I was out... with hunter orange as required... this afternoon. I have been trying diligently for the past two weeks to get o-n-e more for the freezer, but sightings have been few and far between, and close encounters have been non-existent.
Tonight I was hunting on the ground, tucked in front of a walnut tree and behind a natural blind made by two downed trunks. The wind was wrong for everywhere I really wanted to be, and I thought with temps 15 degrees and falling, and 15 mph breezes, it would be as "warm" as was possible down lower.
There were no tracks in the snow (that fell yesterday), and not a deer to be seen for the first two hours. As it began to feel like it would soon be too dark to shoot, I took a peek at my watch and saw there were 12 minutes left in shooting hours. I figured with the snow, I might actually be able (willing) to shoot right up to the last few minutes for a change... as if there were something to shoot at!
Two minutes later, I saw the flicker of movement across the field, and a doe and two fawns began picking their way across at an unusually direct "clip." I was amazed to see them actually coming my general direction, and pleased when they paused at edge of the woods at 20 yards, as if the doe was deciding which direction to take. She was closest, with the fawns 5 yards farther beyond her, and unaware of my presence. I held my bow at ready at 1/4 draw, but there was a screen of wild raspberry brambles between us... open, but not open enough to slip an arrow through without fear of deflection.
"My" doe began to move as another doe and two more fawns came trotting from across the field, and her next steps made her cross my footpath from coming in that afternoon. She did not spook, but was instantly more alert. She took a dozen quick steps along the field edge, and stopped at 15 yards as I came to 1/2 draw. It was a great broadside shot, except for two little dead vines about as big around as a kite string that crisscrossed from a branch 1/3 of the way to her to make an "X" across her kill zone. Light was fading just enough that I could not be sure whether there was a clear path to shoot though. One more step would have done it, but it was a step she did not take! I always say that bowhunting is often "a game of seconds and inches". For the second time in a few moments, that was the case, today!
She was uneasy, and jumped off toward her "kids" as yet another deer, a six-point buck, started across the field. She snorted once, and everybody was suddenly on alert, but she stopped broadside once again, right it the middle of a shooting lane.
I hit full draw at the same time she stopped, considered the shot for a tenth of a second, and held my fire. It didn't feel right. She seemed too far for comfort. She was wired to go.
Five seconds later, they were all trotting to the center of the field. Thirty seconds later, I was alone... and satisfied that I had made the right choice, and had a GREAT hunt!
As I left, chilly but smiling, I stood where the doe had stopped at my full draw, and realized she had been over 30 yards. No shot was a good choice, this time.
As Burnsie says in his title, there are but two days left in our season. I'll be out trying, the Lord willing. I'd say the odds are VERY long at this point, but you already know the result, if you don't go to the field.
It only takes a minute to shoot a deer. I hope one of us will be there, and be ready in that moment!!!
Keep after 'em, my friends...
Topic: Last 2 Days for Illinios (Read 532 times)
