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First bow kill!

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Had my first day of the hunt yesterday down here in NM.
The morning started at 4 am with getting everything together and heading up to the mesa. I figured the walk would take about 30 minutes and I'd get there 15-30 minutes before sunrise. As usual, I was wrong. My intended setup was a natural ground blind I had set up on a pond surrounded by a large drainage with the greenest grass on the mesa. However, my walk along the rim rock took over an hour and I found myself at the top of the drainage well above the pond 15 minutes after first light. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441306049.780768.jpg
Sweaty and frustrated with myself I headed towards a rock I could sit behind and watch how the animals moved through the meadows. 10 yards from the rock I saw movement 300 yards away on the crest of the hill on the opposite side of the pond. I ducked to the ground and watched two cow elk make there way along the hill and disappear over the top. I sat to watch for a bull following but saw nothing. A few minutes later I could see them working their way down a large bowl 500 yards away. This time I could see a nice bull second from the front with four cows. As he disappeared into the scrub oak I got ready to sneak around out of sight to get a better look at where they were headed. Through the binos I noticed the cow in the back had a huge body. I then realized she also had a huge rack and was not a cow... If the other bull was nice and this one looked way better at that distance I knew he was a hell of a bull. I snuck over to a lookout over the bowl but they had already disappeared into the thick woods. For the next few minutes I sat and listened to their bugles as they made their way around the ridge away from me. I snuck back to my blind and sat and watched does feed and come to water for the next few hours, the whole time thinking about where I could set up with the southern wind on the other side of the drainage. I figured if I could set up on a high spot below the small cliffs on the other side animals would likely funnel around within range.
The view from the ground blind, the hill they were on is the smooth light brown grass below the rocky highest hill.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441306122.547505.jpg
That afternoon my Dad and I drove the ATV up to the top of the huge hill above the cliffs where it would be out of sight.
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As we snuck down towards the spot I was going to sneak along the right side of a small ridge but my Dad insisted on heading left above a thick patch of locust that filtered down into taller scrub oak and then a few hundred yards of grass. Just as we passed above it two bucks went flying out of it into the grass, one of which was a definite shooter. They stopped and looked back for a few minutes then disappeared into some bushes. We started slowly moving forward again and four more bucks bounded out of the trees with another beautiful buck in the group. As we sat still they looked around in our direction as another small buck made his way out to them. Another nice buck popped up at 55 yards. I'm comfortable at that range but he just wasn't a buck I was willing to shoot on the first day. For ten minutes we watched them slowly make their way into another group of trees. We crawled around the backside of a rocky hill and made our way towards the place we wanted to sit, all the while trying not to spook two more bucks that were meandering 100 yards away through a much bigger patch of oaks below us. We came to a spot below a six foot rock face where I was pretty sure animals would pass beneath us and found two flat rocks to sit on. Out to the left the second group of bucks was already out feeding at 250 yards to our east around a small clump of trees. Over the next hour or two we watched them feed between groups of trees and take short naps at each clump and kept our eyes on two other bucks feeding 250 yards south of us down in the bottom. This was followed by a couple hours of inactivity with occasional does and small bucks feeding on the opposite side of the drainage. Just after sunset a couple small bucks popped out of the trees 80 yards below us and I prayed for their bigger friends to come out closer. After ten minutes I saw movement and a nice buck was skirting below us at 30 yards right where I had been expecting animals to funnel around the corner. I told my Dad to shoot but I learned he hadn't made sure he could pull his 70 pound draw weight back while sitting. He tells me to shoot and I thankfully can easily shoot my 60 pound draw weight sitting cross legged out to 60 yards. As I drew back he came to a stop and looked over to our right. I settled the pin a few inches behind his shoulder since he was slightly quartered away and let it fly. He lunged ten yards and slowly walked 10 more yards leaning side to side and fell over. After a few minutes he finally laid his head down and let out his last breath only 54 yards from us. The two small bucks walked up and watched him until he died and then spooked.
To the left where he first appeared
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Where I shot is just to the right of the top of the quiver
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The drainage
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My Dad went to get the ATV and drive it around (which took 20 minutes thanks to cliffs, rocks and trees) as I watched the deer and shined the flashlight at him so he knew where to go. I hadn't thought the deer was overly impressive when I shot but upon walking up to him I experienced some serious ground "growthage"!! We gutted the deer out to see that my arrow had slighty deflected back off the ribs and gone through both lungs and just nicked the rumen. That night I learned that a mature mule deer can dull seven knives if you do all the skinning and processing yourself... and nothing is sweeter than tenderloin medallions from a first bow kill, especially one with your Dad right beside you.
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finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
That's a great read about a great memorable hunt with pops! Congrats on making a great shot on a very nice symmetrical mulie!!!! WOW.......that's getting it done!
 

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Thanks all! Forgot to include pics of the beginning of the adventure. My Dad, Uncle and I stayed in a cheap hotel on the banks of the San Juan River fishing for trout with the fly rods for two days. Surprisingly enough our best fly was a tiny bare red hook beneath a leather San Juan Worm because it looked like the tiny red midges that call the river home. 20+ inch trout were all over the place and I spent much of the time sight fishing in the crystal clear water, which was an absolute blast. Here's some pics of the fish and the river. My dad is the self proclaimed guy who looks like he's homeless lol (his hair is in a ponytail so he looks better). To give you a better idea of the size of the fish and the deer I'm 6'4" and fairly broad shouldered.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310221.253010.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310259.202508.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310274.412863.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310329.654044.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310348.296114.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310413.445440.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310436.188815.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1441310478.443805.jpg
 

aholdren

Senior Member
Supporting Member
5,178
151
South East Ohio
Your living the dream bud. That looks like so much fun, Im like Brock and jealous as hell right now. Thanks for sharing all the pics.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Congrats on a great 1st buck. What a dream but remember it's probably down hill from here in deer size.