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I needed a north wind to hunt this hollow located on Lauderdale Mgt Area in N/W Bama. The area is bow hunting only except for a total of about two weeks of gun hunting divided into three two day gun hunts and a week long gun hunt in Jan. If one bow hunts this mgt area after gun season starts you have around 14000 acres to yourself most of the time. Two thirds of the area is covered with young pines and impenetrable briars. When they clear cut the land they did leave some hardwood hollows, now hidden for the most part by the pines. The area is foot traffic only except for established main roads which eliminates all but us hard core bowhunters. There are dozens of food plots on the area but I never hunt them, preferring deep woods instead.
Yesterday the wind blew out of the north. I hadn't been to my hidden hollow in weeks so loaded the truck and headed in that direction.
I parked just off the paved road and made a 1/2 mile round about trip to the hollow to keep from disturbing the bedding area between the hollow and my truck. I walked in like a deer, skipping on my tip toes for several steps then stopping for a minute or so. I knew the deer were bedded close so I wanted them to think I was just another of their group.
Loggers were working a stand of pines about 1/4 mile away when I reached my blind. The noise from their skidders and saws was so loud I couldn't hear very well but I knew deer didn't pay much attention to their operation. At 4:00 the loggers knocked off work for the day. The hollow became still and very quiet.
The squirrels became active in the hollow and as I turned to look at the latest squirrel movement I saw a deer at the edge of the pines about 75yds away, next I see horns and think" at least I got to see a buck". He stepped out of the pines and I could tell he was a pretty good deer but doubted if he would head my way.
He started walking down the slope and turned in my direction. Again my thoughts were that he couldn't possibly come my way, but he did. He was walking with a purpose and I now could see he was going to pass through the funnel in front of my blind. The bucks path was from the top left corner of this picture to the bottom right.
I had my bow up when he entered the clear area in front of my blind but he was quartering to me and I didn't shoot. I started my draw as he stepped out from behing the closest white oak at 8yds but his leg was back and I waited until he took another step. This was an auto pilot shot, gone before I had time to think.
I could see my arrow buried to the fletching in his midsection, a little further back than I would have liked but a liver hit for sure. He whorled and ran back the direction he had come from. I could see the broadhead on the off side. He ran about 50yds and stopped. I was repeating the mantra" go ahead and fall, go ahead and fall" but he didn't and walked slowly down the hollow and out of sight.
After about 5 minutes I heard loud sliding in the leaves in the direction he had walked and thought he was down. Having lost one deer by pushing it too soon I decided to back out using my deer step walking method and give him some time. As I crossed where he had run on my way out of the hollow I found a heavy trail of dark blood.
I jumped a deer about 40 yds from where I had last seen him and started to have second thoughts about my hit then heard more down deer sounds in the direction he walked.I walked directly away from him and back to my truck, planning on a two hour wait before I came back.
When I got back to the hunting camp there were three guys there planning to drive to a nearby cafe for supper so I went with them to kill time. I was torn between giving the deer time and going after it. This area is saturated with coyotes and they waste no time in closing in on a fresh kill.
Two and a half hours later I am back in the hollow following the blood trail, the guys are waiting at their truck to help me if I need it. The blood trail is easy then gets sparse, I cover 50 more yds and the blood trail stops. I get that sinking feeling we all know too well when the blood stops. I shine my light ahead and see him lying dead at the edge of a small creek,not 20 yds from my newly cut 4 wheeler trail. What a relief.
It took several of us to get him on my four wheeler later but he was too big for my Honda to get him up the worst hill. One of the guys had a 500cc 4X4 so he brought it back to bring the deer up to the trucks.
My hit appeared to get one lung and the liver so he was still quartering slightly to me when I shot. I was shooting a 60# osage bow and 530 grain chundo arrow tipped with a Zwicky delta broadhead.
This morning I took a bunch of pictures and donated most of this magnificent animal to Hunters feeding the Hungry, a program that supplies ground deer to local food banks.
Hope I didn't bore you all with the long story. Here he is. The sun has just come up and is making me squint a bit.
This is a lousy shot but shows how big his body is on a 300 Honda. This is a big deer for N/W Bama
Topic: Killed a whopper with my osage bow (Read 4564 times)
