Dreams were realized tonight, and after all the work I put in over the summer, spending practice time with a fellow Tradganger, and a long day today -
Forgive the coveralls, I still had my work cloths on underneath.
It's worth every last bit.
I appologise for not writing back into this sooner, I had another situation (second deer) I had to deal with earlier this weekend, which kind of stole a bit of joy from me, but I believe made me a stronger hunter for it.
This story begins with a trainwreck from the previous night. More on a whim and a wish, I decided I had a terrible day at work and needed to reset my attitude and brain, and for that there's nothing quite like a moment of quiet by yourself. Hunting just happens to be a fitting excuse.
I had went out to a small piece of public land not too far from my workplace. It's very open, mostly field with a few scrubby bushes. Bird hunters enjoy it, deer hunters shy from it because of the openness. I didn't care, so I put on my coveralls to protect my work clothes and tossed on my leafy suit. Grabbed my doublebull triangle seat (thankfully my kiester's small enough it's comfortable) and headed out into the field. I stuck the chair into one of the random scrub bushes, wind at my face, and sat down into the peace of nature.
I was rudely awakened from watching the migrating birds swoop into and out of the field by doe quietly passing in front of me, not much more than 15-17yrds out. Of course my bow lay across my lap, but at least I had an arrow out of the quiver. Slowly as the doe graised away from me, I righted the bow, took a deep breath, and waited for the shot to present itself. When it did, I began to draw back, and was rudely bumped from behind - arrow went into the dirt, snorts and hissing everywhere, hooves and me over teakettle into the grass.
Strangely, I had not seen the additional deer that decided a path around the bush was much better than the path the first deer had taken - unfortuantely, that path happened to go through me.
After a good laugh and shakey hands, I packed it all up and told myself - "Self, we're coming back tomorrow night! No if's, and's or buts."
And return I did - to the exact spot I was at the previous night, only this time I decided the bush across the way was a MUCH better location than my original selection. Lightning doesn't hit the same place twice, but sometimes it hits close enough.
This time, I held my bow upright, tab securely around the string, arrow nocked and ready. Sure enough, almost like clockwork the deer appeared over the hill side, continuing on a path very close to the one that brought them through me on that first night. The lead doe was small, folled by her sister, and finally, quietly and more alert than the first, the oldest doe came out. As the first two graised, she would stand on full alert, head and ears swiveling like a radar at all points, sometimes directly at me for a second or two, then off to another direction.
I've long told myself to never shoot an adgitated deer. They respond like lightning - with reflexes far faster than my arrow can get to them. Finally, she dropped her head to feed. At that instant, I had my shot - 16yrds on the Nikon. She was slightly quartering away, so I moved to where I wanted the arrow to penetrate the opposite side, and released.
The arrow arched, vanes spinning, and she twisted/coiled to bolt away. My arrow hit farther back and higher than I had intended, lodging itself deeply into her rear quarter. It all happened so fast, there was no snort - no hiss. I could see the other deer looking at her, unsure of what to do, she stumbled, dropped, regained her footing, and hobbled over the hilltop, out of sight.
I bowed my head, ashamed of the hit. How could I have done that, that's not what I wanted. I reflected over the ramifications of what I'd caused, and said a small prayer. I quietly watched the remaining deer feed, then leave the area.
Slowly I got to my feet, nocked another arrow, removed my headcovering, and headed over the hilltop. I refused to allow a marginal shot animal continue. I knew the shot was solid, I didn't believe she would travel far, time for me to finish what I started. Following the cut in the grass, I traveled 20-25yrds to a large matted down area, blood soaked. This is good sign I told myself. Then I looked to my right, and saw the back leg.
I raised the bow, approached the deer, and gently nudged her with my foot. Nothing. I eased the bow down, removed the arrow and replaced it into the quiver. Thankyou, thankyou for this moment.
After gutting her out, I found that my arrow had penetrated the pelvis, and shredded the kidneys, part of the liver, and nicked the decending arties from the heart - over 18" worth of penetration, amazing for such an arrow and broadhead.
Heavy arrows are amazing. All this on a worknight, and we've been excedingly warm as of late. I ended up spending the evening skinning and quartering her up, and into the coolers she went.
And to think, there's still so much season left. I can't wait.
Topic: First time for everything.... tall tale included. (Read 912 times)
