I posted this on another site so I thought I’d put it here too.
Well there I was feeling bad that I had been a jerk to my hunting buddy and not happy about my location or my setup. I needed to clear my head so I got up from the spot I had crept to prior to sunrise and started scouting into the wind.
I was walking east on a gravel road and spying fields to my right. I passed a pond and some trees that got my “spider senses” working again so I slowed down a bit. I had a tree line on my right and the road began to dip down at the start of the trees. As the road began to rise up to the level of the surrounding fields I peeked around the last cedar in the line and low and behold there were deer in the bottom of the field, maybe 300 yards away. My heart immediately began to race and I thought to my self, stay calm. I bellied up to the road bank and took a closer look at the deer. One was a buck and they weren’t aware of me. I slithered back down the bank and began a four way conversation with myself. I (we) finally decided to get in the tree line near the down wind end of the line. I reasoned this would keep the maximum amount of field scent free. I scooted into the trees just in time to see the buck turn and walk out of the field into the wooded draw behind them. I quickly rattled and grunted in fear that I was losing my chance at him.
About a minute or so latter he popped back out of the woods facing directly at me. He then did something I absolutely love to watch deer do. He slowing sauntered up to the fence on the edge of the field and jump clean over it. He then proceeded to march across the field like I was pulling him in on a string. Again the voices in my head began arguing. Had I picked a good setup? Would he smell me? Will he get close enough? I’m pretty green but I had gotten myself in the shadows, lobbed a Tinks 69 scent wick out in front of me and had a couple of tree limbs in front of me. My setup must have been pretty good because the buck didn’t hang up until what was latter paced off to be 19 yards.
I’ll never forget the moments that followed. We were frozen in time. I wouldn’t look directly at him and he refused to come closer. He knew something was screwy but couldn’t smell me as the wind was crossing. He took one doubtful step backwards but never bolted. I can still remember seeing him licking his shiny black nose high in the air. Finally he slowly turned to his right and my left. I had been resting my limb tip on the ground but didn’t move it until he had turned directly away from me, essentially passing up a broad side shot. Once he faced away from me I raised my bow and drew. As his right side came in view I tried ever so hard to pick a small spot in his vitals. I can remember so clearly all of the encounter but not the instant I released the arrow. I can see the arrow in flight and every thing after but not the release. I must confess, I hit him high. My arrow struck his spine and he dropped on the spot. I quickly shot again for insurance and to finish him off.
It was about 8:45 in the morning. I now had to wait until 11:30 for my dad to come pick me up. when he and my son finally came to get me I was doing the happy hunter dance in the road. My son jumped out and my dad sped off to collect my hunting buddy. I apologized to him for being a jerk and then showed him my buck. After a bunch of pictures and high fives we headed to the cabin. I spent the rest of the the trip doing cabin chores, horse back riding, playing bus driver and smiling a lot.
This was the first of four days of our trip. I was the only one of our group that shoots a recurve and I’m the only one that got a buck. Boy was the ride home fun!
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