First off, thank you all for the kind words. I'm a newbie on here, so here's a little preface to this story.
Let me start off first by thanking TJ for all of his help. He has been my sage in this journey into this world of traditional archery. I have been exclusively an archery hunter for many years now because I love the challenges that it presents. Traditional archery always intrigued me and seemed to be the next logical step in my progression. TJ was kind enough to let me try several of the bows in his stable to get a feel for what I liked. Long story short, back in March I purchased a beutiful Osage and Bacote Whisperstik Kajika from Mike Burch. I shot it almost every night all summer trying to hone my skills to a point that I was confident that I could quickly and ethically harvest a deer. I was fortunate enough to harvest a doe back in October which was my first ever traditional harvest and a big confidence builder. I was officially hooked.
Now to tonight:
I was hunting an Oak flat that was downwind of a thick riverbottom oxbow bedding area. Finally got a Southerly wind after 5 days of brisk and gusty North wind. Being in full on chase phase, I figured I had the food/water covered as well as being on the downwind side of the girls bedroom if any suiter was to come calling. When I approached my stand there were already two doe grazing on acorns directy under my tree. Fortunately they were upwing of me and the bounded off about 70 yards without blowing. I climbed into my perch and within 10 minutes the two doe were back for seconds. They fed off down the flat. I texted TJ to inform him of my setup and that my phone had a "Low Battery" so the conversation was over. He replied with a quick "pick a spot". As I read this gem, I heard rustling in the leaves behind me. I turned around expecting to see a squirrel and was greeted by this very mature 10 pointer. He proceeded to feast on acorns as he slowly made his way closer. When he would look up, I could tell that there was something funny with his left eye. It appeared squinted and he was blinking it frequently. His coat was riddled with patches of ruffled and missing hair. This was obviously a grizzled old veteran of many seasons past. I knew that given the opportunity, I was going to try to harvest this brute. He stepped into an open shooting lane at 7 yards from the base of my tree and turned broadside. The moment of truth was here and now and almost too close for comfort. "Pick a spot" popped into my head and I focused on what seemed like a single dark hair high and just behind his left shoulder. The draw and release seemed like it happened subconsiously as I watched my arrow pass through the exact place I was looking. He took a few bounds, and then began walking at a normal pace like nothing had even happened. At 40 yards he paused and his legs began to wobble. A few more frantic steps and he pitched over. I was overcome with that feeling that you only get from harvesting a deer. The same feeling that we chase year after year, season after season. The one that makes us get out of a warm bed in the wee hours of the morning to sit in a cold tree stand. When I came back to earth, I sqeezed the last precious moments of battery life out of my phone to text TJ and share my good fortune. TJ came out and took lots of picture for me and helped get him out of the woods and into the truck. When we later looked at the time stamps on our texts, this entire chain of events had taken place within 10 minutes of what we thought was the end of our conversation for the evening.
Once again, Thanks TJ. You've got me hooked for life.
Topic: Kentucky Buck Down (Read 2210 times)
