I have four guys I have been going out with for about a week or so every October for the past 6 or seven years now. We set up camp on a conservation area and hunt small game/turkey, fish, shoot, and generally have a great time. This is with my Dad and two closest friends. There is only one guy in the group who is a bow hunter as well my bud Joe. So we generally passed on hunting deer. However a two years back I bought and refurbished an old compound for my old man and he really took to it. A year later the 4th guy buckled under the pressure and got himself a compound too. So it looked like a legit deer camp was a real possibility this year.
If you have read any of my past few post I only started getting serious about bow hunting deer about 3 years ago and before that was a small game guy even with my bow. I spent about two years reading every thing I could about hunting deer on pressured public land and going out and trying to find them and predict where they would be. Last year I a really started having some close calls and unfortunately had a really rough season. I missed 3 different bucks and had an unrecovered doe due to a bad shot and poor experience on my part (flushed her way too soon and she ran onto private property I wasn't allowed on). This year I was determined to make different. I switched a fixed crawl, expanded my range, started practicing twice as much every day. If my personal scores were a reflection it was a major help.
I got the guys behind my plan of setting up a deer camp but we did have a problem. The area we typically used has a lottery only bow hunt and we did not get drawn. So it was off to the drawing boards. After a lot of hours of Internet scouting, calling area managers, and some good old fashioned boots on the ground, I settled on the location(I am the idea man and the planner of the group). It was a lot smaller than I am used to at only 1,000 acres but, I found lots of the sign there and the area manager told me it tended to get over looked during bow season and saw no real pressure till the rifle season opens each year. It had a couple of nice lakes, a few corn fields, lots of logged and burned timber, and generally seemed perfect.
Sadly we had one guy drop out at the last minuted b/c of work but the other two made it. We arrived Saturday set up camp, hung Joe's ladder stand, and I showed my Dad the location of some ground blinds I constructed the week before. The first day was a cold one and seemed like perfect weather. However, Joe was the only one to report seeing any activity and it was only a spike (this area has a 4pt on one side minimum limit). Then that evening the old man had a close encounter with a yearling doe but, he felt she was too spooky and even drawing would get him busted or result in a bad hit. The next day the weather took a turn for the worse and it got a lot hotter a lot faster. We saw nothing but squirrels the next day and it was hot and windy. That day I began to think that perhaps my best bet would be to target a small watering hole since the heat and wind were eliminating all the dew. Around 1 that afternoon I drove to a spot I had been eyeballing on the map with a little pond not to far from the parking lot. After walking the length of it I identified two corners where deer were frequenting the pond and a a very promising spot to set up. One side of the pond was only about 20 yards from an access road used by agents and area managers it was basically a set of well used tire tracks along a forested section and a large prairie field. The opposite side of the pond had another field and again about 20 yard of old oaks to separated it. The spot I chose ran the length of the pond between these to sections. It had plenty of oaks was fairly brushy and better still was next a "dip" which is to say that there was a hill on this side to get to the pond and a gradual slope to the road and anothe sharp hill to the field. Along this dip I found a very well used trail and I assumed deer could easily travel this section without being seen in any direction. I picked a spot with a narly, stunted, forked oak behind me and a cedar to my right. In front of me were knee high briars. I clipped a few dead branches and raked a spot out. I had a good feeling about this place.
I was up early the next and after a cup of coffee I grabbed my little stool and was in my spot an hour before dawn. The wind was perfect it was blowing steadily a cross the direction I expected deer to come from and into me, sweeping all my scent out into the access trail and the field behind me. It was a quiet sunrise with very little movement and I began to get a little antsy, however at about 7:15 I heard the leaves rustling and spotted flash of white. She came along the bottom of the dip and sniffed around a bit before heading in my direction. She made here way closer and closer browsing slowly and calmly. At seven yards she turned almost broadside (but still quartering towards me just slightly) I drew back my bow and released. I heard a thunk and watched the arrow impacted her squarely in the chest. She whirled and ran off with my fletching sticking out the side of her chest. Needless to say I was excited!!! After 30 minutes I eased out the opposite way she came got in the jeep and drove back to camp. When the guys showed up I was the only one to even see a deer much less tag one!!! We talked it over and decided that my hit was not as tight to the shoulder as might be ideal and was likely a double lung shot. We waited until 9 to start tracking. About 20 yards from where I shot here we found this.
Topic: First deer first deer camp (Read 483 times)
