Hunting the wiley dink buck...or how I killed the smallest buck of the year

[Charlie Lamb]

Along with the recurve I also made myself a new longbow. Like the recurve it also scaled 50# at my draw. A couple dozen Surewood Douglas Fir arrows for the bow and my arsenal was ready for the hunt.

 I've got this thing for Hill style bows. You may know how it is. Watch a few videos of Hill and you get to thinking "how hard could it be". I'd be happy if I was only half as good as Howard. Most times I'm not all that happy about my longbow shooting. Nevertheless, I'd killed a bunch of stuff over the years with longbows. Always better shooting game with the things than in practice. I'd hunt with it the first year at the duck club.

[Charlie Lamb]

Hunting with Andy didn't turn out quite like I had imagined. He had an old fraternity brother that lived near the clubhouse with tons of property in the county who provided him with a place to hunt and I was relegated to hunting public land. There was a lot of state and federal land nearby and as I was to find out it was only very lightly hunted.

It had been years since I'd hunted land like what I was looking at. I knew there were lots of deer around, but to be honest I was accustomed to hill ground for my adventures and most of what I had available was bottom ground. It would require putting on my thinking cap. The sign was there, I'd just have to find it. To ad to the challenge my first scouting trips were in the heat of summer. Mosquitoes were thicker than the air in the tangles of poison Ivy and other understory that made travel slow at best.

Not knowing any better I scouted with the thought in mind that there would be lots of other hunters. I didn't understand at first just how light the pressure was. I started by trying to figure where the other hunters would go. Most of the properties were very small so I figured that most guys would head from the parking areas back to the far back sides of the land. I'd start searching much closer to the truck as it's been my experience that many hunters walk past a lot of really good hunting on public ground.
 

[Charlie Lamb]

My first foray showed very promising sign within a few hundred yards of my truck. It would be as good as  any to start. The plan was to hunt very conservatively and through observation fine tune my plan.  The key to my plan was my Millinium Tree Seat and Rancho Safari ghillie suit.

I spent all the rest of the summer sweating and fighting bugs as I checked all the prospective properties I could find. At times it was a test of my will. I was fighting back pain which really sapped my motivation and the pain meds I was using to ease that pain didn't help get me moving.

At last September 15 came and it was time to hit the woods. When the season was first changed to September I was tickled pink. More hunting time,right. Of course anyone from warmer climes knows that an early September start means hot weather and bugs. I had learned to adapt, but sometimes it was hard to justify, short sleeves and ThermaCells made things better. I still looked forward to October.

Almost from the beginning I was seeing deer and having a few encounters. As with most seasons I had clear the cob webs before things started to gel.

I initially set up in the area I first found decent sign. The very first night I had a nice doe feed out in front of me at 10 yards. I was caught flat footed and had no angle to shoot. She finally got nervous and left. Not scared silly, she just left. While sitting there I noticed movement farther down the draw (3 feet lower than the surrounding country) I was set up on. My next trip I'd move further into the cover.

That helped and I was rewarded with a very awkward shot at a doe at fifteen yards that wasn't there when the arrow went by. She and her two companions were hardly spooked at all and simply retreated back the way they had come. That was a double edge sword. I wasn't blowing out the area, but it's a little insulting when the animal you have deadly intent on barely acknowledges your attempt to end it's life.

Once again I noticed more deer movement farther into the property. 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Getting good Charlie

[kennym]

 

[Rob DiStefano]

           

[varmint101]

Sounds like a good area!  Be careful about that google earth stuff.

[Roy from Pa]

Charlie, it's been two days now bud.

When ya gonna shoot this stud dink buck?

 

[Charlie Lamb]

Slowly I homed in on the area of most movement. By the time the rut rolled around I had it down and had switched tactics to using tree stands. The rest of that season went well. I couldn't catch a break when it came to getting a shot at a doe. I was seeing all kinds of bucks and had passed shots on several waiting for something bigger.

Finally the time came and season ended without drawing blood. I can't remember the last time I didn't have some prime venison in the freezer. I'd been putting off surgery on my back because I knew the recovery would take me out of the game totally and it was time to go under the knife.

The toughest part of that deal was the six weeks that the surgeon wanted me on the couch... no excuses. That got old in a hurry. The upside is that it worked beautifully and my back pain was almost totally relieved.

The past spring and summer came with a whole new attitude and energy. I hit the woods and hit it hard. Instead of the one good spot I bumped the number up to 4. 


 

[Charlie Lamb]

By September of 2017 I was  ' at the bit to start hunting and hungry for a medium rare chunk of deer.

I'd switched over to my recurve for this season. I don't switch back and forth while the season is going on, instead dedicating to one bow. My shooting had improved with the increased practice sessions that I enjoyed because of my improved back. Grapefruit size groups at 25 yards and a little beyond (depending on the day, phase of the moon and the Solunar tables) were the norm. My 3D target was getting badly worn.

Once again I stalked my favorite cover and once again I jockeyed my spots as deer movement dictated. Finally on a cool morning in early September a yearling doe made her way through the brush toward my ladder stand. She was moving along a shallow depression that started as a small ditch back up toward the crest of the hill.
 
I made a quick check with my binoculars to make sure it was indeed a doe. Lifting my bow from the hook I flexed the limbs to disengage the arrow holder and turned my body at a right angle to where I knew the shot would happen. She was feeding along on pin oak acorns without a care in the world and didn't notice as the arrow was drawn straight back and anchored solidly but only briefly. She didn't notice the spinning yellow turkey feathers tracing a shallow arc through the dewey morning air.

She spun away wildly as the Stinger tipped shaft bit deep into her lungs. Here last run was short and brief. She was exactly what I'd wanted for the table and when at last I stood over her I said a word of thanks for her life.

[Hud]

Coffee will do that to ya....

[Huntrdfk]

Great to see that everything with your back is working out Charlie. Nice shot, I know that doe qualified  as your “medium rare pice of venison”!

David

[Roy from Pa]

Good job..

[Sockrsblur]

Well done Charlie!!! Thanks for taking the time to write up the hunting story! 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Congrats Charlie!  I am still tuned in though, wondering how the wiley dink buck comes into play. 

[Bowhunter4life]

Congrats on the doe, and nice shot!

I’m still tuned in also...

[Charlie Lamb]

Good to see that a few of you are hanging with me. You all know I'm a little slow.

[Charlie Lamb]

I moved around quite a bit after this first kill. I'm always aware of not over impacting my hunting spots and now that I had more options I could stay away and let the area settle down.
I really focused on the acorn crop. What I found was that the white oaks that had laid down so much mast the year before weren't dropping diddly this year. That's the way it goes. Some oaks only bear every other year. It explained the more consistent sightings I'd had the year before. I filed that information away. This year should be great.

In the meantime I was slowly getting to know some of the locals in town. Always a good idea I'm usually a little slow making friends.   
It paid off with a couple of more places to look at.

So I hunted here and there always monitoring the obvious deer and less obvious signs like finding where the squirrels are hanging out in the best numbers. Of course they use the same food sources as the deer so when you find a concentration of the little beasts you usually find good deer sign.

I had a few brief encounters through the fall but as before, nothing I wanted to shoot. I did put one or two bucks on the "cull" list. One particularly small forky taught me a lesson about one of my set ups.

I was in a ladder stand that I had set up pretty low... 8 or 9 feet. I had it all figured out as to where I could expect to see deer, where they would come from and when. I like to kid myself about knowing all that stuff.
Anyway I was sitting there watching and listening and not seeing much of anything except the occasional squirrel. A slight rustling in the leaves behind me made me focus my listening in that direction. I knew it was a squirrel...That'll get you in trouble every time.  As it did this time.

I turned way too casually for the height I was at and startled 3 does that had fed in behind me. They really didn't know for sure what was going on and had each trotted in different directions. I knew they would want to get back together and if they did it just might provide me a shot at one. Anyone of them would have been a perfect addition to my freezer trophies.

While the old doe stood in the brush 15 yards to my right. Another stood in off to my left watching the doe. It was clueless and soon took a few tentative steps toward the doe. This was perfect! I only had to shift my weight a little to be in position and I got that done without getting caught. Soon the young doe was walking steadily across the far edge of the little clearing that separated the little group. I'd have to stoop a little and squeeze my shot under a limb that (as always) was in just the right spot to block the shot.

I bent slightly at the waist, drew the bow and loosed a perfect arrow.

[Hud]

Great story and perspective on hunting an area, and how things change from year to year.  The new bows look nice. Good to hear your feeling better after surgery and will be ready for another season. Think I will reread your book for more stories. 

[Zradix]