Three days in the woods, one deer in the freezer.
I woke up late Saturday (imagine that hahaha). I'd hunted in eastern Kansas last weekend to no avail, and although I'd put together a sweet game plan for this weekend, my late rising Saturday turned my thoughts to go west, to a closer locaton.
With the sun quickly coming up in the rearview, I turned into a spot I'd never hunted before, but had always thought about, as in seasons past there always seemed to be a truck in the pullout. This time it was empty, so I pulled in and got dressed next to a still green milo field.
I looked at a satellite shot of the area once more before heading down the field edge, deciding to go as far as I could without running into any heavy deer sign. As I rounded the east edge the third and final woodlot was getting closer. On the satellite image, this one was on a point that stretched out into the reservoir and I figured there had to be deer bedding there.
I found a trail in an open swath about twenty yards wide, that connected two small clearings in the woods near the wide end of the point. I found a tree among a deadfall that I could lash my Torges tree seat to and settled in around 7:30am.
The afternoon before, I had been shooting some squirrel arrows that I had prepared to take east with me, but had left them at home as I was heading west. Big mistake! There were squirrels all over me all morning.
At about 10:30, I notice a few long legs moving in. It was a young doe who looked just about right for the long haul back to the truck. Thinking she'd walk the open trail past me turned fruitless as she angled hard toward the field edge. She walked in front of me by about 12 yards, but the deadfalls and twigs offered no open lanes. As she disappeared in the chest high milo (my chest), I eased up and went to clear a couple of shooting lanes real quick, in case another deer came through that trail.
Half an hour or so goes by and I hear something crashing through the milo, coming my diretcion fast!! Through the stalks pops the little doe again! She wanders around a bit and makes her way down the trail she'd used earlier, only this time there were windows and an opporunity for our lives to intercept. She passes the first lane quickly, slows, and stops in the third. I'm already drawn, on my knees, and the arrow is gone. A loud crack errupts and the deer bounds back up the trail. She stops behind a large cottonwood and her and I both try to figure out what happened.
Apparently I missed a twig while trimming, but not while shooting. I could see my fletching sticking straight up. Now it's a standoff. She know something's not right, but soon she's moving onto the trail again. I can tell she's a bit more nervous this time. She eases along cautiously and as she approches the first lane, she stops, looking around, presumably still trying to piece things together, but she's calming down and doesn't seem twitchy. I draw slowly, about a quarter of a draw at a time, when she looks away. The string is loose again. She drops to spin back on the trail but falls, halfway around.
She was wound tighter than I thought. I ease onto my feet and can see the arrow, through both sides of her neck and I almost fall apart. I knew it was not good, but I knew what had to be done. I slipped around a few trees and put a second arrow through her heart.
In five seasons of deer hunting and nine deer taken, five with a longbow, this was the first time I needed a follow up shot. I thank God she fell right there and I didn't have to go and find her suffering.
I didn't snap any pictures of her as the mosquitoes were wearing me thin and the heat threatened to get the best of both of us. I was in a hurry to get her back to the truck to get her cooled down.
Topic: Kansas Starter (2015 Deer Season) (Read 235 times)
