Saturday Morning started out pretty windy. I got in the stand right at first light and the wind was howling out of the north. At around 7:25 I was contemplating putting may arrow back in my quiver and putting my bow on it's hanger when a doe bolted past my stand on the trail at 12 yards. On a normal day I'm sure I would have heard this does coming from a quarter mile away but that wasn't the case today with these winds. When a doe runs past your stand this time of year a hunter is only thinking one thing, wheres the buck? After seeing the doe go through both my shooting lanes I instantly looked to the north where she originally came from and saw antlers fast approaching through the trees. When I first saw the buck he was at 20 yards wasting no time to try and catch up to the doe and I knew I was going to try and get an arrow in this deer. When the buck entered my first shooting lane he was quartering to me so there was no shot but as he passed through my first shooting lane passing behind a large hedge branch I gave him a really loud grunt with my mouth. By really loud I mean I almost yelled to get him to stop. The buck put the breaks on just on the verge of becoming broadside in my second shooting lane. With the bucks head behind a limb I drew and anchored. At this point the buck wasn't sure what made the noise but he was dead set on catching up to his doe. As the buck became broadside at 12 yards I gave him another grunt and almost instantaneously as he put the breaks on for a second time and stopped, I had an arrow sent his way.
There wasn't no lining up of the arrow, no making sure I was holding in the right spot, I just looked where I wanted to hit and my hand did the rest. I knew I had to make it quick and my instincts took over. I watched as my arrow struck half way up the buck's body right in the crease of the shoulder and I instantly knew it was a fatal shot. After the cedar arrow snapped off, the buck took off running through the maize of hedge trees and I watched him as long as I could which was only about 20 yards. I hung up my bow and thanked the lord for giving me this chance at this animal. I collected myself in the stand, called my wife, then got down and sat down at the site of impact.
There is no smell like the smell of a freshly broken cedar arrow covered with blood and there is no feeling like knowing you just put a fatal hit on a nice animal. I sat on the ground and thought about all the practice I had put in to be ready for this moment and all the work that I put in to be able to make this happen. The 20 minutes I spent there reflecting reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to do this. My dad taught me everything I know about hunting and I have him to thank for giving me the knowledge I have. My wife allows me to do what I love and I am more than appreciative to her. And of course, If it wasn't for the Lord up above, non of this would be possible. I also thought about my best friend's Dad that passed away on October 5th this year. He was a die hard traditional bow hunter and one heck of a guy. I couldn't help but think he was up there smiling down, this deer was for him.
Knowing that the deer couldn't of went far I took up the blood trail. There were specs of blood right by my arrow and it wasn't a hard trail to follow. A spec here, a spec there, then a pile here, another pile there. This was the kind of trail everyone loves to see. 60 yard into the track job I saw my buck belly up laying in the grass. Walking up to the deer I would be a liar if I said there wasn't any ground shrinkage but that didn't matter. I thanked the deer for his life and went to work. I am running out of time with a baby coming in January and the house and knife projects are stacking up. This buck will do just fine for me this year. He is a basic 10 point with beautiful dark horns, a little young but I'm happy. I shot this buck with my 54", 53@28 Wild Horse Creek Mariah recurve made by Mike Dunnaway in Perry, KS. I was using cedar arrows I received as a wedding gift last year from a great friend and fellow TradGanger'R, "DGW". The arrow was tipped with an old bear razor my Dad bought at a garage sale and gave to me. Upon inspection I double lunged the buck and nicked the side of the heart. I couldn't be happier with this buck. Now bring on the baby, does, ducks, coyotes, squirrels.....and projects my wife has for me.
Topic: Kansas Buck Down (Read 1583 times)
