This past Sunday morning, I headed for an area that I know well and have spent many enjoyable hours on stand. I felt it had probably been relatively undisturbed, even though our season was a month old. I'd spent some time in there this past winter and cleared out a few new stand sites. This would be the first time to sit any of them.
The only thing I didn't like about the stand was that because of the lean of the tree, I had to hang the stand facing north, with the crop fields being to the south. I don't like facing away from where the deer approach. Too much movement looking around the tree, plus a chance to get caught off guard.
About a half hour after pink light, a doe got in behind me, and before I knew it, she was at twenty yards and closing. I'd already decided not to shoot a doe back there, because it's not an easy task to get an animal out. So I just stayed tight to the large tree truck and let her pass at ten yards.
About a half hour later, I caught movement behind me again, though this time out quite a distance. I could see a few deer moving through the trees and brush, but didn't know what they were until two of them got into a brief shoving match. As they got to about forty yards, I could see they were two spikes, two forks and a decent racked-buck. Alright!
As they meandered forward, one of the forkys started rubbing a sapling, which then got the larger buck to follow suit. Eventually the four small bucks continued past me out of range, leaving the last buck all alone while he continued to give his undivided attention to the tree he was working over. I now only had one set of eyes to beat. My odds were improving...
When he was satisfied he'd shown that young tree who was boss, he turned and headed my way. I was afraid he'd follow the other bucks, but instead chose the better cover of the vegetation edge I was set up on. With the stand facing away from him, I now had to decide which side of the tree he'd pass on. Once he got too close, I wouldn't be able to turn around to shoot the other way without possibly getting caught.
I made an educated guess that he'd follow where the doe had passed earlier if he crossed her trail, which he was about to do. So I did a 180 to shoot off the east side of the platform.
Sure enough, he hesitated at the scent of the doe and followed her exact path. I already knew where I'd take the shot.
As he passed me at the same ten yards, I took the shot as he was just slightly quartering away. When the arrow struck, he bolted away with quite a bit of arrow sticking out. But the location was tight on the crease, so I knew that the opposite shoulder had stopped the penetration.
He didn't make it out of sight, having traveled about fifty yards before going down.
With that, I was in for a lot of work getting him out. It was only eight o'clock, so any friends that I could call for help would be out in the woods themselves, which is as it should be on such a beautiful October morning.
So after the tagging and field dressing, I started dragging him toward where we could eventually get a deer cart. Later that morning, a good friend, my wife and I returned to complete the long haul.
Thanks for tagging along once again.
Topic: Five buck morning success (Read 656 times)
