The last deer I killed with a recurve was in 2005. He was a very nice buck and he looks happy on my wall. For the next 2 years, I passed on about a bazillion does, some of em litterally in my lap, all the time waiting on the big un. Well the big un never showed for 2 years and so I ate tag soup for 2 years. This year, I vowed to take the first ole gal that gave me an opportunity.
I haven't been able to hunt much this year. Too much work, too much travel and frankly, I enjoy spending Saturday mornings with my 2 kids, neither of which is quite ready to hunt.....yet. So I took vacation today and at 6:15 am, I was sitting in a big ole ash tree, one of those 3 fork jobs where you can just "get in" the tree and dissappear. It's the same tree I killed a 124 & 7/8's buck out of on November 9, 1998. It was a SLOW morning. The rut may be on but it's also been 75 degrees here for the past week or so and the forecast was the same for today. Still, it was 41 degrees this morning and I figured SOMETHING would be moving. Wrong....Nuthin. I saw squat from daylight at 6:30 am till 8:25. Finally, at 8:26, I looked to the east and saw 2 does headed my way. They were 200 yds off so there was plenty of time to just watch and see what would happen. The lead doe was momma. She came within about 50 yds and put here nose to the wind. Satisfied all was well she walked past me at about 15 ft. As her head went behind one of the forks in the ash, I positioned my feet, brought the bow up and waited. I needed for her vitals to clear some tiny maple limbs. She took 2 more steps and I gave a little "burp" to stop her. There's no such thing as a "Slam Dunk" in bowhunting as too many things can go wrong at the last instant before a shot. But this was as close as it could get.
The Black Widder did her job and so did the 145 gr. Snuffer mounted on a Carbon Express. As she bounded off I knew the shot was good and could see the Snuffer poking out one side and the fletching on the other. She looked like she was wearing that old "arrow through the head" apparatus that Steve Martin used to wear in his shows.
I watched her tumble about 50 yards later. Got out of the tree, pulled my stand and had her dressed and was dragging by 9:00 am. Two and a half hours later (Yes, 2 and 1/2 hours of dragging), and I had her at the house. She's on ice now and I'll butcher her tomorrow morning.
It's time for some Advil.
Topic: 2 year drought is over (Read 3511 times)
