Lucky Number 13...

[NittanyRider]

Pennsylvania’s general archery season opened October 1, and during the 6 week season, I was out in the woods about two dozen times for brief sits before and after work.  I saw deer just about every time I was out, and on the second Thursday of the season, I even drew back and released an arrow at a doe….
 
 

[Kopper1013]

[South MS Bowhunter]

[NittanyRider]

Unfortunately, the shot was way off the mark!  It wasn’t that my form was horrible or that my shot process completely fell apart.  The problem was that I was not mentally in control of the shot.  That space between my ears I call a brain was causing trouble again!  It’s done a lot of dumb things over the years and this time it got in the way of great opportunity to kill a mature doe at 12 yards.   I should have just let down - I wanted to let down - but some part of my brain  (the part that was driving the ship at that moment) was yelling: “you WILL take this shot”!  So I did... and I missed!    

[NittanyRider]

Do you know what the best thing about the shot was?  I missed!  Cleanly!  The arrow sailed clear over that doe’s back… and into a sapling that stood directly behind the spot where she had been.  Almost immediately, a huge sense of relief flooded my senses.  As I stood there in my treestand watching the doe trot off through the woods, I thought about what went wrong and what I need to do to not let it happen again.  I believe there was a lot of value of that missed shot!  Bottom line is that I was just really thankful that the lesson didn’t come at the cost of a wounded deer.

In for the rest!

Bisch

[NittanyRider]

My family took the missed shot a bit harder than I did.  In fact, I’m beginning to think they genuinely feel sorry for me because up until this point I hadn’t killed anything with my bow.  I’ve tried explaining to them that hunting with a bow is all about the process while hunting with a gun (in my opinion) is merely a means to an end.  When I try to explain this, though,  all I get back from them are blank stares!  Who knows… maybe they’re just used to me coming home with venison every 5 or 6 trips out with my rifle!   Anyway, this is my 4th season hunting with archery gear.  I never went down the compound path, so traditional gear is all I’ve ever known.  Since my first archery season, I feel like I’ve been on the steepest part of the learning curve, but regardless of this missed shot (or the missed/bungled shots from the previous years!), I believe it’s all finally starting to come together for me.

[fnshtr]

   

[NittanyRider]

I was back out in the woods sitting in a different stand the following afternoon.  My wife and I had plans to meet some friends at a local  brew pub at 7:00, so I figured I could hunt until 6:30 and still make it the brewery by 7:15, or so.  At 4:30, I watched a doe and a yearling pass by my stand, 30 - 40 yards away.  Between 4:30 and 6pm, I saw a few other deer, but they were all out of range and moving away from my stand.  At about ten minutes after six, I began to see deer walking towards me from the north.  I counted 12 deer (all doe) as they moved quietly past my stand to the east at about 35 yards away.  I thought they had all passed by, but soon realized another doe, number 13, was bringing up the rear.  She had been following the same line as the others, but when her trail crossed an old two-track road, she decided to take a different path.  She veered slightly to the west as she crossed the road.  Watching her from my stand I figured that if she continued along this path she would pass by my stand on the right side.

[Jayrod]

 

[NittanyRider]

I setup my LW hang-on stand in smallish-sized pine located on a gradual slope that extends north to the base of Nittany Mountain and south, into Happy Valley.  The deer generally bed on the side of the steep south facing slope during the day and then travel down the lower slope in the afternoon towards the houses and farms located around the bottom of the valley.    My stand was situated only about 10 feet off the ground, but I had good back cover to conceal my form.  There are also a couple larger oaks next to the pine that I could rely on to shield my movement, if needed.

[NittanyRider]

The one tree to my right was close enough and large enough to my stand that the doe moving towards me quickly became lost behind it.  I slowly stood and rotated my body 90 degrees so that I was facing east.  My body was lined up for the anticipated shot.  My bow hand pressed firmly against the grip, while I applied slight tension on the string with my other hand.  My heart pounded as I waited in this position.  Several minutes passed while the doe slowly meandered towards me.

[NittanyRider]

Didn't mean to leave a cliffhanger... fell asleep putting the kids to bed.  Anyways, back to the story!

I didn’t know exactly where the doe would be by the time she appeared on the other side of the tree, so as I stood there waiting, I made note of nearby trees that I felt were inside of my effective range. I also used the time to mentally run through my shot process (A suggestion my oldest daughter made the night before!).  The doe finally appeared in front of me about 15 yards away.  She was quartering hard towards me as she walked out from behind the tree.  The doe continued towards me for a few steps, then turned to her left, bringing her broadside at a mere 8 yards!  I was in position, and today, I was in control!  As I drew the string back and reached anchor.  She stopped and quickly looked up at me with a startled look - I thought: “too late!”.  With complete focus on the area just behind her shoulder, I released the arrow!

[NittanyRider]

On impact, the arrow quickly disappeared into her chest with only a portion of the pink fletching visible. She jumped and then tore off in the direction the other 12 doe traveled just minutes earlier!  I watched her crash through the woods for fifty yards before she ran out of sight.  I continued to hear crashing for a second or two longer, and then there was quiet.  I wasn’t sure if the crashing noises had stopped because she had run out of earshot, or if she was down.  I took a compass bearing of the point where I last saw her, and then began to replay the events back in my mind.  I was able to visualize the fletching buried in her chest and that put a big smile on my face, as I knew it was a lethal shot!  In my mind’s eye, the shot did look a little high, but I was sure it was good, especially given the angle that an 8 yard shot provides.

[NittanyRider]

After 15 minutes, I quietly climbed down out of the tree and packed up my stand and gear.  A total of 30 minutes had passed since the shot, and I was now on the blood trail.   I only found a couple specs of blood at the point of impact, but it didn’t take long before I found good blood on the ground and on nearby trees.  Ten yards in, I found this….    

   

[NittanyRider]

By now it was 7:00, and it didn’t look like I was going to make it out to happy hour!  The darkness made blood trailing a little difficult at times, but I had a good headlamp and backup flashlight to light the area up.  The blood trail was good some of the way, but at points became very sparse and hard to follow.  I did my best connecting the dots and before long, I found my doe!  She had only gone 70 yards, or so, and I believe she was dead within 10 seconds of the shot!  The shot was indeed a tad high, but it angled down and exited near the off-side elbow.  It missed her heart, but did plow through both lungs, making it a very effective shot!  


My Lucky #13 doe:

 

The only “mistake” I made on this hunt was that I didn’t take enough pictures!  Anyway, I apologize for the day-after “rigor mortis shot”… it’s all I’ve got!


Equipment used...
Bow: Morrison Phoenix 15 ILF w/Black Max 50@28 limbs
Arrow setup: Easton Bloodline 480 shafts w/Eclipse 145 + 100gr. adapter

[Longbowwally]

Nice doe and good shot!

[Roy from Pa]

Congrats..

[TIM B]

Atta'boy....thanks for sharing
Tim

[TexasTrad]

Congrats - great shot