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This was my first successful
buck kill with a bow. I had just started bow hunting in 1995 and missed a nice buck
the first day of the archery season in Texas. I vowed to practice often to ensure
that never happened again. When the 97 season rolled around, I was able to go back
to Pa and hunt on familiar ground. I took leave and began a week long archery hunt.
With a doe tag, a bonus tag, and my buck tag, the possiblilities were there.
I easily killed two doe early in the week which enabled me to focus my efforts the rest of
the week on getting a nice buck. |
Throughout the week, I returned to camp for lunch and did some
target shooting to keep my skills sharp. My bow, a PSE with 70 pounds of draw, is
sighted in every 10 yards from 20 to 50 yards. Just for kicks, I did some target
practice from the road near the cabin to the back of the yard which measured out to about
70 yards. Consistently I was hitting the center of the target. I would never
expect anyone to take a shot that long, and my practice was just for fun.
Finally, the last day of the archery season
arrived. I had seen several deer but none came within range. Throughout the
week, I had noticed that at sunset there weren't any deer being seen on top of the
mountain. However, about 2 hours after dark, the feilds on top were loaded with
deer, literally 30 or more in a field. I came to the conclusion that they were
bedding down in the valley and slowing working their way up the draws and streams to the
top of the mountain where the food plots are located. So, if I was to get a buck
this season, I would have to go down deep into the valley and get one.
I found a location about 200 yards up from
Maple Creek that was along a steep ridgeline and right on the edge of a draw that
contained a small stream that originated on the top of the mountain. I positioned my
stand along a trail that lead from the bottom up the draw. The location of the stand
was along the edge of the ridge and was chosen so I could watch the bottom for
movement in addition to the flat shelf just above the ridgeline. The location proved
to be outstanding. I got into my stand at about 1400. From that time until
dark, I never had less than 3 or 4 deer below my stand at a given time. Slowly they
were working their way up the draw and heading toward the food plots as I expected.
The problem was, they were all doe. |
After hours of absolutely no movement and no sign of any buck, I was
sure I wasn't going to be successful. It was beginning to get dark and I had about a
dozen deer below my stand that had taken about 2 hours to move the 200 yards from the
valley floor up to my spot. I was just about to give up and scare the deer away out
of frustration when all at once, all 12 doe snapped their heads to my right. My
adrenaline began to flow. I slowly turned my head and notice a nice sized buck
walking from my right to my left about 40 yards out and heading straight for the doe.
He was in the heat of the rut, neck swollen, rubbing his antlers on every tree he
passed, and stomping his hooves. There was no doubt what he was after, those hot
does under my stand. |
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Well, when
he was in front of me and offered a broad side shot the range was about 45 yards and he
was beginning to turn away to follow a doe. It was now or never. I drew and
let the arrow fly. Now anyone who archery hunts knows that when that arrow leaves
your bow you can tell immediately if it was a good shot, and mine was good. Except,
just as the arrow was about to impact the deers chest cavity it shot straight into the
air!! I hit a twig, the deer began to run, I let out a yell in disgust, and the buck
stopped immediately! I guess because I yelled. I drew another arrow and
realized that he was way out of range, or was he. He was actually about the same
range I had been fooling around with back at camp during my lunch breaks but by now it was
just about dark. I aimed about a foot and a half above his front shoulder and let
the arrow fly. It seemed like the arrow flight was going to last forever but when it
ended it had reached it's mark. The arrow, as you can see in the above photo,
entered just behind the front shoulder low in the chest cavity and destroyed the heart.
The deer put his head to the ground, ran about 50 yards and dropped. I never
found the arrow. I paced it off at 65 yards and even at that range the arrow went
completely through the chest! It's a good thing I had a flash light because it was
dark by the time I cleaned and dressed the deer. You can tell from the top photo
that the flash was needed and that it was dark. The photo on the tailgate was taken
the next morning to show the 19.5 inch inside spread. Nice spread but it could have
used a few more points.
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I would never take a shot like
that again and don't recommend any one ever try a shot like that. If I wouldn't have
been sure of my shooting all week I would have never taken that shot, and to be quite
honest I should have never taken it. But I did and I executed a clean kill.
Three deer in one week, gotta love it! |
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