A deer hunter story

[kbetts]

My bowhunting journey started with little to no instruction.  My Dad hunted, but never "really" shot a bow.  Heck, he never shot a deer until I was well into school.  90% of me is self taught through study, reading, and time afield.  I still say 100 hrs of stand time per wall hanger.

Like many, I started with wheels.  Shot my first doe during gun season back in the 80's.  You had to personally check in your deer back then...I'll never forget the looks I got at the check station.  I was maybe 13 and they all just stared at me.  One of the proudest days of my life.  I was a bowhunter.

I grew up fashioning bows from saplings.  The trad thing always ate at me.  So simple, so deadly in the right hands.  I had gotten to the point of being able to get close to critters and the fire burned.  Bought a second hand longbow and proceeded to miss the first doe I shot at.....three times.  She never moved.  I was gut hooked, but knew I wasn't ready.

[kbetts]

Fast forward a couple years and I had acquired an older PMA Widow from a local guy named Ed Robbins.  By then I had learned more about tuning...and with a stickbow, the arrow is key.  Three weeks with the bow and I shot my first Robin Hood ever.  Since then I've done it multiple times, but still, only ever with a traditional bow.

The deer property I was on was a Mecca.  Like a zoo some years and I had it dialed.  I had 10 or so deer kills under my belt by the time this story takes place and was feeling good. 

Now I need to find some pics to add substance to the tale.

[durp]

  

[kbetts]

Back to how I gained knowledge.....the credit goes to right here.  I read every thread on arrow setups, shooting form, you name it.  I acquired heavy inserts, an arrow saw, even a feather grinder from Chuck at Two Tracks.  EVERYTHING I learned here. 
I couldn't be more appreciative for the hours of thumbing through threads. 

This story is about a deer, but its also about a deer hunter.  How we got to 2022. 

[Friend]

Keep it coming...

[kbetts]

I'm working on getting some photos from old I Pads...etc.  The farm I hunt/ed....was the past residence of two prior state governors..  Lots of history on the land.  I don't know if I'll be back.  Working on it as we speak, but times changed. 

The big point I want to divulge....I've shot one deer with a stick bow since.  A lone doe.  Shooting another monarch and reliving the ordeal of this one weighs heavy.

[kbetts]

A glimpse of the sign I found "after" my encounter.  It was only the second week into Septmber.  Look at those trees.  He was already establishing his core area.  Understandable, as he was the seventh buck I saw the evening of the shot.

I was shooting a Great Plains recurve at the time.  I prefer longbow these days.  Sorry for the poor screenshot.

[Homey88]

I’m hooked! Keep,it coming!

[Bisch]

In!!!!!

Bisch

[Stringwacker]

I like it...keep it coming!

[doubleo]

 

[kbetts]

So what constitutes a trophy?  The answers vary from hunter to hunter, region to region.  We grow big deer on Delmarva.  Period.  If you haven't seen any, you aren't looking hard enough.  Of those 10 or so trad kills I had by this point, all were trophies to me.  That's why I liked making it harder....but, I'm a true blue trophy hunter if given the opportunity.  I already had a gross 170"+ typical in the books via smoke pole.  I think it's somewhere between #9 and #13.....don't remember, don't care.  I'm using it as a reference so we all understand we aren't talking a basket 10 here.
The trad bow trophy was/is #1 in my mind.  I don't profess to be superhuman when it comes to getting close to deer.  I am very confident that I can put myself on a shot, however.  For some reason I still think I'll reshuffle the DE record book one day.  Don't know why. I just feel like I will, lol.

[rastaman]

 

[kbetts]

I'm finding the pics I've been looking for.  My oldest IPad is stuck on 4%, but I can get pics of pics for now.

First time I saw him was 2013.  His pic reminded me of Ray Lewis eyeing up a running back.  I never got another pic of him until 2014.  I did find one of his sheds though.  If nothing else, I knew he'd be in the vicinity.  I didn't realize at the time that he had made this little slice of heaven his home turf.

[kbetts]

For whatever reason, deer at this farm respond well to minerals.  I'm hunting a farm on the marsh alot lately and the deer are much less likely to visit it for some reason.  At this particular farm, nonmedicated cattle mineral was the ticket.  It was common for them to lay in it.  I've taken some really cool pics on these mineral sites.  The years 2013 and 2014, they were really on fire.

[kbetts]

In July, I got my look.  I was setting cameras on trails leading to and from the fields and the mineral.  Alot of my cameras were in staging areas where the deer would loiter about.  "He" was generally with company, but not always hanging close.

[kbetts]

I have a sequence of pictures from above, but only got his pic two more times through the summer.  The first one was at the mineral.  He never visited it that I saw.  The last pic in August was on an inside corner I guessed he was using from time to time.  I was right, but afraid I'd keyed him in on my presence.  It was a long two weeks after that last pic.

[kbetts]

We open on September 1st.  I figured if I couldn't find him, stay with the group.  Everytime I'd get good pics, I'd move that camera so they wouldn't pick up on it.  Same as how I hunt.  Same areas, but rarely the same tree.

Here are a couple of my favorites just because it tells the story of how I had progressed as a hunter.  The time on the camera is correct.  I carried my bow almost always....even when scouting.  We were getting close to hunt time.

[kbetts]

I promise to finish this up this week.  In writing the story, it's like I've relived certain emotions of my trad journey.  Some good, some bad....all insightful and humbling at the same time. 

[Homey88]

I’m hooked!