A little backstory first. Some may already have seen this story elsewhere. Last year, on October 22, my dad was headed to his ground blind in the small block of woods here on our family farm when he had a massive heart attack. When he didn’t reappear later that morning, my wife called me at work. I came home and after searching for a while, we found him. He had his old Ben Pearson Mach One by his side and still had his flashlight on in his hand. My dad was always my hunting buddy growing up, but when I got older he ended up hunting alone because I was “too busy.” Since he retired, he had returned to trad bowhunting full force. I shot with him every once in a while, but not as much as I wish I had now. I suddenly inherited a lot of recurves and one longbow, so I started shooting this spring and hunted my first season this year with a recurve.
I’ve hunted pretty hard so far this year, but with only a few close encounters and no shot opportunities. That all changed this morning.
I had to work until almost midnight last night, so slept in on the opening day of Kentucky’s modern gun season. I only had a little time in the middle of the day to hunt, but figured with the rut coming on really good I needed to get out for a couple of midday hours. Went to a spot I had seen deer traveling the day before and saw a small scrape on a cedar sapling and some fresh droppings. I set up my stool at the base of a big oak and settled in with my ghillie jacket and head gear on (with blaze orange on top) about 10 AM, bow in hand. About forty minutes later while I was checking TradGang, I hear a deer walking right into my trap. I can only see him once he enters my shooting zone, and decided to take him even though he’s a small forkie. As he goes behind a big hickory I come to full draw and when he steps out broadside at ten yards I bleat to stop him and release. Rookie mistake—I forgot to pick a spot! How do you focus on one thing for hundreds or thousands of practice shots and then forget when the real thing comes along?
The arrow is way back, almost in his back hip. I’m immediately discouraged as he hunkers up, looking like a textbook gut shot deer. He quickly trots 33 yards and drops and rolls on his back. A minute later, he rolls on his side, tries to lift his head, and gives up. After that I watch him for a full hour, and I can never see him move or breathe, so I’m thinking things are looking better. After I slowly ease to a better angle, I see what looks like red paint running over his back hip. As luck would have it, I found the femoral.
Turns out he was an interesting-looking five point with a “turkey foot” on one side. It all happened so fast, I didn’t really have time to evaluate his rack and was expecting a four pointer.
Other than poor shot placement, I am really excited about this deer. To make my first trad kill on the ground at that range, using one of my dad’s old bows, only yards from the location where his hunting blind was located, right here on our own farm, makes it more meaningful than anything. This one was for you, Dad!
Equipment:
Ben Pearson Raider 45xx @28” (I’m pulling about 25.5-26”)
Gold Tip 600 Traditional Blems
125 grain Magnus Stinger w/ bleeder blades
100 grain Gold Tip insert
561 grain total arrow weight
Topic: Blaze Orange & Backstraps (Read 3092 times)
