So, Fridays at my office are a little slow because we get every other Friday off, which means when we do work, only half the office is there. Today, being slow like every Friday, I was thinking I'd go sit in a treestand I have in a small woodlot near my office for about an hour at lunchtime. I haven't seen any deer at this woodlot this year yet, but have in the past, so the goal was more to just see if I could see any deer moving around, being the rut and all.
Not long after I get in the stand, I hear some crashing and see what looks like a bunch of deer running down the hill about 150 yards away. After sitting the stand for about 30 minutes, I have two does come running toward me, but then veer off to my left about 50 yards out. They never even slowed down. I was thinking maybe a buck would be following and a grunt might bring him in, but he never showed up. I decided after about 50 minutes in the stand that I should get back to work, so I lowered my bow to the ground and was getting ready to start climbing down, when I see an 8-point buck coming my way about 50 yards out. I started pulling my bow back up, hoping he wouldn't see it and keep coming. Somehow, I got the bow back up and got an arrow on the nock without alerting him, and he kept coming. At about 25 yards out, he turned around an started walking directly away from me. I gave a little grunt in my grunt call, and he turned around and started working his way slowly back my way. He walked right into my shooting lane at about 15 yards, perfectly broadside, and my arrow flew right over his back! He darted forward a few steps, looked around, but never did see me, but he still decided he didn't want to be there and trotted off before I could string another arrow. It was a miss, but it was a fun lunch break!
I called my hunting buddy, that still hunts with a compound and has been giving me grief about hunting with a recurve this year to tell him all about it. His first question was, "if you had had a compound, would you have hit it?" My reply was, "I don't know, but I don't care. I'm having too much fun this way." Truth be told, I probably would have meat in the freezer now with the old compound, but this way is so much more fun, I'll never go back. I just pointed out to my buddy how many deer I have had within 15 yards this year, and although I haven't harvested one yet, I'm doing everything else right. I feel I have become a much better hunter this year hunting this way, and have proved to myself that I can get deer in close, and on public land, too.
As a tally, I had a monster within about 10 yards that saw me before I could release my arrow. Shot wasn't fired. I then had a near miss right over the back of a doe (might have actually been a button buck) at about 15 yards, and now just missed this guy. Hopefully I can keep this up and seal the deal soon. But even if I don't put meat in the freezer, this is still my favorite hunting season yet!
Topic: I love bowhunting! Even when I miss! (Read 288 times)
