Why not?....
I haven't taken much opportunity to hunt deer for a few years, even though I live amongst them on my farm. I popped a nice treestand up in late October and went to it the morning of Sunday Nov 2. After a lot of deer activity...including a very nice buck which foxed me by circling downwind of my grunts...a nice coyote came trotting from the direction the buck disappeared. I don't normally worry with shooting them, but something triggered inside my head on this one. We've been seeing LOTS of 'yotes and having them in your yard is a little much. No mercy this time. I got the bow in hand and managed to hammer him as he walked by. Hit through mid-body, he spun and snarled loudly...biting at the arrow. I immediately hammered him again at 18 yards, whereupon he ran away to die. Funny thing...I don't really like to shoot things I don't eat or use, but this one didn't bother me. It all happened so fast I was rather surprised by the outcome. Although I don't have a picture of the dead coyote, this image was taken about 2 days earlier on my farm.
Next up were 5 deer...all antlerless that came in from my left. I passed the shots, though one or two looked really...what does Gene Wensel say?....juicy. I wanted to, but didn't. They moved off and in ten minutes a big deer shocked me by slipping in and jumping the fence no more than 15 yards away. In this case, the jump landed the deer on my side of the fence and walking right under me. Grab the bow again...this one's a shooter. I had little time to react but this really fantastic doe put herself at 10 yards broadside and started sniffing the ground. The arrow was on the mark and punched all the way into the dirt after passing through her ribs. She bounded out to 70 yards and stopped...stumbled...hesitated and suddenly dropped stone dead. I shot through the top of her heart and she never acted anything more than mildly puzzled about the event. Good girl, and I gave thanks for her life.
I didn't hunt in the evening...other things to get done.
Monday Nov 3....
I headed for my one-and-only stand just as dawn was arriving. I made a drag trail the final 200 yards and a good stand entry. Perfect morning. I was seeing deer as soon as I arrived, and guess I was up to around 10 sightings when a mature doe slipped across my hayfield and intercepted my drag trail. She then followed it directly to my stand and was undecided where to go from there. I was noncommittal on taking her until she turned and walked broadside in the clear at ten yards. I shot from a seated position and the hit was 2" forward of my intention. The heavy broadhead penetrated the back side of both shoulders and she wheeled away. Another 70 yard death run and she was down without leaving the field.
She wasn't quite as big as my previous doe, but was mature and in great condition. My venison supply is looking a lot better! I really did pinch myself over this run of good luck.
The morning was as perfect as I've ever witnessed for deer hunting, so I decided to get back in my stand. Earlier I had watched 7 deer go past and into a thicket. Several minutes after they disappeared I heard a loud and bossy grunt come from that same thicket. I responded with some active chase-grunts and then stuffed the tube. Nothing showed.
Many minutes later I heard a deer walking behind me and identified a good 8 point....had to be the thicket buck. I grunted at him and he almost immediately went 'fight' and began hooking brush and walking my way. He stopped and scraped, but then decided to hang back. Nothing I could do would get him all the way in, though I turned him around 3 more times. He slipped back behind me and I thought I could barely see him paralleling the brush line back in there. I suspected he might have a plan, and the thump of his hooves confirmed that a few minutes later when he jumped the old fence and was now 40 yards to my left. He immediately went to a scrape and worked it for 5 minutes. I just stood with bow in hand and waited for him to decide where he was going. His decision wasn't one I agreed with...he was headed away...and so I aggressively grunted at him. He turned 180 degrees and walked directly to my position. As he passed me around 12 yards out I took the mild quartering-away shot and watched my fletching disappear through his upper mid-body. The shot position didn't look all that impressive, but I knew he was mine to find. I've hit deer there before and none of them gave me any difficulty. He barreled straight ahead and over the hill into a weed field where he crashed and never got up. Pinch me again.
Pretty eventful couple of days. Four animals taken in two sits. All three deer tags filled. All three deer made it less than 100 yards and required no trailing. To top it off, I was hunting with a brand-new bow made by my friend Abe Penner and had not taken a game shot with it before this. No complaints.
....and there are still bucks roaming!
Topic: Ohio Quadruple - pg 4 video link (Read 1423 times)
