The last day of the seaon was WILD!! It sorta reminded me of the video, Bowhunting October Whitetails.
My long time hunting partner and brother in law Ted, did a push through a small swamp on some land he has access to. It is full of cattails, red twig brush, briars and autumn olive with a small stream. Great cover for deer!
This was Teds first time hunting deer with traditional gear. After a couple years of practice he has taken a squirrel with his recurve, and anyone who can do that is ready for deer in my book.
We got to the spot and looked out over the swamp trying to formulate a plan on how to ambush the deer without blowing them out completely. We wanted to keep them contained in the thickets as much as possible so they didn't bolt out into the field and out of existance.
We decided to each start at an opposite end and still hunt towards each other SLOWLY. With the winds direction, my scent would bump the deer, hopefully just making them stand up and move but not putting them on full alarm. I was as scent free as possible to help.
Teds position would get the deer up out of the known bedding area. The wind was in his favor but he'd have to tip toe carefully and do the same thing: just get them to stand up but not run away.
We looked at our watches to determine a good time for both of us to reach our destinations and start heading in at the same time. Timing has to be perfect!
I made my way into the end that was mostly cattails and face high brush. There was an area with a good opening I was scanning intensely for trotting doe, it would provide for a good shot opportunity should they decide to go that way.
I took a couple steps every minute then would stop for 5-10 minutes. We had time and I didn't want to hurry.
100 yds into the swamp a group of doe jumped up 30 yds in front of me. I had nearly stepped on them!!! As they ran out into the field, I grabbed my grunt call and hit it kinda hard. The lead doe circled back around and entered the swamp behind me, taking another doe with her. I was 20 yds from her with thick brush between us. All she needed to do was continue on her route and I would have a 10 yd shot. Instead she saw a couple more doe out in the field, turned and ran their way. SO CLOSE!!!!
Since I wasn't that far into the swamp I backed out and went down a little further to move two other doe who ran that way. It didn't take long on my re-entrance to see the two doe trotting deeper into the swamp. This was good! I continued following the fresh tracks.
I saw another group of doe halfway into the swamp, running like a freight train 25 yds in front of me. I couldn't get a shot off cause they were moving too fast and brush was too thick. I knew I must be close to Ted and soon saw his orange fletched arrows sticking out of his quiver.
Ted was wearing a huge smile! He had a button buck milling around just 8yds in front of him. He couldn't get a clear shot and the small deer turned inside out once he saw Ted standing there. That was the closest he's ever had a deer while on the ground and had other deer fly past him as well.
This new "recurve thing" bit him hard. I'm guessing the wheels aren't going to get used much from now on. His recurve is so light compared to his compound and much easier to slip through brush with. The sickness has been spread!!
This was one of my best days hunting even though nothing went home, spending the last day hunting with a very close friend. I counted 28 deer total in a swamp no bigger than 15 acres in size. Sometimes those little holes can contain a ton of deer. Gives me lots of ideas for late season next year!!!
Topic: Friends First Traditional Hunt!!!!! (Read 299 times)
