I had seen all the other deer come from. I quickly pulled back up my bow and nocked an arrow. I was only connected to the tree with my linemans belt and the trail was to my right side, so I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to shoot if the buck came by, but by the time I got my bow up and ready the buck had disappeared. I waited 5 minutes and then climbed down as quickly and quietly as I could. I grabbed my bow and my grunt tube and antlers out of my pack, and I walked 20 yards to the east of my tree. I found a spot with thick brush to the north (the direction I had seen the buck) but with open space to the East and West. I gave a few grunts and then rattled. I made a bunch of noise kicking the leaves on the ground and thrashing the branches in the brush nearby like I’ve seen them do on the THP videos on YouTube. Then I cleared a spot of leaves in a slightly lower spot on the ground and kneeled down facing north. Only a few minutes later, I heard some steps coming towards me. The buck was coming and walking right at me. He stopped about 10 yards from me, facing directly towards me and with brush in the way. He stopped for a minute or so bobbing his head and looking at me trying to figure out what was going on. Then he got nervous and turned and started walking toward my left. Luckily there was a small tree he went behind and I was able to draw without alerting him, but he was still behind brush. As he got toward the edge of the brush I think he was going to start turning and heading back north. The very edge of the brush wasn’t as thick though, and since he was so close I thought I could maybe make it through with my arrow, so I let an arrow fly. I heard a pop and as he ran away into the field to my west and then turned north toward towards the woods I saw the arrow fall out of him and it looked like his tail was dropping like he was going to go down, but I didn’t hear him crash.
At this point I was only a few yards away from where I had shot my doe, so I decided to look for the arrow from that shot. I found the arrow and was very encouraged. The arrow had broken off about halfway, so I had gotten really good penetration. I was pretty confident at this point that I had two deer down. I went back to the house to change clothes and came out with my son to track the deer. We tracked the doe first. We found the blood trail on the edge of the field where I had seen her run and it was a really easy blood trail to follow. We probably walked about 100 more yards and found her dead. After gutting out the doe and taking her back to the house to hang we then went for the buck. While there were some big blood spots where I had first hit the buck, when it got out in the field we lost the blood quickly (but we did find my arrow and it had dark red blood on it). I walked along the woods the deer had run into hoping to find the blood trail again, but I didn’t see anything so then I walked into the woods with the plan of walking back and forth until I found the blood trail in the woods. After a few minutes of walking back and forth I came right up to the buck. He had only made it about 20-30 yards into the woods. There was no blood trail leading up to him, but I could tell he had died quickly because he was already stiff and it was only 2 hours from when I shot him. It ended up that I got really lucky with my shot. The entrance was just in front of his rear leg and the exit was out the back of his ribs. The shot had gotten the edge of his liver and the back end of one lung. I must have hit an artery or something for him to die so quickly with a hit like that.
It was a great day of hunting. My first deer with a bow out of a saddle and my first deer from the ground with a bow. Looking back, God was so good to me with how things worked out. If I had known the first shot had gotten such good penetration (it actually ended up passing through, I never found the other end of the arrow though) I wouldn’t have waited so long before tracking her. Also, if I had still been in my saddle, I’m not sure if calling the buck in with my rattling would have been as effective.
I was really unsure about my shot, so I decided to wait up in the tree for a few hours to give her time (and to see if anything else came by). About 5 minutes after the does left, a small buck came from the same path the does had come, but instead of following the trail by me he short-cut the path to where they ended up going when they left. Another 10-15 minutes later I saw a second buck coming from the same direction, but he never came down the path towards me. I think he was just hanging out in that area about 100-150 yards away, because at about 9:15 I saw a doe and two fawns (I’m pretty sure these were the 3 deer that were with the doe I shot based on the direction they came from) about 150 yards away in the field to the east of me. That second buck came out of the woods and met them in the field, separated the doe from the fawns and pushed her into the woods. Seeing the three deer without the one I shot gave me confidence that maybe the deer I shot was dead.
At 10am I decided to climb down out of my stand. I was going to check my arrow and first blood and then go back to the house to change into lighter clothes for tracking. I had just pulled my platform off the tree and was about to pull my first climbing stick off the tree when I saw another buck in the same spot I had seen all the other deer come from. I quickly pulled back up my bow and nocked an arrow. I was only connected to the tree with my linemans belt and the trail was to my right side, so I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to shoot if the buck came by, but by the time I got my bow up and ready the buck had disappeared. I waited 5 minutes and then climbed down as quickly and quietly as I could. I grabbed my bow and my grunt tube and antlers out of my pack, and I walked 20 yards to the east of my tree. I found a spot with thick brush to the north (the direction I had seen the buck) but with open space to the East and West. I gave a few grunts and then rattled. I made a bunch of noise kicking the leaves on the ground and thrashing the branches in the brush nearby like I’ve seen them do on the THP videos on YouTube. Then I cleared a spot of leaves in a slightly lower spot on the ground and kneeled down facing north. Only a few minutes later, I heard some steps coming towards me. The buck was coming and walking right at me. He stopped about 10 yards from me, facing directly towards me and with brush in the way. He stopped for a minute or so bobbing his head and looking at me trying to figure out what was going on. Then he got nervous and turned and started walking toward my left. Luckily there was a small tree he went behind and I was able to draw without alerting him, but he was still behind brush. As he got toward the edge of the brush I think he was going to start turning and heading back north. The very edge of the brush wasn’t as thick though, and since he was so close I thought I could maybe make it through with my arrow, so I let an arrow fly. I heard a pop and as he ran away into the field to my west and then turned north toward towards the woods I saw the arrow fall out of him and it looked like his tail was dropping like he was going to go down, but I didn’t hear him crash.
At this point I was only a few yards away from where I had shot my doe, so I decided to look for the arrow from that shot. I found the arrow and was very encouraged. The arrow had broken off about halfway, so I had gotten really good penetration. I was pretty confident at this point that I had two deer down. I went back to the house to change clothes and came out with my son to track the deer. We tracked the doe first. We found the blood trail on the edge of the field where I had seen her run and it was a really easy blood trail to follow. We probably walked about 100 more yards and found her dead. After gutting out the doe and taking her back to the house to hang we then went for the buck. While there were some big blood spots where I had first hit the buck, when it got out in the field we lost the blood quickly (but we did find my arrow and it had dark red blood on it). I walked along the woods the deer had run into hoping to find the blood trail again, but I didn’t see anything so then I walked into the woods with the plan of walking back and forth until I found the blood trail in the woods. After a few minutes of walking back and forth I came right up to the buck. He had only made it about 20-30 yards into the woods. There was no blood trail leading up to him, but I could tell he had died quickly because he was already stiff and it was only 2 hours from when I shot him. It ended up that I got really lucky with my shot. The entrance was just in front of his rear leg and the exit was out the back of his ribs. The shot had gotten the edge of his liver and the back end of one lung. I must have hit an artery or something for him to die so quickly with a hit like that.
It was a great day of hunting. My first deer with a bow out of a saddle and my first deer from the ground with a bow. Looking back, God was so good to me with how things worked out. If I had known the first shot had gotten such good penetration (it actually ended up passing through, I never found the other end of the arrow though) I wouldn’t have waited so long before tracking her. Also, if I had still been in my saddle, I’m not sure if calling the buck in with my rattling would have been as effective.
