I finally got out on my first bowhunting trip of the season with all homemade trad gear. I like to record the events and look back over them at the end of the year. These are the events as they happen. The high and lows. The good stuff and the warts as well.
Oct. 3 2008
I finally got to make a trip up North for my first Bowhunt of the year. I left work a bit early in Friday so I could get at least one of two ladder stands set up. I got to the land in plenty of time and set up a stand in a spot that I have not hunted in 15 years. Recently this property became available to me again and I jumped at the chance to hunt the woods I grew up in. The bulk of the whitetails I have harvested both with a bow and gun have come from this property. I started hunting this woods back in 1976 and it felt really good to be back.
I located the stand in a natural funnel with a field on one side and a river on the other. The strip of hemlocks, huge pines and maples is only 80 yards wide and is mostly soft moist river bottom. The field (this year) is planted with potatoes which is not of much interest to the deer but this strip of woods leads to a large cedar swamp at the North end and the river hugs the field for about 400 yards and leads to a large hardwoods with a corn field on the South end. Across the potato field and to the West is a field of beans and then a large oak ridge.
If the deer still followed the patterns of the old days, I would expect them to come out of oaks and beans in the morning and head back to the river bottom and follow the funnel to the hardwoods. In the evening, they always reverse the pattern. The only kicker was the potato field. That field has always been corn, alfalfa or beans for as long as I hunted the area. I placed the stand facing North and had a good view of the river. I used a pole saw to trim a few branches and I was ready for Saturday morning.
Oct. 4 2008
I woke before the 5:00 alarm, took a shower, dressed and then headed to the woods. I parked the Truck about 300 yards South of the stand and walked across the potato field to get to the woods. It was a cold 29 degrees, with a clear sky full of stars. It was perfect hunting weather and I was all smiles as I walked through the cold. I love morning hunts most of all. When I reached the woods, I used my flashlight to find the reflective trail marker pins that lead to my stand. I then strung the longbow and tied it and the quiver full of homemade arrows tipped with my homemade broadheads to the rope I had attached to the stand the day before.
Once in the stand and seated, I pulled up the bow and arrows and hung them on a branch. It was dark, cold and dead calm. I was having the time of my life. There is just something about watching a morning woods come to life. I only had two weekends to go bowhunting last year and have been looking forward to a morning like this for a long time. It has been exactly 30 years since I was in this woods with a stick bow and I had that nervous excitement that comes with the uncertainty (at least for a trad rookie like me) of hunting with a stick bow. When it started getting light, I pulled an arrow from the quiver and nocked it on the string. I also pulled another arrow from the head of the quiver and slid it down so it would be easy to access if a 2nd shot was needed.
It was such a great morning and I couldn’t think of a better place to be. That silly grin was on my face the whole time. This is what hunting is all about to me. I watched a few squirrels and some leaves floating down the river and took in all the sights, sounds and smells that make getting out of bed so easy. A few geese flew over and I could hear the dairy cows to the West and South as they begged to be milked. I also heard the odd sound of fall turkeys gobbling. At 8:15, I turned and looked out through the branches and could see the bright sun on the potato field. I caught the movement of two deer crossing the field and heading into my strip of woods. Their current path would put them far downstream of my position so I grabbed the fawn bleat can in my pocket and turned it over 3 times.
The two deer stopped and then headed right towards me. The plump doe and fawn came into the strip facing right at me and popped out of the scrub at about 20 yards. Both were on high alert as they looked for the fawn in distress. I already had the bow in hand as they came into the strip and the doe closed the distance to about 10 yards and then turned broadside as she started walking North. When her head went behind a Hemlock tree, I drew the bow. She made one more step and stopped with her vitals covered by a hemlock as big as a telephone pole. When she looked away, I was able to let down. My heart was pounding in my throat and ears. That is the first draw I have taken on a deer with a stick bow in 30 years. This was the excitement I was looking for when I put away the compound. The last four deer I took with my BowTech back in 2006 were very routine and uneventful. Don’t get me wrong. They were a great time but the mystery, excitement and thrill was just not there. I now had the honest to goodness fever.
I have taken 35 deer with a compound but never one with trad gear. This hunt took me back to the thrill and excitement of when I was a kid with my Ben Pearson super jet. I missed a lot of deer (always high and just over the back) bowhutning was new to me then and is responsible for some of my fondest memories. That was the sort of hunt I was looking for once again and so far, I was just as I recalled.
But I digress. Back to that doe. After a minute or so, she took another step forward and then another and I came to full draw, I anchored and released and watched my arrow travel those nine yards and sail just over her back and into the soft black dirt. I was right over the shoulder and can’t recall missing a deer by such a small margin. I also can not remember the last time I missed a deer period. I'm not trying to sound boastful but the reason I have not missed is because of all 35 deer that I have harvested, I have never shot one further than 18 yards and all were with a compound.
So here I am faced with a miss. Now my heart is doing double time. The longbow is so quite and the dirt so soft that she only took three quick steps and then stopped again but now she was behind a few larger trees. I looked back to where the fawn was as I reached for that second arrow. I know she was watching as I pulled that arrow and then nocked it but she stood there and never moved.
I turned back to the doe and watched her make a loop that would bring her back along the path she had already taken but this time, she would be at about 12 yards and still broadside and very much on alert. As she slowly walked, I drew, anchored and released and watched another arrow sail over her shoulder. She and the fawn, Ran only about 15 yards and then stopped again and looked back. This gave me time to nock a 3rd arrow and to stop and think. The first two shots were made without picking a spot. I was focused on the front half of the deer but that was about it. This was turning out to be one of the most exciting Bowhunts I have had in many years. Even though I had missed twice, I was having one hell of an exciting time.
As the two deer started to walk South, so I got out the can and was going to make another attempt and turning them back but I was shaking so hard that my hand would not roll over smoothly so the can made a 6 or 8 mini (chattering) fawn sounds as if the fawn in the can was being bounced up and down. Even though I did a poor job with the call, the two deer turned and tried to circle back towards me and to my left. They were both stiff legged and starring hard with ears perked. After a few minutes, they turned and started walking away. I gave the can a few more shaky rolls but they would only stop, raise their heads and look my way. After a few minutes and a few more calls, they ignored me and browsed slowly away. I was able to watch them for about a half hour as they worked their way along the river.
I was still shaking like a leaf from the experience ( a sensation I had not felt in a while) and now the cold was settling in. My fingers and toes were like ice so I sat down. I was disappointed in myself for breaking the cardinal rule of bowhunting (not picking a spot) and at the same time, I was smiling and shaking my head at the whole experience. From my seated position, I could see my first arrow sticking in the ground.
About an hour later, another deer came running across the potato field and was making that same sound as my can. My guess is that it was the twin to the fawn that was with the doe and it was making a late trip back to the woods and was looking the two deer I had seen earlier. This fawn must have bawled at least 20 times as it crossed the field. Eventually, I could no longer here the fawn as it moved South. I sat in my tree until 10:00 a.m. and then made the trip down the ladder to get my arrows. Both were buried in the soft black earth and easy to pull. I wiped the heads on my pants cuff, quivered them and headed back to my truck.
When I got to the truck, I set my quiver on the tailgate and when I did, I noticed a bit of red on the back end of the arrow. The red was on the very first arrow I had shot because the second arrow was cleanly over her back, Even though I had sliced the hide, she didn't seem to be too phased by the whole ordeal. There was no blood on the arrow, it was a bit of flesh and a few back hairs. (this is why I cap the back of the arrow with white lacquer) Now I was feeling pretty low for having caused her any harm without harvesting her but it appears that she will live to see many more days.
The arrow.
While at my truck, I changed out of my hunting clothes because I still had another ladder stand to set up about 400 yards downstream from the first stand. When I finished that project I took a walk around a small section of woods to where a hidden field was. This field was on a neighboring property that borders the land I was hunting and I always remember checking that field for deer. As luck would have it, there was a small doe fawn feeding. This may have been the bawling fawn from earlier in the morning.
I took a few pictures and then remembered that this camera takes video as well.
After watching the fawn for a while, I went back to the farmhouse. I got there by 2:30 and was ready for a late breakfast/lunch. The plan was to go back to that first ladder stand at 4:30. In the mean time, I sat at my Mother’s computer and wrote out the first part of this hunt while it was fresh in my mind. I then took a shower and headed back to the woods.
Topic: 2008 bow season chronicle (Read 6305 times)
