WHAT A WEEKEND!!! (Now have pictures)

[hickry]

MAN!!  What a weekend!!!  I'm limited on time today, and this may take a few installments to get posted... but I gotta share this.  As a background, I started hunting two years ago with homemade stuff (except broadhead).  I was able to get my first deer with a hickory bow last year... and was hoping to maybe repeat this year.  Our bowseason is 5 weekends long.  First weekend, saw a lot of deer but nothing to shoot within range.  Between the 1st and 2nd weekend, I was shooting my favorite homemade ironwood bow... and it EXPLODED!!! I had a backup bow made out of that same tree... and that Saturday shot a really nice buck... in the front part of the shoulder... and never recovered him.  MAN, broke my favorite bow and lost a big buck within 3 days of each other... was feeling pretty blue.  Didn't get on anything 3rd or 4th weekends.  Then, took a little vacation this Thursday/Friday.  Cold front blew through and it was GUSTY WINDY here on Thursday.  Hunted from the ground back in some brush that I had put up earlier on the year... wind was swirling... I'm sure anything within a hundred miles knew I was there.  BUT, we've got some white oak acorns this year, and I had some time to hang two stands in separate areas where the deer were in there eating them.  So Friday morning, get out... lots cooler... and still really windy.  About 9:00, a big lone doe snuck in behind me... saw her out of the corner of my eye at about 8 steps... working just right.  I had repositioned my stand about an hour earlier... just in case one came from this direction... would be tough but I could get a shot.  She worked her way around and gave me a quartering away shot at about 10 yards...

[rastaman]

[YORNOC]

You have my attention......

[59Alaskan]

Looking forward to the next installment.

[hickry]

I remember drawing, then... next thing I know there's a hole where I was looking.  Don't remember any shot.  Well, I gave it 30 minutes because I knew it was a good shot, got down... and trailed her far enough to find my arrow about 15 yards away... no blood between there.  Looked at my arrow, very little blood, and gut!!! I was pretty upset!  Anyway, that was about 9:30... I eased out... and went back in about 5:30 with my dad and brother (they can see blood... I can't very well).  They trailed her about 50 yards on blood, and it was getting dark.  I decided to ease ahead and see what I could see... wasn't able to help them much with finding blood.  I did a slow zig-zag through the woods, and worked my way up to a creek about 100 yards away... looked over the side, and THERE SHE WAS!!!  She had just been quartering more than I remembered, and the arrow had nicked one lung and went right through the other.  Looking back, I could have started tracking when I first got down out of the stand... but seeing the gut on my arrow just really threw me off.  We never did see any blood that looked like a lung hit... apparently she had plugged up... and all the bleeding stayed inside her.  Anyway, that was my second with all my homemade gear.  The ironwood tree that I used to make the bow was cut about 150 yards from where we found her... and the cane for my arrows even closer than that.  The turkey feathers on the arrow came from our first turkey on the property... about 500 yards away.  I'll post pic's when I get them... also Saturday's hunt!
 

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[Smallwood]

[yellow bow]

[Coonbait]

Great Job!! Congratulations!
GLENN

[DannyBows]

Awesome! it's gotta be an extra rush when you do it with a bow you made yourself. That one looks cool too. My hat's off to you, well done! Congrats!

[hickry]

Saturday morning I hunted the second stand that I had hung on Thursday.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning... cold, still... one of those that I was just thankful to be out in God's great creation.  About 8:00 I hear a crunch, crunch, crunch... could see the deer... looked like a buck but couldn't see antlers.  As he got closer I could see spikes.  We're under antler restrictions here... but an unbranched antler on one side made him legal.  I'm a WHOLE LOT more interested in the meat than horns... so I definitely wasn't going to pass this up. Just like the doe, he passed by... got out about 8-10 steps and turned at a quarter.  Just like the doe, I don't remember the shot... but I could see the arrow as he left... and it looked good.  Caught sight of him through an opening in the trees about 75 yards out and heard him crash just a few seconds later.  Just like with the doe, the blood trail was very poor... and there was gut on the arrow.  But I KNEW where this one hit... and heard him crash... which made the time looking for him a little easier.  It was thick in there and took us about three hours... but we finally found him.  I couldn't believe it... two deer in two days!  It was a late night last night... cutting and packaging all of that.  But what a weekend!!  Don't have any good pics of the spike yet but will post when I get them...

[Gerardo]

Excellent hunt!!! Congrats!!!!!!

[coaster500]

Well done, and with a DIY Bow !!!!


 

[hickry]

[rushlush]

Very cool!

[hickry]

Picture of Saturday's spike.  Not much on horns, but he ought to eat just fine...