It only took me 14 years of bowhunting to finally fill a tag on opening day of bow season. Not that I've never had the chance before, it's just never happened. The conditions were absolutely fantastic yesterday morning... a little nip in the air, a balmy 42-degrees. It sure was nice to be up in a tree again...
The wind was perfect for a set I have over a funnel that leads to a bedding area. My closest route to the stand had some oaks in between and I figured deer would be on their feet feeding, so I opted to take the long way around, up through the bedding area from the backside. This was my best option to prevent bumping deer, but the nearly-full moon had me worried. Well, sure as shit, I managed to bump at least 3 deer on my way to the stand even though I walked in a whole hour early. I was not happy...
Things settled down as the sun came up... I was perched about 25 feet up, just waiting for momma and company to come strolling through. At about 7:20 a.m. I heard something behind me... I slowly turned my head and I see a nice doe with twin fawns coming down the hill right to me. The twins were obviously acting stupid, but momma was on-edge. I think she may have been one that I bumped, but was making her way back through. They came up beside my tree, but I didn't have a clear shot. She locked up, acting really nervous... Then, as most nervous deer do, she circled around straight downwind of me. (Unfortunately for her, I was all smoked up :smiley_bril Just before she stepped into the opening, I came to full draw. She stopped on her own, perfectly broadside, and I settled my 30 yd pin right behind the shoulder. (It was actually only about 24 or 25 yds) I let the arrow go and it sounded good... maybe hit her just a touch high... but she ran hard and I thought I heard her pile up. The two youngins took off running, wondering what the hell just happened. After about 25 minutes I decided to climb down and find the arrow...
As expected, my 150-grain Magnus Stinger blew right through her with ease.
I followed blood for about 15 yds and it looked pretty good, but knowing that I hit her a little high I decided to go back to my stand and wait a bit longer. Just as I came up over the hill, there was another doe and fawn right beside my tree! Ha!
As I waited, the orphan fawns eventually made their way back through, searching for momma. Just as they did, I caught a glimpse of a red fox off to my left. Anyone ever see a fox chase deer before? Well, I have... This red fox ran full speed at these fawns and chased them out of sight! I've never seen that before.
Finally I got sick of waiting and climbed back down again to start tracking my doe. Picked up my arrow... and started down the blood trail. It was a little scattered... nothing real heavy, but it was lung blood... pretty typical of a hit that was just a little high. I didn't need to be worried though because less than 50 yds from where my arrow hit her she was piled up...
Not the biggest doe in the woods, but she was at least a 2.5 yr old. My arrow did indeed hit just a tad higher than I'd like, but I still managed to get both lungs. The stinger did it's job and opened her up pretty good. I got her field dressed and drug her down the hill, where my stepdad picked her up with the 4wheeler and wagon... or what we call the "ambulance." Whenever I get a deer down there I call him up and say, "Hey, I need the ambulance up here." lol
Hero pics...
It was a great day in the woods... definitely a memorable opener for me. Got to see my breath in the air, got to see a bunch of deer, and got to butterfly some backstraps. It doesn't get much better than that.
The wind was perfect for a set I have over a funnel that leads to a bedding area. My closest route to the stand had some oaks in between and I figured deer would be on their feet feeding, so I opted to take the long way around, up through the bedding area from the backside. This was my best option to prevent bumping deer, but the nearly-full moon had me worried. Well, sure as shit, I managed to bump at least 3 deer on my way to the stand even though I walked in a whole hour early. I was not happy...
Things settled down as the sun came up... I was perched about 25 feet up, just waiting for momma and company to come strolling through. At about 7:20 a.m. I heard something behind me... I slowly turned my head and I see a nice doe with twin fawns coming down the hill right to me. The twins were obviously acting stupid, but momma was on-edge. I think she may have been one that I bumped, but was making her way back through. They came up beside my tree, but I didn't have a clear shot. She locked up, acting really nervous... Then, as most nervous deer do, she circled around straight downwind of me. (Unfortunately for her, I was all smoked up :smiley_bril Just before she stepped into the opening, I came to full draw. She stopped on her own, perfectly broadside, and I settled my 30 yd pin right behind the shoulder. (It was actually only about 24 or 25 yds) I let the arrow go and it sounded good... maybe hit her just a touch high... but she ran hard and I thought I heard her pile up. The two youngins took off running, wondering what the hell just happened. After about 25 minutes I decided to climb down and find the arrow...
As expected, my 150-grain Magnus Stinger blew right through her with ease.
I followed blood for about 15 yds and it looked pretty good, but knowing that I hit her a little high I decided to go back to my stand and wait a bit longer. Just as I came up over the hill, there was another doe and fawn right beside my tree! Ha!
As I waited, the orphan fawns eventually made their way back through, searching for momma. Just as they did, I caught a glimpse of a red fox off to my left. Anyone ever see a fox chase deer before? Well, I have... This red fox ran full speed at these fawns and chased them out of sight! I've never seen that before.
Finally I got sick of waiting and climbed back down again to start tracking my doe. Picked up my arrow... and started down the blood trail. It was a little scattered... nothing real heavy, but it was lung blood... pretty typical of a hit that was just a little high. I didn't need to be worried though because less than 50 yds from where my arrow hit her she was piled up...
Not the biggest doe in the woods, but she was at least a 2.5 yr old. My arrow did indeed hit just a tad higher than I'd like, but I still managed to get both lungs. The stinger did it's job and opened her up pretty good. I got her field dressed and drug her down the hill, where my stepdad picked her up with the 4wheeler and wagon... or what we call the "ambulance." Whenever I get a deer down there I call him up and say, "Hey, I need the ambulance up here." lol
Hero pics...
It was a great day in the woods... definitely a memorable opener for me. Got to see my breath in the air, got to see a bunch of deer, and got to butterfly some backstraps. It doesn't get much better than that.