When I first started bowhunting, I knew I had to make it a point to hunt on October 23rd every season. I have always deemed 10/23 my “lucky day” when in reality, it has been largely devoid of luck over the years. My favorite numbers are 10 and 23; numbers which helped created my first handle on the internet as bowhunter1023. After years of futility from a tree on this “lucky” day, my wife found a way to make sure I would have at least one October 23rd hunt to remember for the rest of my life. And there is no doubt I will ever forget her first bow kill!!!
The “Streak” and Bad Luck
My wife and I started dating in January of 2003 and by the end of our first year together, she was starting to take an interest in hunting with me. She accompanied me on a few bow hunts that fall and by the time gun season rolled around, it was time for her to take a crack at harvesting her first deer. Her first hunt ended in a miss, the only one of her career to date. On a return trip to the same field where she missed her first deer two days earlier, she made a perfect 80 yard shot on a nice doe with the CVA muzzleloader. The following season, she would kill her first buck with a crossbow on a picture perfect, frosty November morning. That buck was the second in what became a string of 8 successful harvests in 8 seasons; one for each year we have been together. Over the years, the “streak” has been something we take very seriously and there have been some years where the streak was in grave danger. Through luck, persistence, and ingenuity, we’ve manage to keep things going and its something we have a lot of fun with each fall.
Despite her consistent success with a gun, our efforts to get Tracie her first bow kill have been lackluster at best; with a few highlights and close calls tossed in for effect. Starting in the 2007 season with a High Country Ranger, Tracie joined me on a few bow hunts, but we were not very diligent in our efforts to get her first vertical bow kill that year. The following season was perhaps a worse effort than the previous and we might as well not even discuss the lack of effort on my part during the 2009 season. Going in to last season, I knew I owed my wife a little more dedication to this cause, so we made a point to spend more times in the woods with her Mathews Mustang. On opening morning of the 2010 season, we had deer in bow range most of the morning, but we were never able to get the shot opportunity we were looking for. We hunted a few more times that fall before my hunting took precedence and we looked towards gun season as our way to keep the streak alive. Headed in to this season, our shared goal of getting her first bow kill had started to inch its way near the top of my seasonal goals.
Opening weekend this season found us hunting the same blind where she nearly connected on a nice doe the season before. This hunt seemed to mirror hunts from seasons past; deer were in range, but we never got the shot we needed and when she finally did get a chance to put tension on the string, the doe seemed to sense the danger and walked directly away from us. It seemed our success with the “streak” had resulted in a trade for bad luck in our bow hunting efforts. After a rough weekend in the woods, I figured last night was a great time to get her back in a stand with the hopes of finally getting this “first bow kill” monkey off our backs. Earlier in the year, my buddy killed his first deer with a bow during a hunt at our farm on opening day. Since we were hunting a stand we affectionately dubbed “Jamie’s Stand” last night, I had hopes that he might have left a little of his luck from opening day in his namesakes stand!!!
Pandemonium
After hanging the Millennium on the second trunk of a split white oak, we settled in to our stands last night just after 5PM. Roughly 30 minutes later, I caught movement on the ridgeline directly across from us. It wasn’t long before I had the binos on 1.5 year old 3-point who was on his way to work a scrape. Being eye-level at 60 yards, the buck had every advantage in spotting us on our perch and it didn’t take him long to do so. For nearly 10 minutes, we were in lock down mode as the buck stared in our direction. He eventually turned to check his back trail, so I threw a few soft grunts his direction in hopes of easing his nerves. Shortly after grunting at the buck, I caught movement on the hill top direction down wind of our location. I turned in time to glass a big doe as she disappeared into a thicket on the hill above our set. We maneuvered into position as we anticipated a shot to our 6 or 7 o’clock behind the tree once she broke free of the thicket.
While we watched the thicket waiting for the doe to reappear, the young buck had found himself a yearling doe he hoped would be his new girlfriend. The buck began grunting and dogging the young doe until they were directly beneath our stand. As the young doe worked her way to within 5 yards of our tree at one point, we began to scramble for a shot opportunity. In the midst of all this action, the big doe and another smaller deer had emerged from the thicket above us and it wasn’t long before the young buck was staring us down from 8 yards as the big doe was stomping and snorting at us from eye-level at 40 yards. The big doe continued to raise hell as the young buck meandered off and disappeared into the brush choked ravine behind us. The young doe he was chasing, worked her way into the thicket with the angry doe and the other antlerless deer we had seen, broke from the thicket and started down a trail that would offer a slightly quartering-away shot at 30 yards.
What we now know was a button buck, stopped along the trail just a few yards short of the shooting lane and I was thinking: “Here we go again. Deer in range and we’ll not have a good shot…” Tracie and I were talking things over trying to make a decision to shoot or to wait on another deer to give us a shot and eventually, I talked her in to taking the shot should we get it. We patiently waited for the buck to start towards the shooting lane again and it seemed like the minutes just crawled by! While we are watching the button buck, Tracie whispers that there are deer in the corner of the field and one is a buck. I made the assumption that it was the young buck from earlier after seeing a mature doe take off from the spot thinking she was agitated with him and all the commotion below her. Within a few seconds of the doe taking off, the button buck was back on the move and Tracie came to full draw as I bleated to stop him. The shot was a touch back and the deer ran a 30 yards before button hooking, stopping 5 yards from our tree where I put an arrow between his shoulder blades and ended the hunt. Knowing we might be in for a track job, I figured it was best to end things quickly and there was no way I was going to be able to get her another arrow in time to do things efficiently. After a few short moments, the button buck lay motionless beneath our stand, ending what had been 30 minutes of pure pandemonium!
The Streak is Alive!!!
As we celebrated and gathered our gear, I caught movement directly behind our stand on the edge of the CRP field where doe had bolted from moments earlier. In a split second, I realized it was not the small buck from earlier and threw up the binos in time to see a gorgeous 140” 10-point trotting off through the CRP. Here this buck had been standing less than 60 yards away watching the entire show! Had we not had so much commotion under our stand prompting us to shoot the button buck, I’m convinced this buck would have made it to within 30-40 yards of our stand! Regardless of what might have happened, what did happen with fine with me and I was excited to get out of the tree to see her first bow kill up close!!!
After a short search, we located her arrow stuck 3” in the hillside behind where the buck was standing. I watched the processor skin the deer this morning and the Slick Trick Magnum tipped Easton Epic went in between the 2nd and 3rd ribs from the back of the cage, cut through the liver, nicked the stomach and offside lung, then punched through the 5th rib from the back of the cage upon exit. Not bad for a 40 pound Mathew Mustang and a 290 grain arrow at!!! Looking back, that buck would have died within site of our stand without me taking a follow up shot. I had hoped to get a deer inside 20 yards, but it was great to see the performance of her bow at her max range of 30 yards as it relieves some doubts about its efficiency at that yardage. And of course, I was proud of her making the shot! Both our nerves were about shot by the time she actually got a chance to loose an arrow, so she really showed there are ice water in them there veins!!!
In the end, after years of fruitless October 23rd hunts, my wife gave me a memory I will forever treasure and it’s something we will be able to share with one another for years to come. At the same time, she kept the streak alive early in the season which lifts a ton of weight from my shoulders! The mature buck standing at 60 yards watching the show was the first true slunger I have seen this early in a season. All in all, I feel its safe to say October 23rd is still my lucky day, and now, our lucky day!!!
Blood soaked arrow…
This is a “hero” shot I’ll never get tired of being in!!!
The “Streak” and Bad Luck
My wife and I started dating in January of 2003 and by the end of our first year together, she was starting to take an interest in hunting with me. She accompanied me on a few bow hunts that fall and by the time gun season rolled around, it was time for her to take a crack at harvesting her first deer. Her first hunt ended in a miss, the only one of her career to date. On a return trip to the same field where she missed her first deer two days earlier, she made a perfect 80 yard shot on a nice doe with the CVA muzzleloader. The following season, she would kill her first buck with a crossbow on a picture perfect, frosty November morning. That buck was the second in what became a string of 8 successful harvests in 8 seasons; one for each year we have been together. Over the years, the “streak” has been something we take very seriously and there have been some years where the streak was in grave danger. Through luck, persistence, and ingenuity, we’ve manage to keep things going and its something we have a lot of fun with each fall.
Despite her consistent success with a gun, our efforts to get Tracie her first bow kill have been lackluster at best; with a few highlights and close calls tossed in for effect. Starting in the 2007 season with a High Country Ranger, Tracie joined me on a few bow hunts, but we were not very diligent in our efforts to get her first vertical bow kill that year. The following season was perhaps a worse effort than the previous and we might as well not even discuss the lack of effort on my part during the 2009 season. Going in to last season, I knew I owed my wife a little more dedication to this cause, so we made a point to spend more times in the woods with her Mathews Mustang. On opening morning of the 2010 season, we had deer in bow range most of the morning, but we were never able to get the shot opportunity we were looking for. We hunted a few more times that fall before my hunting took precedence and we looked towards gun season as our way to keep the streak alive. Headed in to this season, our shared goal of getting her first bow kill had started to inch its way near the top of my seasonal goals.
Opening weekend this season found us hunting the same blind where she nearly connected on a nice doe the season before. This hunt seemed to mirror hunts from seasons past; deer were in range, but we never got the shot we needed and when she finally did get a chance to put tension on the string, the doe seemed to sense the danger and walked directly away from us. It seemed our success with the “streak” had resulted in a trade for bad luck in our bow hunting efforts. After a rough weekend in the woods, I figured last night was a great time to get her back in a stand with the hopes of finally getting this “first bow kill” monkey off our backs. Earlier in the year, my buddy killed his first deer with a bow during a hunt at our farm on opening day. Since we were hunting a stand we affectionately dubbed “Jamie’s Stand” last night, I had hopes that he might have left a little of his luck from opening day in his namesakes stand!!!
Pandemonium
After hanging the Millennium on the second trunk of a split white oak, we settled in to our stands last night just after 5PM. Roughly 30 minutes later, I caught movement on the ridgeline directly across from us. It wasn’t long before I had the binos on 1.5 year old 3-point who was on his way to work a scrape. Being eye-level at 60 yards, the buck had every advantage in spotting us on our perch and it didn’t take him long to do so. For nearly 10 minutes, we were in lock down mode as the buck stared in our direction. He eventually turned to check his back trail, so I threw a few soft grunts his direction in hopes of easing his nerves. Shortly after grunting at the buck, I caught movement on the hill top direction down wind of our location. I turned in time to glass a big doe as she disappeared into a thicket on the hill above our set. We maneuvered into position as we anticipated a shot to our 6 or 7 o’clock behind the tree once she broke free of the thicket.
While we watched the thicket waiting for the doe to reappear, the young buck had found himself a yearling doe he hoped would be his new girlfriend. The buck began grunting and dogging the young doe until they were directly beneath our stand. As the young doe worked her way to within 5 yards of our tree at one point, we began to scramble for a shot opportunity. In the midst of all this action, the big doe and another smaller deer had emerged from the thicket above us and it wasn’t long before the young buck was staring us down from 8 yards as the big doe was stomping and snorting at us from eye-level at 40 yards. The big doe continued to raise hell as the young buck meandered off and disappeared into the brush choked ravine behind us. The young doe he was chasing, worked her way into the thicket with the angry doe and the other antlerless deer we had seen, broke from the thicket and started down a trail that would offer a slightly quartering-away shot at 30 yards.
What we now know was a button buck, stopped along the trail just a few yards short of the shooting lane and I was thinking: “Here we go again. Deer in range and we’ll not have a good shot…” Tracie and I were talking things over trying to make a decision to shoot or to wait on another deer to give us a shot and eventually, I talked her in to taking the shot should we get it. We patiently waited for the buck to start towards the shooting lane again and it seemed like the minutes just crawled by! While we are watching the button buck, Tracie whispers that there are deer in the corner of the field and one is a buck. I made the assumption that it was the young buck from earlier after seeing a mature doe take off from the spot thinking she was agitated with him and all the commotion below her. Within a few seconds of the doe taking off, the button buck was back on the move and Tracie came to full draw as I bleated to stop him. The shot was a touch back and the deer ran a 30 yards before button hooking, stopping 5 yards from our tree where I put an arrow between his shoulder blades and ended the hunt. Knowing we might be in for a track job, I figured it was best to end things quickly and there was no way I was going to be able to get her another arrow in time to do things efficiently. After a few short moments, the button buck lay motionless beneath our stand, ending what had been 30 minutes of pure pandemonium!
The Streak is Alive!!!
As we celebrated and gathered our gear, I caught movement directly behind our stand on the edge of the CRP field where doe had bolted from moments earlier. In a split second, I realized it was not the small buck from earlier and threw up the binos in time to see a gorgeous 140” 10-point trotting off through the CRP. Here this buck had been standing less than 60 yards away watching the entire show! Had we not had so much commotion under our stand prompting us to shoot the button buck, I’m convinced this buck would have made it to within 30-40 yards of our stand! Regardless of what might have happened, what did happen with fine with me and I was excited to get out of the tree to see her first bow kill up close!!!
After a short search, we located her arrow stuck 3” in the hillside behind where the buck was standing. I watched the processor skin the deer this morning and the Slick Trick Magnum tipped Easton Epic went in between the 2nd and 3rd ribs from the back of the cage, cut through the liver, nicked the stomach and offside lung, then punched through the 5th rib from the back of the cage upon exit. Not bad for a 40 pound Mathew Mustang and a 290 grain arrow at!!! Looking back, that buck would have died within site of our stand without me taking a follow up shot. I had hoped to get a deer inside 20 yards, but it was great to see the performance of her bow at her max range of 30 yards as it relieves some doubts about its efficiency at that yardage. And of course, I was proud of her making the shot! Both our nerves were about shot by the time she actually got a chance to loose an arrow, so she really showed there are ice water in them there veins!!!
In the end, after years of fruitless October 23rd hunts, my wife gave me a memory I will forever treasure and it’s something we will be able to share with one another for years to come. At the same time, she kept the streak alive early in the season which lifts a ton of weight from my shoulders! The mature buck standing at 60 yards watching the show was the first true slunger I have seen this early in a season. All in all, I feel its safe to say October 23rd is still my lucky day, and now, our lucky day!!!
Blood soaked arrow…
This is a “hero” shot I’ll never get tired of being in!!!
