So I am climbing into my treestand at 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon, every step I climb my head gets a little clearer until I sit down and I am good with the world. I found this spot last season
but could not figure out where I could put up a stand. Only one tree at the bottom of the gully
that might work but last year was not so dry so I did not feel that it was worth the effort. Fast
forward to this year, I had to make it work it has been so dry. It is a very small natural spring that
comes out at the base of a good sized hill and it only runs wet for about 30 yards down this gully.
I put my ladder stand in the only tree available, not even close to being straight as you can see,
and then brushed it in, I am still adding some small oak leaf branches for fill. The biggest
negative is that from the seat of my stand at 20 yards I am about eye level with a deer. I had sat
here two times so far this season and got busted at least twice both times. So anyway this
afternoon I had been sitting for about an hour and already had gotten busted twice mostly from
deer coming down from the top of the hill above the spring that saw me before I saw them.
At about 6:00 pm I hear what I know is a deer a ways away behind my tree. I slowly, at the pace
of a sloth, turn to peak behind me where the sound is coming from and there is a big doe with a
spring fawn. I slowly turn back around to wait but they are slow in coming. While I am waiting
for them a small 6 point buck came walking out from a brushy trail to the left and he is working
his way to the water hole. He gets to the water but I don’t want to shoot him, but it does complicate my plan for that doe behind me. Not 30 seconds later, down the same trail comes
this buck in the pictures also heading for the water hole only this one looks like a shooter so I
decide to go for him but I still have that doe and fawn behind me and that small 6 point standing
right next to him so I need to wait for just the right moment and I figure I am not going to have a
big window of opportunity for a shot. While I am trying to figure out my next move here comes
a small 8 pointer down that same trail that the other two bucks had just come in on. Now my
brain is racing, I need that first small buck to either leave or turn away so I can get off a shot
before that third small buck gets to the water. It was like that little buck could hear me thinking
and a matter of seconds later he turned his butt to me and I decided it was now or never. I drew
back, that doe and fawn crossed my mind for a split second, I dropped the string and all hell
broke loose. In the ensuing madness of 5 deer heading in different directions I had lost sight of
my arrow but I was sure that I had hit him. I looked where he was standing but saw no arrow
in the ground. He ran about 40 yards up a small ravine and stopped with the front half of his
body behind a tree, all of a sudden he wagged his tail which of course made me question did I
hit him or not, a few seconds later he wagged his tail again and now I am concerned ,but not for
long when a few seconds later he literally tipped over dead. I was going for double lung but
hit him a bit low right behind the front leg and the broadhead went through his heart and hit the
leg on the opposite side and along the way got torn back out. Set up was a Cari-bow Peregrine
48# @ 28" with a cx heritage 90 with 100 grain brass insert and a woodsman 150 elite the shot
was about 18 yards. I have to say that this was one of the most intense hunts I have had in my
60 years on this earth. This actually took place October 5th but I have had computer problems.
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Topic: october surprise (Read 857 times)
