ricky racer
Well-Known Member
Today was a good day. Although the temperatures were warmer than most of us deer hunters would like, the warmer temperatures were brought to us by a southwestern wind which was the wind I needed to hunt a stand on the south end of a woodlot owned by a neighbor of mine. I was hunting the edge of the woodlot bordering a standing field of corn. I prepped this tree last year and so far this year, I had only hunted out of it once and only saw a glimpse of a couple deer, unable to identify any of them.
I retired a couple of years ago but I do some contract work for the company I retired from. They had asked me to work for them last week so I spent a portion of last week working instead of bowhunting. Monday and Tuesday it rained hard with lots of wind and even a bit of snow flakes so it was a couple of good days to work. The weather looked good with the southwestern wind on Thursday and Friday. I decided to take those two days off work and take advantage of the wind direction and hunt a couple of stand locations. On Thursday I elected to hunt a stand inside the woodlot about 40 yards from the south edge of the corn due to the south wind with a more westerly direction to it. The only deer I saw took me by surprise. I just happened to look behind me and saw a mature doe bedded not 10 yards from the base of my tree, chewing her cud.
I never heard or saw her come in.
Today (Friday) the wind was more southerly with just a bit of a western direction. I headed out early and got into position on the edge of the woods overlooking the corn field to the south. I hoped to catch a good buck walking along the edge of the field. The dense wooded edge of the woods and the standing corn would provide plenty of security cover and I hoped it would make a good buck feel secure enough to pass along the edge during daylight hours.
I've hunted with a stick bow for the last 30 years but for the last two years I've had an issue with my left shoulder (I shoot right handed). In June, over the last two years, I found my self having to start out shooting a 20# bow and slowly working up in poundage, as the pain would subside, until getting up to hunting weight. This year I decided to breakdown and buy a compound bow. I hadn't shot a compound in 30 years and the one I had hanging down in the basement, I couldn't pull back anymore. I picked up an inexpensive "entry level" or "beginners bow" from the local archery shop, a PSE, Stinger ATK. I didn't think I needed anything special, heck I've been killing deer with a stick bow for years so I figured a beginners bow would work just fine for me.
Back to the hunt. My stand was located in heavy cover but I had two openings that offered shot opportunities out into the field, one at about 7 o'clock and one at about 10 o'clock. That worked out good since neither were very wide, maybe 20' or so in width. If a deer entered one of the openings, I likely wouldn't have time to grab my bow and prepare for a shot however, in between the openings was more dense brush which would allow me cover to prepare for a shot when the deer reached the second opening.
The buck this morning must of read the script. As I was scanning the area I saw long tines enter into the opening to my left. He must have been sniffing something or possibly browsing on something but only his tines were visible past the brush for several seconds. As soon as I reached for my bow, he walked forward. The length of the tines identified him as a definite shooter but as he walked forward I realized he was a pretty impressive buck. He stopped in the middle of the clearing and scanned the area, even looking directly at me but didn't identify me as a threat (he's probably seen me shoot before). As he continued on his way towards the west, he passed through the first opening then behind the brush between openings. That gave me time to grab my bow and draw it back. I attempted to stand on my platform to take my shot but I had to shoot between a crotch in the tree and standing wasn't working so I had to sit back down in my Cruzr saddle and take the shot sitting down while leaning out far enough that the lower limb would clear the bottom of the crotch. It felt awkward but it worked.
The buck walked into the second opening, which was my last chance at getting an arrow into him. I settled my 20 yard pin on him and off the arrow went. I watched it's fletching disappear into his chest. He crashed out of the field and into the woodlot just 25 yards from me and slowed briefly almost coming to a stop, then charged again into the heavy brush blocking my view. I heard him crash in the brush, then all was quiet.
After waiting a bit, I climbed down and went to look for my arrow expecting a complete pass through but it wasn't in the field. I followed the blood as it entered the wooded fencerow. About 10 yards in, I found part of my arrow.
The Grizzly broadhead appeared to have done it's job. The blood trail was easy enough to follow.
The buck only traveled 40 yards before piling up against a log. He was a brute.
I really struggled trying to drag him and could only tug him about a foot at a time so I hoped that if I could get him in my Jet Sled that I could at least get him to the field at the north edge of the woodlot, then I could get my garden tractor with a loader bucket on it and haul him home. With a lot of work and grunting, I was able to get him in the sled and pull it between 10 and 20 yards at a time before having to stop and catch my breath. Man it sucks getting old.... He feild dressed at 225# and green scored 147".
I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to hunt close to home, have neighbors that allow me to pursue the game I love on their property and to be able to enjoy this awesome creation that God has given us.
I retired a couple of years ago but I do some contract work for the company I retired from. They had asked me to work for them last week so I spent a portion of last week working instead of bowhunting. Monday and Tuesday it rained hard with lots of wind and even a bit of snow flakes so it was a couple of good days to work. The weather looked good with the southwestern wind on Thursday and Friday. I decided to take those two days off work and take advantage of the wind direction and hunt a couple of stand locations. On Thursday I elected to hunt a stand inside the woodlot about 40 yards from the south edge of the corn due to the south wind with a more westerly direction to it. The only deer I saw took me by surprise. I just happened to look behind me and saw a mature doe bedded not 10 yards from the base of my tree, chewing her cud.
I never heard or saw her come in.Today (Friday) the wind was more southerly with just a bit of a western direction. I headed out early and got into position on the edge of the woods overlooking the corn field to the south. I hoped to catch a good buck walking along the edge of the field. The dense wooded edge of the woods and the standing corn would provide plenty of security cover and I hoped it would make a good buck feel secure enough to pass along the edge during daylight hours.
I've hunted with a stick bow for the last 30 years but for the last two years I've had an issue with my left shoulder (I shoot right handed). In June, over the last two years, I found my self having to start out shooting a 20# bow and slowly working up in poundage, as the pain would subside, until getting up to hunting weight. This year I decided to breakdown and buy a compound bow. I hadn't shot a compound in 30 years and the one I had hanging down in the basement, I couldn't pull back anymore. I picked up an inexpensive "entry level" or "beginners bow" from the local archery shop, a PSE, Stinger ATK. I didn't think I needed anything special, heck I've been killing deer with a stick bow for years so I figured a beginners bow would work just fine for me.
Back to the hunt. My stand was located in heavy cover but I had two openings that offered shot opportunities out into the field, one at about 7 o'clock and one at about 10 o'clock. That worked out good since neither were very wide, maybe 20' or so in width. If a deer entered one of the openings, I likely wouldn't have time to grab my bow and prepare for a shot however, in between the openings was more dense brush which would allow me cover to prepare for a shot when the deer reached the second opening.
The buck this morning must of read the script. As I was scanning the area I saw long tines enter into the opening to my left. He must have been sniffing something or possibly browsing on something but only his tines were visible past the brush for several seconds. As soon as I reached for my bow, he walked forward. The length of the tines identified him as a definite shooter but as he walked forward I realized he was a pretty impressive buck. He stopped in the middle of the clearing and scanned the area, even looking directly at me but didn't identify me as a threat (he's probably seen me shoot before)
. As he continued on his way towards the west, he passed through the first opening then behind the brush between openings. That gave me time to grab my bow and draw it back. I attempted to stand on my platform to take my shot but I had to shoot between a crotch in the tree and standing wasn't working so I had to sit back down in my Cruzr saddle and take the shot sitting down while leaning out far enough that the lower limb would clear the bottom of the crotch. It felt awkward but it worked.The buck walked into the second opening, which was my last chance at getting an arrow into him. I settled my 20 yard pin on him and off the arrow went. I watched it's fletching disappear into his chest. He crashed out of the field and into the woodlot just 25 yards from me and slowed briefly almost coming to a stop, then charged again into the heavy brush blocking my view. I heard him crash in the brush, then all was quiet.
After waiting a bit, I climbed down and went to look for my arrow expecting a complete pass through but it wasn't in the field. I followed the blood as it entered the wooded fencerow. About 10 yards in, I found part of my arrow.
The Grizzly broadhead appeared to have done it's job. The blood trail was easy enough to follow.
The buck only traveled 40 yards before piling up against a log. He was a brute.
I really struggled trying to drag him and could only tug him about a foot at a time so I hoped that if I could get him in my Jet Sled that I could at least get him to the field at the north edge of the woodlot, then I could get my garden tractor with a loader bucket on it and haul him home. With a lot of work and grunting, I was able to get him in the sled and pull it between 10 and 20 yards at a time before having to stop and catch my breath. Man it sucks getting old....
He feild dressed at 225# and green scored 147".I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to hunt close to home, have neighbors that allow me to pursue the game I love on their property and to be able to enjoy this awesome creation that God has given us.
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