My time with the Little Delta Bow

[luv2bowhunt]

Where to begin? The beginning is usually a good spot to start, but where is the beginning? I became a member of TradGang several years ago when I started shooting traditional, what an amazing group of guys here! The sharing of the wealth of knowledge and the good camaraderie are just amazing.

I began to follow the adventures of the Little Delta Bow and wondered if one day I might get the privilege to hunt with her myself… never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the dream would come true. Back in January or February of this year I saw a post with “Little Delta Bow” in the title, naturally I jumped right in. The post was asking for individuals that would like the opportunity to hunt with the Little Delta bow… yeah, I posted my information pronto!

A week or two later I received an email from 4nolz that I was selected to use the bow and that my time frame would be from October 15th – 31st of this year! I was ecstatic!! Then the waiting began…

On Wednesday October 17th I arrived home to find this on my door step:

 

Yeah, I knew what was in that beastly packaging (very impressive packaging Terry, this thing should survive a nuclear holocaust, LOL!) I promptly brought the package inside and opened it up:

 
The prize inside was much better than any prize out of a Lucky Charms box

 

I held the bow checking over her every inch, just holding this bow you can feel that there is something special about her.

 

After admiring this bow with so much history I headed straight outdoors for a shooting session. I had some Gold Tip Traditionals 55/75 with 250 Grains on the business end, first shot and I knew that she like them! They fly like darts on a mission out of her!

 

I hunted with her that very evening, not a single deer showed up. Oh well, that is hunting I guess. That Friday evening I got out again and had a very close call (less than 15 yards) with a large doe but the swirling wind of that day gave me away. Saturday morning found me in a new stand site. I called on the grunt tube about 30 minutes after legal shooting light, 10 minutes later a nice 16 inch 8 point shows up 30 yards upwind of me! It was his day though, he stood there without moving a muscle other than scanning the woods with his head looking for “my” buck, he stood there for 15 minutes. Needless to say he ended up slinking deeper into the swamp.

This brings us to last night… nearly a full moon, nice and crisp and cool with a light wind out of the north. Boy did the deer move that night! The evening started with 5 does feeding around the standing corn field I was hunting. They disappeared deeper into the corn and about 10 minutes later a decent 7 point comes out of the woods 30 yards to the north of me. He heads straight into the corn to find those does, my grunting did nothing other than cause him to give me a quick cursory glance. I watched a few more does come out in the green field just to my north and a couple more come out in the winter wheat field just to my south. With about 10 minutes of legal shooting light left I hear a twig snap in the woods to my Northeast, I glance that way and see a spike heading out the corn field. He entered the corn and started heading straight into the heart of the field… time to try the grunt tube again. Grunt… grunt… grunt… he looks my way and turns and heads right for me!

He comes right in front of me about 5 rows back into the standing corn, I grunt with my mouth when he hits an open spot but he stops just past it with corn blocking his vitals… DOH!!! He looks around for a second and begins to move again, when he hits another open spot I grunt with my mouth again, this time he stops with his vitals in a beautiful opening only 11 yards away. The string came back to anchor without me even thinking about it… all I can see is a small spot right behind his shoulder at mid body… I don’t even remember letting go of the string, I see a streak through the air and see the arrow hit the buck tight to his shoulder right at mid body! The deer crashes out of the corn running real low to the ground and running hard! I see him enter the woods and hear the arrow crash against a couple of trees, I can hear him crashing through the woods, then I hear a real loud crash… then complete silence.

From the time I drew the bow until it was dead silent was probably about a total of 5 seconds, but it all seemed to happen in slow motion yet really fast at the same time (if that makes any sense!).

All of a sudden it hits me like a ton of bricks… I just shot a buck with the Little Delta Bow! I started shaking like a leaf and my hands were tingling. I had to sit down to make sure I didn’t fall out of my tree! This was the biggest adrenaline rush I have had while hunting!

I left the woods to go and pick up my favorite hunting partner, my dad, to help me track the deer and drag him out of the woods. I got to his house and he had a pizza waiting for me so I sat down and ate a couple of pieces without even chewing, “You ready to go!?!?”

We got back to the farm well after dark and headed to the spot of the shot. This was the first sign about a yard from where the deer was shot:

 

We tracked the deer 10 yards through the corn to the woods. Just inside the woods we found the back half of the arrow:

 

About 3 yards later we found this sign on a tree:

 

[luv2bowhunt]

A few yards after that we found the business end of the arrow, yep it is covered in bright bubbly red stuff!

 

From there we followed a double sided blood trail for about 30 yards, I knew we were close to where I heard the final crash… I shined my light ahead and 10 yards further I see something that brings a rather large smile to my face, “Dad, there he is!!!!” My dad almost knocked me over to see the deer! I have never had such an awesome feeling as at that moment, I had just accomplished my most prized hunting goal!

 

The deer has the smallest antlers of any buck that I have taken but he is my most prized trophy! He field dressed at 125 pounds. The shot was tight to the left shoulder and was perfectly broadside, entering between the 3rd and 4th ribs and exiting between the same ribs on the right side. The broadhead took out the front of both lungs and the deer only went a total of 60 yards before expiring.

I still had through the weekend to hunt with the bow.  I started the weekend camping with my Dad in Michigan’s Southern Allegan county.

This was our quaint little camp in the woods:

 

 

The bow seemed right at home in camp as well as in the woods

 

The hunting was good but the food and company were even better, here we’re cooking some steaks from the spike I shot with the Little Delta Bow along with some potatoes over the campfire:

 

We checked the game cam that we had set up on a large primary scrape and found this boy on there:

 

Check out the tine length! The brown tine on his left antler has to be 12 inches long! Talk about getting excited about the hunt, and the picture was taken 2 hours before dark, the rut is kicking in!

We never saw the big guy from the game cam but had several close calls with does and small bucks. My dad was able to rattle in a 16” 8 point but he never gave him a good shot. All I was able to rattle in was a small 4 point. We were back at home by 3:00 PM on Sunday. I unpacked, took a long shower and jumped back in the truck… I still had one more hunt with the bow!

I headed for the same stand that I shot the spike from 4 days earlier. The evening was beautiful.

Around 6:15 PM I caught some movement in the woods to my west, it was a small deer browsing. I kept a watchful eye on him as he slowly made his way towards me. I could now see that it was a little button buck… I decided that I would take him if given a chance as this was going to be my last hunt with this amazing bow.

The deer continued on a course that took him to the trail that enters the corn field to my South. When the deer entered the field and put his head down to feed I came to anchor, picked a spot and released… I still don’t know how he reacted so quickly, he ducked the arrow! He took a quick bound back into the woods behind some brush.
The deer checked his surrounding for a few seconds and then started to slowly work back to the north just inside the woods… heading straight for one of my shooting lanes!

I ever so slowly reached to get another arrow on the string, and made it without being spotted! The deer slowly continued on his way continually checking back from where he had just jumped the string. When the deer entered the shooting lane the string again came back to anchor, the arrow flew through the air in slow motion… the deer bounded off through the woods.

I could see the blood soaked arrow sticking in the ground just beyond where the deer had been standing! What an awesome feeling, the second deer that I had shot with the bow in 4 days! There was still 45 minutes of light left so I sat back down and knocked another arrow.

When the woods turned dark I got down and retrieved the arrow. The trail was short and easy to follow; this was at the end of the trail:

 

The shot was perfect… I swear that this bow takes control once you start the draw… the arrow took out both lungs and the top of the heart.

Not a big deer by any means but still really special to me. I never imagined that I would take 2 deer with this bow. This will definitely be a season to remember!

I will really miss this bow but will always relish the time that I had with her.

There were even more Tradganger’s involved in this hunt than meets the eye as well. I was wearing a Gray Wolf Wolfskin jacket that I bought from Curt Cabrera (Guru), The KOM Bibs were bought from Brian Kleber (bjk), the arrows were purchased from Sipsey River Traditional Archery, the Wensel Woodsman Broadheads were purchased from Tim Harms with Braveheart Archery.

I would like to extend a special thanks to 4nolz and Terry Green for the incredible opportunity and privilege of hunting with this bow!I will never forget the past two weeks!

Kevin.