First NY archery season after missing the last two working in Alaska, was determined to make up for it. Had been hunting one spot on public land where I had pics of a nice bear but none since I put up a stand, only a couple does and 4 young toms I saw twice. This helped me save my better deer spots until mid-October, which is when deer movement always picks up locally, especially if it gets cold. And it was chilly all last week, saw 3 does and 2 fawns Tuesday morning, missing the biggest doe, shot under her at 8 yards.
My best spot is a saddle near the top of a mountain, killed a doe here 10/18/21. Needed to check the area after a 2-year absence, so I went up looking for a bear when the season for them opened, as this spot has provided several encounters before... also gave me a chance to scout. The first thing I noticed was my old tree was dead, plus there had been a big scrape for several years but not this year. Didn't really matter because the saplings that had filled in since it was logged several years ago had grown too tall for a shot. I found a nice pine I could climb just up the logging trail 40 yards, seemed the bucks passed through there a lot when I had a cam on the scrape previous years.
Continued on across and up the saddle, it rises before dropping off quickly, and the saplings had really filled in the open areas. I noticed a deer trail with many clumped up balls of droppings and was pretty sure a buck was bedding nearby, made a mental note. Decided it would be best to head out, no bears to hunt. Had a trail cam ready to put out but didn't have an SD card, turned out to be a good mistake. I never put the cam out, would have been back checking it and scenting up the area, big woods bucks don't like that near their bedroom.
So, Thursday, October 17 was the full moon and coldest morning of the week, light and variable winds which always seems to have the best deer movement in the mountains here... time to get up to the saddle. Best part is fairly easy access up a driveway where I have permission to park and can hunt without a lot of the climbing. Pretty steep but only takes about 20 minutes with my climber, clothes and pack. Reached my old tree and a deer ran off to the north, sounded heavy. Got to the tree and up before first light, normally go a little higher but had good cover from leaves and best shot openings at 15 feet up.
Was pretty chilly to start at 30 degrees, slowly warmed up, plenty of layers, hot coffee and no wind made for a comfortable sit. Tried the rattle bag a few times followed by a few grunts. Around 8:30 I heard something to the south my left, soon spotted something smaller and black coming, a decent sized fisher. Tried to get my camera out for a picture but it spotted me and took off. Sun was finally up over the top of the peak behind me, a few clouds and light wind was pretty consistent from the NE.
Around 10am I heard footsteps to my left and south, a deer coming really slowly, a few steps at a time. It's really thick with leaves still on the trees but I soon spot antlers and definitely something I would shoot. He's coming straight at me right where I had walked, easily grabbing the bow with all the cover and I'm ready. He's coming at an agonizingly slow pace and I decided to rest the lower limb on the top of my left boot. At 10 yard its looking like he wants to go left and behind me, with a couple nice openings and a close shot.
Instead, he turned to go right in front of me, except he was under a thick canopy of beech leaves and I could barely see him still inching along, I had the bow up following ready to draw at any moment. He stopped right there at 5 yards, I decided to duck down slightly and to my surprise a small opening was there right behind the front leg... I immediately drew my bow but held briefly at full draw remembering the focus on a spot (missed a doe 2 days prior after rushing) and the arrow was on the way. Buck wheeled around back where he came from running off, then he stopped out of sight but no crash. I was really confident in my shot placement even with the leaves at that close range.
Waited about 10 minutes to settle a bit then climbed down and went to the impact point, no arrow, blood or hair. Followed the hoof marks where he ran and found some blood after 20 yards, and it then got better. Next around 50 yards out he stopped and there were 4 good sized spots of the foamiest blood I have ever seen, definite lung blood.
Followed less of a blood trail for another 20 yards and then nothing, not even footprints but it was going downhill with several potential routes. At that point I decided to head back and pack up my stand and gear, then search on my way down as that was where he seemed to be headed. It's pretty open and the hillside makes it easy to search for "fur", went back and forth, up and down but nothing... he couldn't be far with all that blood, and I was pretty sure there wasn't an exit hole. Went back the last blood several times, unable to find the track again. By now its 1pm and I'm thinking I really could use a dog. Went home, not far, for some nourishment and a few phone calls.
Zeke the Kopov to the rescue: My friend Tim has been a licensed dog tracker in NY for many years, never used him before but we've talked blood trailing many times over the years. Unfortunately, he was busy on a call in Vermont but gave me a couple other numbers. One guy could come down after another track he already had planned for after work, that wouldn't be until after dark but would be OK. Then at 1:30 Tim called back that he was on the way and my hopes went way up.
Took a couple hours for them to drive over, met them and we drove up to the hunting spot, Tim got ready and leashed up Zeke and we hiked up the trail then cut off to the end of the blood. Zeke was off down the mountain where I had searched some, then every once in a while, Tim would say "here's blood" and he had me mark with orange flagging. It was really cool watching the dog work and I was getting more confident as we moved along, the dog seemed to know the deer was dead. Then we got to where I stopped looking any further, the steepest drop-off... and Zeke kept going, pulling Tim on a long leash (required in NY), zigging back and forth, over logs and around rocks.
I had taken this while searching earlier but toward the back is the steep hill we went down...
At the bottom of the drop-off was a flat where the loggers could reach and now it's grown up with saplings, I said to Tim: "this has to be where he bedded". I can't see him but next thing Tim responds off to the left right next to a deep cut that comes down: "here he is!".
Tim took some great pictures with my phone, told him I was glad he was there, usually much harder to do solo with a tripod and timer.
Stiff as a board when we found him, ran until he died, we figured almost 300 yards. Double lung but back a little, broke ribs on both sides, did not get through the skin on the backside, otherwise I would have had a better blood trail. Chest cavity was full of blood, all in front of the diaphragm.
I am a firm believer in hunting the full moon, rubber boots, tight funnels with close shots, ASAT camo and now blood trailing dogs.
Topic: Adirondack Buck with my Longbow (Read 584 times)
