line from - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
I ran out of venison about a month or two ago so deer season was much anticipated. I always worry that I'm going to make a bad shot and I'll have a long track that will eventually end at my fence line for me without a deer.
But when I'm in my moment, all I can see is a dead deer.
Yesterday I climbed carefully into my tripod got settled, and sent our safe and sound text to the other 2 people, my son and my sister. It was about 4 pm.
Here's my shot window. The food plot is off to the left. And this is the only window out of the area I was nested in.
I had my ear buds so I listened to some podcast, texted Pistol and a friend who was hunting in Brackettville. (Isn't it funny how we can do that? Remember when you didn't even have a phone but used walkie talkies?)
At 5ish I took my buds out so I could listen for footsteps. At 5:45 I was not disappointed, crunch, crunch, crunch... a doe cautiously approached from my right. I'm hunting at the mouth of a funnel and since we planted our food plot with oats since last year, this is always a high activity area.
I stood up and readied my bow. Crunch, crunch, stop. I was fiddling with my release and looked up. Through the thick cedar a big baron doe stared at me. She turned back and trotted off about 15 yards where we could not see each other. Then snorted stomp, snort and took off, disappearing like yesterday.
I stood frozen for about 5 minutes then sat back down and mentally played out how I would shoot from sitting position. At 615 , 2x 1.5 year old bucks appeared coming in the same way the doe did. I was a little frustrated with that because in the morning they ran everything out of my shooting lane.
I let them eat the corn for about 15 minutes then I blew my nose. They both looked at me and resumed eating. I blew my nose again and one walked out a little, but they were now both staring off to the right angle. One walked away and jumped into the food plot which is more off to my left.
The other stayed and I think I could have done the jitterbug on that tripod and he would not even look at me. I blew, I snorted and all he did was flitch. I sent Pistol a text and then looked up. He was gone.. disappeared into thin air.
Sunset is at 7 and time was rapidly approaching 7. In the food plot there were at least 3 does and 3 fawns but the does were constantly running the fawns off. I can only see a fraction of the plot but I figured there were lots more around. A big doe and her fawns made there way straight to me. The fawns jumped out of the food plot but the doe stayed. Then, I saw a young doe with the fawns coming into my corn from the left. This doe was bigger than the fawns but not as big as the older doe.
I stood up and got ready. The 3 appeared, but just a little out of my comfort range. Knowing I had plenty of time I waited. Then another doe arrived alone. She was bigger. I drew my bow waiting for the shot. She was at 9 yards. She darted to my right as if something chased her then came back, facing left. But there was a tree branch in the way. I held for as long as possible. My muscles were quivering and I finally relented to letting down.
I took a deep breath and drew again. By the time I settled into my anchor and sighted in, 3 more deer arrived. One was a big doe and she was also at 9 yards. That's the one I said. Her. I waited for one more step, which my fatigued muscles thought would never come. Finally a shot I ripped the heck out of that HT hinge. It hit here in the back but she dropped like a lead balloon. She couldn't get up but she didn't make a sound. I quickly notched another arrow and drew. Her back was too me so I waited for her to give me a kill shot. She struggled to get up and I had to let down. The other deer were snorting and coming back.
I drew again and waited. Nope. Let down. She finally sat up on her chest and I drew, sending my Axis arrow through both lungs. In seconds she was dead.
Meat is back on the table!
PS -
After I cleaned and quartered her and put her in the cooler, I went to dump the carcass in the woods where the buzzards cannot find it but the yotes can. The game warden was on the other side of my neighbor's pasture and was spotlighting me. I thought he might come visit because as I left the dump he raced around the roads and I could see his red lights and head lights. But he never showed up. Maybe he got another call.
I ran out of venison about a month or two ago so deer season was much anticipated. I always worry that I'm going to make a bad shot and I'll have a long track that will eventually end at my fence line for me without a deer.
But when I'm in my moment, all I can see is a dead deer.
Yesterday I climbed carefully into my tripod got settled, and sent our safe and sound text to the other 2 people, my son and my sister. It was about 4 pm.
Here's my shot window. The food plot is off to the left. And this is the only window out of the area I was nested in.
I had my ear buds so I listened to some podcast, texted Pistol and a friend who was hunting in Brackettville. (Isn't it funny how we can do that? Remember when you didn't even have a phone but used walkie talkies?)
At 5ish I took my buds out so I could listen for footsteps. At 5:45 I was not disappointed, crunch, crunch, crunch... a doe cautiously approached from my right. I'm hunting at the mouth of a funnel and since we planted our food plot with oats since last year, this is always a high activity area.
I stood up and readied my bow. Crunch, crunch, stop. I was fiddling with my release and looked up. Through the thick cedar a big baron doe stared at me. She turned back and trotted off about 15 yards where we could not see each other. Then snorted stomp, snort and took off, disappearing like yesterday.
I stood frozen for about 5 minutes then sat back down and mentally played out how I would shoot from sitting position. At 615 , 2x 1.5 year old bucks appeared coming in the same way the doe did. I was a little frustrated with that because in the morning they ran everything out of my shooting lane.
I let them eat the corn for about 15 minutes then I blew my nose. They both looked at me and resumed eating. I blew my nose again and one walked out a little, but they were now both staring off to the right angle. One walked away and jumped into the food plot which is more off to my left.
The other stayed and I think I could have done the jitterbug on that tripod and he would not even look at me. I blew, I snorted and all he did was flitch. I sent Pistol a text and then looked up. He was gone.. disappeared into thin air.
Sunset is at 7 and time was rapidly approaching 7. In the food plot there were at least 3 does and 3 fawns but the does were constantly running the fawns off. I can only see a fraction of the plot but I figured there were lots more around. A big doe and her fawns made there way straight to me. The fawns jumped out of the food plot but the doe stayed. Then, I saw a young doe with the fawns coming into my corn from the left. This doe was bigger than the fawns but not as big as the older doe.
I stood up and got ready. The 3 appeared, but just a little out of my comfort range. Knowing I had plenty of time I waited. Then another doe arrived alone. She was bigger. I drew my bow waiting for the shot. She was at 9 yards. She darted to my right as if something chased her then came back, facing left. But there was a tree branch in the way. I held for as long as possible. My muscles were quivering and I finally relented to letting down.
I took a deep breath and drew again. By the time I settled into my anchor and sighted in, 3 more deer arrived. One was a big doe and she was also at 9 yards. That's the one I said. Her. I waited for one more step, which my fatigued muscles thought would never come. Finally a shot I ripped the heck out of that HT hinge. It hit here in the back but she dropped like a lead balloon. She couldn't get up but she didn't make a sound. I quickly notched another arrow and drew. Her back was too me so I waited for her to give me a kill shot. She struggled to get up and I had to let down. The other deer were snorting and coming back.
I drew again and waited. Nope. Let down. She finally sat up on her chest and I drew, sending my Axis arrow through both lungs. In seconds she was dead.
Meat is back on the table!
PS -
After I cleaned and quartered her and put her in the cooler, I went to dump the carcass in the woods where the buzzards cannot find it but the yotes can. The game warden was on the other side of my neighbor's pasture and was spotlighting me. I thought he might come visit because as I left the dump he raced around the roads and I could see his red lights and head lights. But he never showed up. Maybe he got another call.
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