First Deer of the Season

[Deebz]

]Bow season opened this past weekend here in IL, and for the first time ever I actually got to hunt opening weekend! I actually had a great weekend. Saturday night I went out with my wife. I had her set up on a field edge that still has corn in it. While she didn't officially "see" any deer, she could watch the other side of the field where the corn plants were shaking around as deer fed on them. That should be a hot spot when they get it combined. Sunday morning I headed out by myself (the wife went to church with her family) and sat in my favorite stand. I didn't see any deer all morning, but there were literally hundreds of birds putting on a show. I even had a woodpecker pull up at the last second to avoid landing on my head. A curious squirrel got close enough i could have poked him with an arrow as well. I was in the stand by about 6:15, and about 9:40 i decided i was going to walk out. I had my bow lowered to the end of the rope and was adjusting the height of the pull rope to keep my bow off the ground. I had literally just tied it off when I heard a noise and looked up to see 3 does directly in front of me. 2 of them immediately turned tail and booked. The first one was staring me down and kept looking back and forth between me and the bow. I froze, and she seemed to relax and begin looking around for the other deer. Every time she looked away I hauled the bow up as much as I could. She finally turned around and began to walk away, so I got the bow up and knocked an arrow. I could have taken a shot at about 40 yards, but I just wasn't comfortable with it. She finally turned and headed out into the corn, but she wasn't acting spooked. I decided to give it another half hour or so, and about 10 minutes later she came out of the corn around behind me. I had to lean around the backside of my tree, but I had a clear shot at about 15 yards slightly quartering away... As soon as I shot, she turned towards me and stepped downhill to go along the trail. I was immediately nervous about the shot being that quartering away had become quartering towards. I heard the impact of the arrow, she gave a huge jump and mule kick, then took off running. I was pretty sure I'd seen her go down just about 30 yards down the trail, but I sat tight. A half hour later, I went to where I shot her and saw tons of blood on both sides of the trail. A very short and easy to follow blood trail later, she was laying dead in a small creek. I even grilled up the tenderloins for dinner last night. All in all, a very satisfying opening weekend...

10.2.11 doe.JPG (226.92 KiB) Viewed 339 times

[Patriot]

Atta boy Deebz!

[bobow]

As my grandson would say: Way to go Dude!

[kellory]

Just like your tendrloins, well done!

[msbadger]

Congrats on the good eats!

[Ohio farms]

Always nice to get one in the freezer early. Congratulations Deebz

[Deebz]

Thanks guys! I do feel like the pressure's off now. I can hopefully hold out for one of the bigger bucks cruising the property. Now I just need to get my wife in front of deer!

[charlie 01]

Deebz, I noticed that one of your arrows has a 4" vane and the other two have the smaller dart vanes. Do you prefer one over the other?

[jonny5buck]

Deebz---nice-- you gotta be stoked...im happy for ya ..awesome...great narration on the events of the hunt--

[Deebz]

Good catch Charlie! The last time I bought arrows I got the 2 inch vanes. They seem to shoot better out of my bow. I can only assume that it has something to do with the drag of the vanes sliding through the whisker biscuit rest I use. The arrow with the 4" vane is one of my old arrows. It still shoots accurately, but I put a Judo -type point on it. There are a LOT of opposum and squirrel in my timber, so every now and then I'll get a chance to thin them out. I keep the Judo point to avoid ruining/losing a mechanical head and arrow.

btw, I wish I'd gotten a good picture of the entrance hole my broadhead left. I remember reading your preferences on super sharp points and such. The broadhead I used was a 100 gr Carbon Express 3 blade expandable. The "tip" is actually a small triangular shaped razor blade. (I think they call it the Torrid) The arrow entered in front of her front right shoulder and left a HUGE hole... It passed through both lungs and clipped the top of the heart, exiting exactly where you'd aim on the opposite side for a quartering away shot. That makes the third deer I've shot with this brand of broadhead. All three died within sight. I know people like their rages and such, but I'm awfully happy with my wal-mart priced broadheads.