Selfbows and whitetails

[Shaun]

Just back from 5 days of hunting in central Iowa with a couple of friends from out of state. Jim Gilmer (Littlebigman) from MN and Bob Frerri form WY. Both are avid horn chasers who shoot fine ACX longbows. I have enjoyed many hours afield with these guys and we share much in our approach to hunting and fair chase.

I like big antlers as much as most but am not that dedicated to the game, more of a meat hunter at heart. I do love the challenge and have become a selfbow shooter almost exclusively, so I took some of mine on this hunt. The bow that got the call was made from a stave donated to the St Judes auction by Craig of Shrew bows and he said it was an old piece from a hedgerow frequented by Papa Bear his self.

It produced a long curvy 59# @ 28" that I backed with copperheads, very old stable wood, lots of power and maybe some mojo from the harvest site and the auction. The arrows were donated to the UBM auction by another TG member, cedar with a nice stain and great stencil burned artwork tipped with 175 Ace broadheads. In five days of hunting these have become my new favorite blade.

Jim and Bob are still afield, they plan to hunt for another six days. It was great to share camp and time in the woods, but my larder is full and there's a trapline to set - season starts today and fur prices are up. They may chime in with photos and hopefully tales of big bucks when they get home. I will get the story started.

Place names and a few of the facts may be fictitious, but mostly this is what happened:

Last Sunday I drove west 3 hours and we met a the house of Dean (Bwana) Jackson, game manager for a large river bottom farm. God I love Iowa in the fall, especially the way the oaks turn various shades of brown.

   

Hunting here has been managed for many years with an emphasis on quality bucks and good habitat. Dean's den includes many big whitetails as well as a collection of African game skulls from his childhood on the dark continent. He does shoot a wheelie, but makes up for it by being a dedicated elementary school teacher, conscientious grandpa and all around swell fellow, always smiling and ready to lend a hand.

Dean and his lovely wife Trish.

   

[Shaun]

I have to finish butchering and wrapping, back in a bit.

[Broken Arrow 1]

Story and pics please!  

[Fritz]

Can't wait...  

[Shaun]

Back to the hunt; We took a cruise around the farm on Sunday and Dean showed us some stand sites and mentioned deer sightings. We put up a couple more stands including a new ladder stand of mine.

 

Its a Rivers Edge with with a fold up seat, large platform and armrests - an all dayer if need be. I added a safety line and Prussic knot to make this my new home. From this oak I could overlook a fence crossing behind me and a scrape under the dangling branches. I could also see a long way across the meadows to watch for and maybe pattern traveling bucks.

Bob, Jim and I stayed up a little too late that evening with catching up and the excitement of the hunt at hand.  5 AM comes dang early with daylight saving time but we were into the coffee and out to the stands before shooting light.

My first morning in of the hunt the cares of the work-a-day world were melting with the sunrise from a tree stand. There was not much early movement and I was really starting to relax when I happened to glance up across the pasture and saw a buck. Sometimes it is difficult to draw the line between a nice buck and a real trophy. I had no such problem. This was a hoss! Even at 150 yards I could see this was a magazine cover walking. A pinch proved I had not nodded off and was really in big buck land. He angled across the meadow and away into a bedding area.

[adkmountainken]

   

[K.S.TRAPPER]

This is great Shaun, Thanks for sharing    

Tracy  

[Shaun]

Bob and Jim each had a doe tag as well as their buck tag. Dean had talked about the need to take does on this property (he was responsible for 22 himself last season). My in-state status meant that I could purchase doe tags and had for home, but they are county specific. I made a run to town and picked up a couple of local doe permits.

Not wanting to overhunt the new stand I opted to sit a short ladder at the north end Monday evening. Things started to heat up around 4:30 when a young doe ran past with a fork-horned buck in close pursuit. We had discussed the strategy of shooting a chased doe and waiting for the big boy to follow her scent to the trap. I decided to take this doe if she came by again and gave me a chance.

I watched some other deer moving but nothing that felt right. Then about 5:15 the first doe reappeared in the field in front of me. She was alone but looking back. She peed in the field and then wandered my way. She cooperated by turning into the woods just 10 yards from the left side of my stand and I came to full draw as she walked behind a tree.

[Shaun]

Why do they always seem to do that? Stop behind the tree? My bow arm was tracking her slow walk as I came to full 28" (26.5") draw then she froze with my target spot covered by a thick white oak. After a moment my muscles started to tremble and I let down in slow motion. When she took a couple more steps I drew and shot. After her hesitation my lead and timing were wrong and the arrow passed through her neck.

The woods exploded as several close deer reacted and my target bounded 20 yards away then stopped. A pool of blood covered the leaves at her feet showing that the jugular had been severed. She soon expired and rolled a few yards down the hill.

As the adrenalin burned off I realized the trap was indeed set and I had over an hour of shooting light left. About 6:00 I saw two small bucks approaching and they were right on her trail. They stopped in the field and flehmened where she had marked the trail, then had a pushing match for several minutes.

Eventually they proceed right in her footsteps and milled around under my stand while I took some photos. First was this little fellow

   

Then this slightly large one and one half year old. You can see the blood where the doe expired in front of him and down hill a little. The fallen doe is to the right of the blood down the hill just short of the gully.

   

[Shaun]

As shooting light faded I realized that the big buck trap was not going to work tonight but that I had a self bow trophy, a fine eating doe down in sight of the stand. I met Bob back at the truck and he helped drag her up the hill after some memory photos.

 

[BOFF]

WOW!! What excitement!!
Congrats!!

[vermonster13]

Great stand site. Congrats on the freezer filler!

[Shaun]

Day one over after some hanging and skinning. Bob and Jim had seen deer but not the wallhangers they were looking for. The stars were country bright. I thought back to a time when I visited a friend in Boston and there were only three stars and the moon. Here I scanned Orion with his three star belt and dangling three star sword. Across the Pleiades cluster of seven - my old eyes only defining five now but I know the faint ones are there. And on passed the lopsided "W" of Cassiopeia to the Big Dipper and the North Star. Clear and cool night ahead. Maybe tomorrow the bucks will move.

[bretto]

The start of a great story!!

[Chris Surtees]

       

[Paul/KS]

Great story and congratulations on the nice doe...
BTW, you donated a real nice bow for the Mojam auction this year. I sure do enjoy the way it shoots...  

[Whip]

I've been wondering how your trip was Shaun.  Congratulations!  

[Charlie Lamb]

       

[Shaun]

Day two there was frost on the rungs of my new ladder stand and my prussic knot safety line gave me a secure feeling as I climbed in the dark. My favorite stand location is one that I can walk to from home, or in this case from our lodgings at the Garage Mahal - our hunters' apartment over the garage.

 

The stand where I took the doe on the north end requires a drive around and opening gates. My ladder on the south end could be reached by a half hour slow walk, over the river bridge and up the hiking trail onto the ridge then a few hundred yards west.

It was a beautiful morning and the sunrise brought sightings of several deer wandering past and feeding as they worked their way towards day beds. My lucky doe arrow was cleaned up, resharpened and ready for action but stayed on the string as the day warmed.

I like to sharpen with a Grobet file and the Ace steel responds well to this method. Bob watched me apply the file and test the edge the evening before and when I was done he handed me his sharpener. Its one of the chewing gum stick sized things with two pieces of carbide set at the edge in a "V". "I've heard that file edge can slow down by dragging hair unlike a razor edge," he said. "I've heard that too," I replied. So, I gave the blade a few passes with his device.

About 9:45 the action had slowed. No deer had moved near me since about 9:00 and the monster buck had not shown across the pasture. I was starting to organize my gear and think about descending when I spotted a deer far out in the pasture trotting my way. It showed no head gear but it was aiming right at my tree. I stood, folded back the seat and brought my bow to hand.

[Shaun]

The doe slowed to a walk as she got to 40 yards but kept coming. I looked behind her but no buck was chasing. She angled slightly to the east and stopped to scent my approach path. She thought about it for a while then trailed me towards the ladder. At 5 yards she stopped and looked the ladder over then looked up at me but did not "make" me standing still up in the leaves. Another long look at the ladder and I could read her mind... "I got to tell the rest of the gals about this!" She turned 180 and started away. My thoughts were, "Oh no you won't tell them."

I bent at the waist and canted the bow to have a clear shot under this limb as she quartered away.