As I stated in a post before the season started, this is my first year hunting with traditional equipment. What I didn't mention was that I am fairly new to hunting all together. My father did not hunt. He didn't have the patience. My grandfather did not hunt. He too....no patience.
But the outdoors......I can't resist it. So, a few years ago I purchased my first compound bow at a garage sale for 60 bucks and a wish. A wish that would go completely unfulfilled. I never took a deer with that bow. I had a couple of shots, but I either froze or missed.
So this year, after purchasing a Shrew Classic from one of the trad faithful here, I embarked on my first season with a longbow. It's been memorable. I've had opportunities, but no shots. I passed on a small fork and horn about a month ago. I did kill an armadillo the same night I passed on the small buck, but the little jerk broke my arrow (lesson learned there).
Luckily though, I drew in to the MAACP hunt this year. I have been excited about this trip all year. A number of us from our church drew in on the same weekend, TSALT and others. I got to see a couple of stud bucks get brought in to camp which was very exciting. I also had a couple of close encounters during my weekend.
It started opening morning with a small 8 point working his way toward my stand. The rain from the previous day made his approach almost silent. When he emerged, head down sniffing for the ladies, I decided right away that I was not going to shoot him. His bases were very thin and his 3's were only little spikes. I knew I would not be mounting him if I killed him, so I decided to wait. Everyone wants to shoot a massive, stud buck like Logan, (BTW, nice deer man, that thing is beautiful) but I know that if I kill a buck that's 2 and a half or three and a half, he'll never get to mature into that awesome, once in a lifetime deer. So, I was content to watch as this buck roughed up a small cedar tree like it said something cross about his momma. It was a show! That evening, a doe came in on the exact path that small buck did earlier in the day, but as she came in toward me, she suddenly lifted her head and looked right at me. Busted. She ran about 10 yards behind some brush in to safety and blew for a solid 3-4 minutes, letting the entire woods know where I was and that I was not to be trusted.
Next day was uneventful. In the morning I saw one buck through some brush, grunting and chasing the wind, but never a shot. The group I was hunting with decided that we would change locations as I was the only one of the four seeing deer. So we loaded up and relocated to a place beside a creek with distinct crossings and definite sign. Two of the guys in my group had hunted this location before and had encounters with several deer. The location looked great, but the afternoon proved uneventful. Morning of our final day came. It was the coolest morning of the weekend and conditions were perfect. I was in my stand and anxious for the morning. I watched my crossings like a hawk, waiting for any sign of movement. Then, at about 8:30 I see movement out of the corner of my eye. A big bodied doe was coming in from my left, behind me from a crossing I hadn't even seen. She was in great position for a shot. With my bow already in hand, I stood to take a shot. As my fingers reached the string, another movement caught my eye. A smaller doe was following. They were both just looking for food, snacking on the occasional acorn. As I was distracted by the second deer, the first one had moved into a place where I had no shot, directly behind me. My eyes went back to her. She was the deer. The excitement was elevated by the prospects of the quality pass. Harvesting a doe grants you automatic entry to the hunt next year on the same weekend. I was ready.
All the sudden, in the distance to my right, a squirrel makes a ruckus and a sizable tree limb falls to the ground. The doe gets spooked and run back toward the creek and starts blowing in the direction of the noise. The smaller doe has now moved more to my left and presented herself perfectly broadside at about 15 yards. I had a shooting window, but it was small. With the larger doe out of range and blowing, I knew my chance might disappear, so I picked my spot, tightened the string and let my arrow fly. The impact was fairly quiet (I guess I was expecting something else, I don't know. You always hear that thwack sound on the hunting shows when the arrow hits, but whatever). She bucked and then ran about 50-60 straight and then cut to the right out of sight. I was jacked. As I started reliving the shot, I was worried I my shot was a little back....and a little high. My window was small, but I had her vitals in view. It wasn't an irresponsible shot, but the doubt started creeping in. Texting my friends, I was excited, but nervous. They reassured me as they asked me questions about the encounter.
I wasn't able to track the deer until over two hours had past. I was hunting within close enough proximity to my friends that I did not want to ruin their hunt. Plus, why turn down free help, right? So, a little after 10:30 we climbed down and began looking for the deer. We found no blood at the point of impact. None. Which was surprising to me as the broad head was visibly sticking out her other side at impact. The fletching end of my arrow was broken off about 30 yards away from the spot I shot her. There was blood on the arrow, but still no trail. Another 30 yards and I finally found the first drops. The first of only five I found. The blood was fresh, but it was dark. Time kept ticking away. We had to be back at our trucks at noon and we still had our stands to pull down and a 20 minute hike out of the woods.
If you've made it this far in my story, I won't prolong the outcome any longer. I don't know where the heck that deer is. I don't know if she is dead or alive. I do know that the pit in my stomach still aches, even 8 days later. I hate knowing that I shot a deer and I didn't recover her. I wish I would've been more accurate with my arrow. On the days I remember I STILL haven't taken any deer with a bow, compound or traditional, I wish I would've taken a shot at that small buck on day one. But that feeling quickly goes away when I think about the buck that will one day cross my path that will make for one amazing trophy and picture to share with you all. Hunting is hard. I learned a lot on this trip. I asked a lot of questions of hunters way more experienced than myself. I had an amazing time with God's creation and with the people he placed on it.
Thanks for having this forum. I felt like I needed to write out my story because maybe somebody is on the same boat as me...a greenhorn looking for his first harvest. We get to read so many stories of the kills and the successes. But hunting is freaking hard!! (Am I allowed to say freaking?) Thanks for reading and good luck out there in the woods. The season is still young!
Topic: MAACP hunt and learning tough lessons (Read 380 times)
