1st Deer with new 2 me Big East Bow (PHOTO COLLAGE ADDED page 2)

[bohuntr]

Earlier this year I picked up a beauty of a bow from fellow TradGanger Gene Charbonneau. It was love at 1st sight and at 1st shot. While I really enjoyed shooting the BE at 3-D shoots this summer I was anxious to be able to take it out and get some blood on it. My 1st hunt this year was with the Little Delta Bow so the BE had to sit on the bench a little longer. Last week I sent the LDB on to Kent Garvin and the BE finally got a chance to be in the lineup. On Thursday my dad and I headed out to hunt antelope in SW SD. Although this was a rifle antelope hunt that hunt would not start until Saturday so that left me Thursday afternoon and Friday to scout and to hunt deer and antelope with my bow. I am attaching a couple pics of the BE before she got uglified with the camo tape which I applied for the hunt.  
 
 

[vermonster13]

Sure is a pretty bow. Gene knows how to pick them and you got to benefit from his drop in weight. Story and deer pics next?

[bohuntr]

I am still catching up at work from being gone hunting 3 out of the last 4 (long) weekends so I am going to try and keep this story short. While my dad and I were scouting we saw a nice fat forkhorn mule deer cross the road ahead of us. I pulled the pickup over and told my dad that I wanted to watch him to see if he would head somewhere and bed down. I really wanted to see if I could shoot a deer with my bow so my dad could watch. My dad started me out hunting but has never been a bowhunter altough he knows how much I enjoy bowhunting. My dad is 80 and he has kind of indicated that he felt like this might be the last time he would be able to go hunting with me. As you can imagine I was pretty motivated to make the best of this hunt because it could very well be our last together. As luck would have it the buck travelled about a quarter mile and disappeared into a dry creek bottom and never came back out. I gave the buck about 15 minutes and decided to try a stalk with my dad watching through binoculars. After about 45 minutes of slowly working may way into the wind and carefully glassing I spotted the outline of his ear and a bit of antler in a bunch of 6 foot tall fireweed in the dry creek bottom. I crawled on my hands and knees and then my belly until I was 15 yds away from the buck. I had the wind but it appeared that he was bedded facing my direction so I wanted to let the buck make the next move. I was hoping that he would get up to feed, or to stretch or just move because the sun was hitting him. Well I layed there for over an hour and he did not move. I finally decided to throw a chunk of dead wood over the buck on to the opposite bank. I threw that piece of wood and several more objects including my bowhook with no movement from the buck. Finally I decided to see how far I could push the envelope and started crawling even closer. I stopped at 5yds and still the buck was holding his ground. I could still see his ear and some antler but the fireweed was so dense I could not find a hole that would allow me to shoot the buck. At this point I tried whistling and while he perked up his ears he did not stand up. I decided to press the issue further. I came to about half draw and started to slowly stand while focusing on the buck. Finally the buck came to his feet and whirled to run. Much to my amazement a whitetail doe also came bursting out of the same little patch of fireweed. As the mulie attempted to depart I swung on him and at the whopping range of 3yds put an arrow right behind his shoulder. The buck bolted off about 100yds and laid down by a series of round bales which were only a couple hundred yards from the road. He never got back up! My dad saw the whole thing but I think it was a little hard for him to believe that it could actually work like that. Anyway what a fantastic hunt!!! That little mulie buck wouldn't score many P&Y points but I would be hard pressed to have a more rewarding hunt. My dad and I got to spend 4 days hunting together, he got to see me shoot a deer with my bow and we both shot nice antelope bucks. I have decided to post as many of my hunts this fall as possible so I can print out the thread and keep it as a kind of hunting diary. I have always intended to keep some sort of log or diary but never got around to it but this seems like it might work.

[vermonster13]

That is awesome!

[sou-pawbowhunter]

I started reading this thread as a fellow Big East owner, but got so much more.  I haven't been able to share any of these great moments with my dad since '91, but your story reminded me of the many good times we shared prior to his passing.  Thank you, and don't give up on making memories with your father until you have nothing more to say in the matter.

God bless,
Don

[Tim Fishell]

Very cool Congrats on the fine trophy!!

[Glenn Carl]

Congrats, absolutely does not get any better than that.

[LV2HUNT]

"My dad saw the whole thing but I think it was a little hard for him to believe that it could actually work like that."

Me too!    Congratulations on the deer and being able to share that with your father. Priceless moments.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Congrats on a memory of a lifetime.  

[Blackhawk]

Excellent story of a priceless hunt with your father.  

My dad was not a bowhunter,  but we shared many quail, dove, rabbit, and squirrel hunts together in my Tennessee homeland.

Yes, those are memories to last a life time.

[Blackhawk]

Good looking bow too.  I missed out on one of Gene's BE and been looking for one ever since.

[IB]

Job well done in more ways than one          

[Huntrdfk]

What an awesome hunt Dan, I can't imagine how that must have felt, sharing it with your dad like that.....    


David

[bohuntr]

Thanks a bunch guys it definitely was a very special hunt for me. If I don't fill another tag this year it has already been a great success.

[Izzy]

Congrats.That is awesome.

[Littlefeather]

Sweet! Nice bow and nice deer. CK

[drewsbow]

congrats :0)

[Stickbow98]

Hmmm....That bow looks mighty familiar!!!      

 

>>--Ron--<>

[Robert Warnock]

Great story,thanks for sharing.

[bohuntr]

I wanted to share with you the photo collage that I had done with pictures from this hunt. As reflected in the story this was a very special hunt for me with my dad. I had this collage framed and gave it to my dad for Christmas. I think it is a really neat idea. A very nice man, and fellow bowhunter from Utah, Bill Allard put this together for me. I know from past comments that several TradGangers are friends with Bill.