I went to a new hunting spot this afternoon with my non hunting son. We set up on the ground in a nice looking area.It was good to be out in the woods together. Nothing like observing Mother Nature with a youngster.
About 45 minutes into our hunt we thought we heard does being chased by a buck but they were just over the other side of the small ridge we were sitting and could not see any deer. My son who happens to be 10 was able to remain quiet and occupied by reading a book.
After another 45 minutes pass by I hear some more deer movement. This time out in front of us. I spotted the first of 6 deer of the evening. This was a very large bodied buck. I didn't bother counting points because I didn't buy a buck tag, besides he passed well out of my shooting range.
The rest of the deer were all does. They acted jumpy. Maybe they were catching some of our scent in the swirling wind. I kept whispering to my son not to move and to stay quiet.
One of the does that had passed by out of range got spooked and ran back towards us and stopped 20 yards away from were we were sitting. I had the bow in my hand and made myself ready to shoot but there was too much brush to shoot through so I waited.
She started moving up hill and was going to pass in a shooting lane but she spooked again and ran through the shooting lane stopping behind more brush, no shot. But I waited some more, said a quick prayer and kept my cool.
She then steps out into the clear stands broadside. I drew when she turned her head away from us. I held, picked a spot and let her rip.
At the last moment of flight the arrow starts loosing altitude but it looked like I may have hit her perfectly in the heart. She runs off tail waving high. My son starts asking if I hit her or not. He never saw the shot because I told him not to move. Good boy. I went over to look for my arrow and or some kind of sign. I quickly found my arrow, broadhead had some white hairs stuck to it but in the light I didn't see any blood. I figured I just shaved her hair a little bit. She was one lucky doe.
After we got home my son asked to see the arrow. He quickly found a tiny smear of blood on the shaft up by the knock. So I drew blood but the deer isn't going to be bothered from the wound. Like I said before she was one lucky doe.
So the question I want to ask is this. Was this hunt sucessful even though no meat was made? I think the answer is yes because we were sitting on the ground. Twice as much scent, movement and noise. Six deer 12 eyes and ears. I feel pretty good about tonight's adventure. What do you Trad Gangers think?