I only had around 20 minutes of shooting light left, and was thinking this was going to be like alot of my evenings this year, with the deer not getting to my plots until after dark. I was hunting in a stand that is in a split trunked tree, facing a drainage, with the foodplot behind me to the west. I can shoot between the trunks to the plot.
I heard squirrels chattering, and then heard a spike crossing into the plot through a small strip of woods to my southwest. It was around 24 degrees with 10-15 mph winds out of the NW, so I was good without getting winded. I figure this deer either came from the property a couple hundred yards to the south, or was bedded down in a a woodlot to the east of my house and crossed over into another woodlot along my south border to make it's way to the plot.
Anyway, I needed more meat for the freezer and had decided that I would shoot a young buck rather than shooting a doe that would already have been bred, so I was preparing to shoot this spike, but he looked back to the southwest and so did I. I saw another buck crossing some native grass and brush toward the drainage, so I thought I would give it a few minutes. Maybe 10 minutes later, 2 bucks made their way acrossing a smaller seasonal creek to the plot, having dipped into the drainage briefly, but still away from my wind. One was a neat forkhorn with no brown tines and the other a nine point. They slowly entered the plot, nibbling on chicory and clover around the edge, then all 3 deer started looking to the southwest again. I thought that I could hear more deer making their way to the plot from the drainage, which was now behind the direction that I faced, but I didn't have the time to take the chance that they would get there in time.
I focused on the 9 point, who was basically broadside, just barely quartering away, at a touch over 15 yards away, looking away from me. A perfect setup. I took my time drawing back so as not to make too much noise and released. The arrow hit exactly where I wanted it too, and the buck only had enough time to turn his head to the noise of the shot, qive a little jump and kickout, then tear out of there the same way that he came in. I saw him go down in the native grass, then I heard more thrashing and lost site of him.
I got down, found real good blood, but called my wife to bring the gator and dog to speed things up. He took me right to it, I loaded it up, and froze my butt off on the drive home, lol
Probably should have shot the forkhorn, and this one would have been alot nicer in a couple years, but I am still pleased with it.
Topic: Finally a cold front (Read 1038 times)
