I can share with yall my NC opening day success!
I set up on opening evening on some real hot red and white oaks, there are a lot of them this year. I was going after a certain buck i have watched all summer, complete with a million trail camera pics. I saw deer all evening, the cool weather that had rolled in a day or two before had really got them moving.
All summer, the only racked buck on camera was the one i was after. So about 730 when a racked buck was headed through the thick woods right under me, i went into auto pilot. I had to reposittion my feet as he went under my stand, it was a miracle but i got away with it. I knew my only shot was going to be a close one, and by close i mean 5-6 yards from the bottom of the tree. Luckilly i was real low, only 16 or 18 feet above his head and he was slightly up a hill so the angle was doable.
I got the bow back and aimed on a deer for the first time ever with a stickbow, im having great success with a fixed crawl(its helping me have a method under stress.) When all felt right i relaxed and that arrow buried deep in his ribcage. He mule kicked and tore out of there, but after aroubd 60-75 yards or so i thought i heard him crash.
Shaking to death i got down and checked out the hit sight, sure enough, great bubbly blood at impact. I decided to back out, grab the camera card and wait on Tim and Ethan to come trail. I figured it would be a great time to get tims dog ximo started on the year.
While waiting on Tim i plugged that card into the computer to see what all had came in that morning. To my surprise there was now 4 racked bucks on cam, 3 of which had just showed up the night before, then the wheels began to turn.
The trail wasnt a long one, ximo took Tim directly to the deer while ethan and I hung back and confirmed that he was on blood, we had only been there for maybe 3 minutes and i heard tim yell for us. I had indeed heard the buck crash.
Just like i suspected i had killed one of the new bucks. I was still tickled to death though. That was the first buck to my knowledge ive ever taken on opening day. Great way to start the year!
By the way, i still have the bigger buck on cam every night, and look forward to the chess match we will play the rest of the fall.
Equipment notes: #45 Omega Imperial Black Eagle Outlaw arrows, and Woodsman broadhead.
Oh yea, the pic-
Good luck and stay safe everyone!!The best time of year is upon us!