"Tyson" makes meat

[Marvin M.]

Some of you may remember my post last October about bow stringers being dangerous. Here's the link if you missed it and are interested.

   Bow Stringers are Dangerous  

I can't remember who suggested it, but someone said I should name the bow "Tyson" and that's what I did.

The bow is the first laminated bow that I made.  It's a three piece take-down long bow made using Bingham's instructions.  I've had a lot of trouble keeping strings on it as it is still really hard on them.  I'm going to have to work on the nocks some more to aleviate that.  Anyway, a week before the opener I broke another string (first since last October) and the bow had to sit out the opener.  I took a doe with my Savannah on the second day of the season, but Tyson was still waiting for his chance.

Here's the link to the other hunt if you are interested.

  Second Day Hunt  

Well, I finally got "Tyson" ready to go back out and I was shooting well.  Last Saturday was his turn.

And for those who like pictures, here's a little teaser -- backstraps on the grill with a sweet potatoe.

 

Also, I'll apologize up front.  This thread will be drawn out.  The first week of the month is always crunch time for accountants, so hang with me and I'll get it finished as soon as I can.

[Gatekeeper]

Congratulations!  

[bornagainbowhunter]

Sounds interesting.  Those folks don't need their money more than we need a story do they?

[Marvin M.]

Saturday morning started out at 43 degrees, calm and clear.  I was hunting with a friend who shoots a compound and we were late getting there.  The sun was already up so we sneaked in as best we could.  My stand is about 75 yards south of his and after we split up, I eased along as quietly as I could to get to my stand.  

It's really dry here, haven't had rain in almost 60 days.  That makes it impossible to sneak in and as luck would have it I busted three deer out from under my stand.  They went farther south and up over the ridge, vacating the area and I don't think they were sure what spooked them.  So much for being late!!    

I finally got there and settled in about 7:00.

I was sitting in a ladder stand on the edge of a pasture (cows were on the other side of the farm), about ten yards deep into a finger of trees that is probably 30 yards wide.  Oaks behind me and on both sides.  Here are a few views from the stand.

  This is looking east, and you can see the pasture just beyond the trees.  There is a tail that comes in just beyond the tree in the center.

 

To the right.  You can see the trails coming along just inside the trees.  A huge white oak is just to the right of this picture.

 

To the left at about 10:00 oclock from the seat.  Another trail comes in just to the right of this shot.

 

To the left about 8:00 oclock from the seat and this is the preferred crossing of the "creek".  

I lay my quiver on the back of the seat (this will be a problem later) and settled in.

It was one of those excellent days to be in the woods!!!

[Marvin M.]

I was entertained by chipmunks all morning.  Those little guys are really working hard here.  I don't know if they're expecting a hard winter or just stocking up while the acorns are falling, but they were all over the place.  

Along about 8:00 I hear one of them give the alarm.  Something is coming!!!  It took a while to sort out where the problem was, but eventually I saw the cause for the alarm.  There was a black and white cat sneaking in from the pasture.  Seemed like he was about half grown, and pretty soon every chipmunk within hearing distance was sounding off about it.  I momentarily contemplated taking out the little wildlife killing varmint, but since I didn't want to kill someone's pet, I let him walk.  He looked entirely too healthy to be living on his own.

Eventually things calmed back down and it was business as usual for the chipmunk crowd.

[Marvin M.]

Did I mention chipmunks?  One of them had his stash under the roots of a tree in the creek behind me.  Every time I've sat this stand I watched them filling that stash.  Well, he got robbed!!!

I watched a fox squirrel working his way down the creek from right to left.  This nut thief raided the chipmunk stash under the roots of the tree the chipmunk had been filling.  Made me mad to see such a brazen thief at work.  So, I eased my blunt out to take care of a little justice and tracked him as he continued on down the creek.  

About the time that I was ready to take a shot, his brother came out of a tree and started chasing him.  I watched them chase each other around and up and down trees for at least five minutes before a shot was offered.  When I started my draw, the saw me and exited in a rush.  

Lesson Learned:  Don't let them see you draw.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[wv lungbuster]

[caleb7mm]

[Marvin M.]

Acorns are falling, squirrels and chipmunks are in high gear.  Around 9:00 the wind picks up a little and I'm thinking about getting out of the stand.  I'm going to wait until 9:15 then get down and move my trail camera and ease out before things get too hinky with the wind.

Wind is blowing left to right.  Not very strong -- just enough to move things around a little.

At about ten after nine, I catch movement to the right.  It's a deer!!!

I turn to face that way and watch to see what develops.  It crosses the creek to my side, then turns back and comes toward me in the creek bed.  I manage to get a look at its head and don't see antlers.  Definitely a shooter then.  

It's still about 35 yards out and not in any hurry.  It crosses back over the creek like it's going to leave, then comes back to the creek and gets down in the creek bed.  At that spot, the creek banks are so high that I can't see the deer any more.  It seems like forever before it comes on down the creek far enough for me to see movement again, and I watch it's ears float along for a while.  Eventually it comes down far enough that it clears the bank and I start focusing on the crease behind the shoulder, looking for a shot opportunity.

[Marvin M.]

Finally, the deer clears the bank but now I have a problem.  It's about 10 yards out, but is so far behind me that I can't get drawn for the tree.  Tyson is 68 inches and with any kind of cant to the bow, I can't line up with the deer because of the tree.

Meanwhile it's unaware of me and continues on down the creek.  I turn a 180 in the stand to catch it on the other side.  

As it clears the tree, it just keeps moving down the creek.  But again I'm constrained.  Remember when I said I laid my quiver on the back of the seat?  The nock end of my arrows is sticking out on this side of the seat and I can't get drawn again.

The deer is now about fifteen yards out and then it turns and comes directly toward me.  That clears the arrows, but is a very poor shot angle.  I'm hoping it will keep coming and offer a shot as it passes my tree.

But no, it turns and goes farther down the hill but is behind some trees.  Then, it looks up and sees my trail camera and turns back toward the creek.  

This is getting ridiculous, but at least it's far enough out to clear Tyson for action.  Now it hits a trail and goes to the crossing spot that I mentioned in the pictures above.  As it steps down into the creek, it hesitates before going up the other side and I was ready for it.

The arrow is on the way.  Shot was about 22 yards.  

I didn't see the arrow (I never do) on the way to the mark, but suddenly there was red all over the side of this deer and it went busting out of there.

I followed it's progress as far as I could, but lost it in the brush.

[Marvin M.]

I knew I had a good hit so I gave it 20 minutes before climbing down, then moved my trail camera to better watch the creek crossing, and organized my gear before checking the spot of the hit.

Bright red blood at the impact spot and no sign of the arrow.  I had blood on both sides of the trail, so I know it's throgh the other side.

I walked over to get my friend and we picked up the trail.  There was a very sparse trail for about 35 yards to my deer.

Turned out it was a button buck, not a doe.  When I checked for antlers at a distance and didn't see any, I never looked back.  From that point I was concentrating on the shoulder and a spot I wanted to hit.  He's still legal here, and I might have taken the shot anyway, but it would have been a harder decision if I'd known.

Here's the result:

 

I kept Tyson in the foreground so I could keep an eye on him, but he finally did what he was made for.

Lots of firsts with this hunt.

First deer with a bow I made.

Longest shot to date.

First year to take more than one deer for me.  I usually hunt all year and (maybe) only get one shot offered that I'm willing to take, but this year started early and has been very successful for me.

And, this is the first time I've taken deer from stands that I've scouted and set up myself.  Both stands this year have produced for me.

I've got more tags and the season is young.

Thanks for following along.

[Chris Surtees]

   

[Talondale]

Congrats!

[mmisciag]

Very nice. Congratulations on your success.

Martin

[rastaman]

Very cool story!  Congratulations and good shooting!