It was saturday the 20th and I still had one tag left. School is right around the corner which will take up my time with the family. I had an afternoon to do a little buck hunting so I grabbed my bow and headed out. It is general season and I can hunt with anything but I am completely addicted to archery. I sometimes joke about it...."Yeah, I have an old .270 with worn off checkering and about 10% left of the bluing. Will consider trade for arrows."
Around 3:00 I spotted a small buck about 150 yds. away. He was on the move but would occasional stop to feed on some early acorns. I figured I would shadow him and see if he would lead me to some bigger bucks. After following him through the hills for about an hour, the little buck dropped into a canyon. I belly crawled to the rim of the canyon through the thistles and wild oats to see if he would bed. The wind was blowing pretty strong in my favor. The creek bottom was covered in vegitation, cattails and grass, 6-8ft. tall. I could see the movement as he picked his way through the grass. He made his way across and over to the opposite hillside covered in oak trees and poison oak. There was no way I could continue to follow him without getting busted so I made my way to a fresh squirrel mound in the shade of a large oak. (Squirrel mounds are soft to sit on for long periods of time and are thistle free-old indian trick!) The buck emerged from the bottom and picked his way up the hillside. When he finally got to the top I heard him snort. His head was down, front legs forward, and looking across the hill to my right. Then I heard a soft grunt from the direction he was looking. Another buck was bedded down in a bed that had been pawed out of the ground. His body wasn't visable, just his ears and horns in the wild oats. Those little buggers can sure blend in! I began to scan the hillside more closely when I saw the flick of an ear through some brush. Then I noticed another bed where the dirt had been kicked up. I decided to sit tight and wait. There were more deer here.
Around 5:00, one of the bucks got up and began to browse. A little later another buck joined him...then another...and another! At 5:30 a nice fork joined the four others to make 5 legal bucks. They browsed for about a half and hour and finally disappeared over the top of the hill. I crawled back out of my observation point and worked my way around downwind to try to get in front of where they were feeding. I made a 400 yrd. arc and found them feeding in a swale. I took up a position in some waist-high brush on the opposite side of a swale where they were feeding. I ranged them from 65 to 95 yds. They continued to feed counter-clockwise and looked like they would run right into me! But now I had a new problem as the sun had began to set and was shining directly into my eyes. Hard to see and impossible to shoot in. I was also worried about my face shining. I normally use face paint but my stick had melted on a previous hunt and I had set it out so I wouldn't ruin my gear. I just laid down and sat tight and continued to wait as they slowly closed the distance. About 20 minutes before sunset I could hear two of them walking, chewing, and grunting softly to each other. I raised up just enough to see them at about 4 yds or less. One of them looked like he was going to browse on my cover bush but then decided to go join the others. I waited for the sun to set and the shadows to cover me, then crawled around to a position to give me good visability of the swale they were feeding in below me.
I eased up over the top and looked down....nothing! I noticed their tracks where they had moved to my right into another little canyon. I inched my way to where I could look down into a grove of oaks and there they were, all five of them. I dropped down, undetected, and began ranging the oaks around where they were and came up with 44 yds. I shifted to my left to put a big oak between me and the deer. I double checked my equipment...rear peep was on my string index mark, no grass on my sight, arrow aligned ok, 100 grn. Wac'em XL screwed on tight. My heart began to race and my mouth felt dry. I took a few deep breaths, said a little prayer, and went to full draw. I slowly raised up out of the thistles, shifted over to my right from behind the oak, and looked into the canyon. A nice fork was broadside to me, picture perfect. I opened up my left hand to form a pocket for that sweet spot on my bow to nestle into, dropped my left shoulder and brought my index of my right hand over my short-n-sweet. Then one of the little bucks moved in front of the one I was after. All I could do was hold...and hold...and hold. I do a drill where I set an egg timer at random and draw and hold until it goes off and then shoot on the ding. Hopefully today it would all pay off.
Finally the little buck cleared the big bucks shoulder, I aimed at a small tuft of hair I had picked out, and let it fly! The minute I let go I knew it was a good shot. Moments later I heard the unmistakeable "WHACK!" as the arrow hit just to the rear of his front leg. The buck reacted to the hit, the shot was unheard because of the wind and I remained motionless after the shot so I would not disturb them. The buck knew something was wrong and instinctivly headed for the cover of the heavy vegitation. As he turned, I could see my arrow dangling by the fletching from his opposite shoulder. The other bucks followed him. I could hear the sound of their hooves as they trotted away. I waited for them to get out of sight and then slowly made my way to where I had shot. I found a few small drops of blood. It steadily increased in volume as I followed the trail. After about 30 yards I just sat, listening and waiting. I checked my watch, 7:30. I could'nt hear any noise other then the sounds of the night. My boots smelled like blue-curl and my lips tasted bitter from crawling through the thistles. I got out a bottle of water and rehydrated as I re-lived the events leading up to then. After about and hour, I dug out my flashlight and resumed my tracking job.
Found my arrow!
At about 40 yds I found my arrow covered in good blood. My broadhead was in good shape with the only noticeable defect was that one of the blades was badly dulled. Tracking was slow going through the thick cattails and grass. I thought that the buck would run in a straight line to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest amount of time. But when I jumped ahead of the sign, I lost his trail and had to go back to the last blood. The deer made zig-zags through the creek bottom as an evasive maneuver. It really slowed down my recovery but I finally located him piled up about 100 yds from where I shot him.
Shot looked good
The arrow hit exactly where I was holding. If there was any downside it was that my broadhead hit the legbone about 20% from the arrows center, a glancing hit. It caused the arrow to deflect slightly but the broadhead didn't fail in the slightest. My bow is 60# and although there was a big chip out of the leg bone, it didn't break it. It did slice through one rib on entry and two ribs on exit. That absorbed a lot of energy. I figured he had only seconds to make it to where he was after the shot.
I finished up taking care of him about 2:00am. After cleaning up and getting the last flea off of me I hit the rack. Nothing can give me a better nights sleep then a successful hunt. Now that I'm tagged out I've already started practicing for next years season.
Hope you enjoyed my hunt as much as I did. Good hunting and good luck to everyone!
The end of a great day hunting!
Around 3:00 I spotted a small buck about 150 yds. away. He was on the move but would occasional stop to feed on some early acorns. I figured I would shadow him and see if he would lead me to some bigger bucks. After following him through the hills for about an hour, the little buck dropped into a canyon. I belly crawled to the rim of the canyon through the thistles and wild oats to see if he would bed. The wind was blowing pretty strong in my favor. The creek bottom was covered in vegitation, cattails and grass, 6-8ft. tall. I could see the movement as he picked his way through the grass. He made his way across and over to the opposite hillside covered in oak trees and poison oak. There was no way I could continue to follow him without getting busted so I made my way to a fresh squirrel mound in the shade of a large oak. (Squirrel mounds are soft to sit on for long periods of time and are thistle free-old indian trick!) The buck emerged from the bottom and picked his way up the hillside. When he finally got to the top I heard him snort. His head was down, front legs forward, and looking across the hill to my right. Then I heard a soft grunt from the direction he was looking. Another buck was bedded down in a bed that had been pawed out of the ground. His body wasn't visable, just his ears and horns in the wild oats. Those little buggers can sure blend in! I began to scan the hillside more closely when I saw the flick of an ear through some brush. Then I noticed another bed where the dirt had been kicked up. I decided to sit tight and wait. There were more deer here.
Around 5:00, one of the bucks got up and began to browse. A little later another buck joined him...then another...and another! At 5:30 a nice fork joined the four others to make 5 legal bucks. They browsed for about a half and hour and finally disappeared over the top of the hill. I crawled back out of my observation point and worked my way around downwind to try to get in front of where they were feeding. I made a 400 yrd. arc and found them feeding in a swale. I took up a position in some waist-high brush on the opposite side of a swale where they were feeding. I ranged them from 65 to 95 yds. They continued to feed counter-clockwise and looked like they would run right into me! But now I had a new problem as the sun had began to set and was shining directly into my eyes. Hard to see and impossible to shoot in. I was also worried about my face shining. I normally use face paint but my stick had melted on a previous hunt and I had set it out so I wouldn't ruin my gear. I just laid down and sat tight and continued to wait as they slowly closed the distance. About 20 minutes before sunset I could hear two of them walking, chewing, and grunting softly to each other. I raised up just enough to see them at about 4 yds or less. One of them looked like he was going to browse on my cover bush but then decided to go join the others. I waited for the sun to set and the shadows to cover me, then crawled around to a position to give me good visability of the swale they were feeding in below me.
I eased up over the top and looked down....nothing! I noticed their tracks where they had moved to my right into another little canyon. I inched my way to where I could look down into a grove of oaks and there they were, all five of them. I dropped down, undetected, and began ranging the oaks around where they were and came up with 44 yds. I shifted to my left to put a big oak between me and the deer. I double checked my equipment...rear peep was on my string index mark, no grass on my sight, arrow aligned ok, 100 grn. Wac'em XL screwed on tight. My heart began to race and my mouth felt dry. I took a few deep breaths, said a little prayer, and went to full draw. I slowly raised up out of the thistles, shifted over to my right from behind the oak, and looked into the canyon. A nice fork was broadside to me, picture perfect. I opened up my left hand to form a pocket for that sweet spot on my bow to nestle into, dropped my left shoulder and brought my index of my right hand over my short-n-sweet. Then one of the little bucks moved in front of the one I was after. All I could do was hold...and hold...and hold. I do a drill where I set an egg timer at random and draw and hold until it goes off and then shoot on the ding. Hopefully today it would all pay off.
Finally the little buck cleared the big bucks shoulder, I aimed at a small tuft of hair I had picked out, and let it fly! The minute I let go I knew it was a good shot. Moments later I heard the unmistakeable "WHACK!" as the arrow hit just to the rear of his front leg. The buck reacted to the hit, the shot was unheard because of the wind and I remained motionless after the shot so I would not disturb them. The buck knew something was wrong and instinctivly headed for the cover of the heavy vegitation. As he turned, I could see my arrow dangling by the fletching from his opposite shoulder. The other bucks followed him. I could hear the sound of their hooves as they trotted away. I waited for them to get out of sight and then slowly made my way to where I had shot. I found a few small drops of blood. It steadily increased in volume as I followed the trail. After about 30 yards I just sat, listening and waiting. I checked my watch, 7:30. I could'nt hear any noise other then the sounds of the night. My boots smelled like blue-curl and my lips tasted bitter from crawling through the thistles. I got out a bottle of water and rehydrated as I re-lived the events leading up to then. After about and hour, I dug out my flashlight and resumed my tracking job.
Found my arrow!
At about 40 yds I found my arrow covered in good blood. My broadhead was in good shape with the only noticeable defect was that one of the blades was badly dulled. Tracking was slow going through the thick cattails and grass. I thought that the buck would run in a straight line to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest amount of time. But when I jumped ahead of the sign, I lost his trail and had to go back to the last blood. The deer made zig-zags through the creek bottom as an evasive maneuver. It really slowed down my recovery but I finally located him piled up about 100 yds from where I shot him.
Shot looked good
The arrow hit exactly where I was holding. If there was any downside it was that my broadhead hit the legbone about 20% from the arrows center, a glancing hit. It caused the arrow to deflect slightly but the broadhead didn't fail in the slightest. My bow is 60# and although there was a big chip out of the leg bone, it didn't break it. It did slice through one rib on entry and two ribs on exit. That absorbed a lot of energy. I figured he had only seconds to make it to where he was after the shot.
I finished up taking care of him about 2:00am. After cleaning up and getting the last flea off of me I hit the rack. Nothing can give me a better nights sleep then a successful hunt. Now that I'm tagged out I've already started practicing for next years season.
Hope you enjoyed my hunt as much as I did. Good hunting and good luck to everyone!
The end of a great day hunting!
