Work has kept me from getting into the woods as much as I would have liked, but I snuck into the woods this morning for a couple of hours before having to go into work. It was 15 mph winds, out of the south as usual. Alot of the deer on my property bed down in the north and work their way south in the evening, making evening hunting difficult. I was happy to have a morning hunt to try to get between them and their bedding area.
Right before shooting light, I had a monster buck come in from the west directly to the tree that I was in. He smelled my trail, took a little jump, and circled to my north. When he got my wind their he drifted off further north and that was the last I saw of him. He had to be 50 percent larger in the body than the one I shot today. Just at first light I caught sight of a small doe working toward me from the southeast, but she never got close enough. Just before 7 am this guy came in following roughly the same trail as the big boy did. When he gave me a broadside shot, I took it at less than 10 yards. It hit in the right shoulder and buried around half way to the fletch and the deer dropped down on it's front end. I thought, crap, I busted the shoulders. He skittered quatering away and I put another arrow in him and he moaned and was still in just a few seconds. My first shot had done plenty of damage. It had gone through the first scapula and broke the other, taking a little lung for good measure. My follow up shot, although steeply quartering away, took out the heart and didn't pierce any bowel(thankfully). Not the best shooting I've ever done, but I am glad my setup held up.
Here he is. Not a monster, but I doubt he was gonna get much bigger and I never mind fresh venison. I used my Big Jim Thunderchild that is 56# at my draw and Simmons Tigershark broadheads on mfx classic 400 arrows.
As I was messing around taking pictures, gutting the deer, and packing my treestand up, a small spike came within 10 yards of me. I didn't hear him because I was busy and I guess the wind masked my smell and sound. He just stared at me until I said "Your time will come". Then he was out of there pretty quick.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot how much long drags suck.
Topic: 1st deer of the season (Read 932 times)
