AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Sorry for the long story, but this is exciting for me! November, 24, 2010 was a great day for me. After owning a bow for 7 years, chasing deer for 3 years now (including 2 blown stalks and a miss in AZ), I was finally able to close the deal and harvest my first deer (1st anything) with my bow. What a feeling, even if it wasn't the buck I was after. After I got back from Oil Spill Deployment #2 in October, I went to my archery shop and finally bought a new bow after 7 years (Mathews Z7). I also decided to make the jump from 65 lb to 70+ lb (71) draw to get the most out that bow. We arrived at my BIL's ranch Saturday afternoon and my family dropped me off and continued on in to Laredo. I decided this year to make it more challenging by doing more bow hunting and my BIL gave me a pretty free run to take what I wanted. I went out with a couple of my BIL's friends late Saturday evening after hunting to put up my BIL's ground blind so I could hunt Sunday morning with my bow. I half-heartedly threw some brush and cacti at the base of it and boy did I learn a very hard lesson about brushing those things in! Sunday morning, a doe came strolling into 20 yards, saw that blind and ran faster than I think I've ever seen a deer run! A few minutes later, I heard a dow blow right behind my blind. Somewhere after that I woke up to the sound of a deer (presumably doe) running away at high speed. Definitely should have brushed it in better (and listened to you all more the first time around). :thrwrck: As soon as I realized the futility of sitting in a blind that the deer would avoid, I climbed out and started breaking dead branches with my hand to start brushing it in while waiting to be picked up. I ended up taking a nice doe with my rifle on our way back to the ranch house so I could at least guarantee to have meat in the freezer. But my BIL gave me the go-ahead to try again for at least a doe with my bow. He really wanted to see me get something and he's curious about archery (gave him my old Mathews FX, which he loves, btw).
Monday morning came and, after the hunt, my BIL had to go back to work to deal with some issues, leaving me at the ranch. I shot my bow a little and then jumped in the Mule with a pair of loppers and a bottle of scent-remover. I went to town lopping branches and pulling weeds and placing them everywhere I could to break up the outline of the blind. I don't know how many of you have ever spent time in any kind of thornscrub, but my hands were just about hamburger by the time I got done placing cacti, mesquite, acacia, hackbery, and wait-a-minute branches all around, in holders, and on top of the blind as well as using half of a bottle of scent remover on it.
Jump to Tuesday morning. I sat in an elevated blind down the road from the ground blind just to watch the activity in front of the blind. At first light, I counted 5 deer in front of the ground blind, all within 20 yards. Brushing it in definitely worked! After missing a hog at 260 yards with my rifle, I looked up a few minutes later to see a big-bodied deer with antlers right in front of my blind. He stayed there for 15-20 minutes. Excited doesn't even describe it all. Oil rig workers drove by 200 yards from the group of deer and that buck spooked, but headed my way. Long story short, after a some really good looks at him, he was a main-frame 10 with at least 1 split G3 (maybe a match on the other side). He looked to be 3.5-4.5 years old and I was trying to call my BIL to talk about him, still trying to follow his management of 5.5 yo bucks, but this one was 1-2 inches outside his ears and standing 200 yds from me. After no luck reaching my BIL, I let him walk. After getting picked up, my BIL told me to take him if I saw him again, since the oil rigs on neighboring ranches had his management all messed up.
I got in the blind Wednesday morning with every intention of holding out for my Thornscrub Buck (as I dubbed him after tearing my hands up with the brush and digging out all the broken thorns later). I had 4 does from 4 yards to 20 yards that morning and what a rush! Thornscrub never showed up and the oil rig trucks chased off my 4 does!
I decided to sit there patiently hoping another mature doe would come back. About 20 minutes later, I had a mature doe (small for IA, big for TX) coming in to 20 yards and very young doe at 5 yards. I was holding out for the older gal when she came into my shooting lane. I managed to get to full draw without spooking the young doe only to find my peep site crooked and no view of my pins. ARRGGGHH! She spooked a little when I had to let down, but started to come back my way after a couple of minutes. I'm not sure what all happened next, but I remember going to draw and her walking away, letting down and then her coming back. 3rd time was a charm! I settled the 20 yard pin and let my Axis Epic ST with Shuttle T-Lock fly! I saw a great hit and watched the direction she ran. A couple of minutes later, I could hear her stamping right next to my blind. I grabbed my phone, texted my BIL, my wife, and a couple of other buddies. Bowman texted back almost immediately so I called him. I haven't been that excited about a deer ever and I'm sure I sounded like an idiot to Bowman, but I sure did appreciate his encouragement and excitement for me!! I told him I was positive of a double lung shot and he told me to just go get my deer. I walked out of the blind, went to where I hit her and found good blood and my arrow in a bush across the road. In all my excitement, I forgot her travel direction, so I couldn't find the blood trail. I went to the area she went into the brush hoping to pick up her blood trail and there she was, not 10 yards in and about 10 yards from my blind. She didn't travel 20 yards total. I don't know if the shoot-through mesh altered the flight of my arrow, but my shot was a little farther back than I intended (got the stomach, too), but I got both lungs and got the job done (lesson learned about making sure pin is where it should be). I got her back to my blind, cleaned her up (after a very long thank you to her and prayer), and began waiting to get picked up. While waiting for my BIL, I went back to the spot she entered the bush and remembered her travel route on the other side of the road. Sure enough, I back-tracked her blood trail straight to the impact site! I never saw that big-boy again, but I didn't really care because I had my 1st bow harvest of any animal ever and I was as excited as I've ever been. Thanks to Wayne for the phone calls, texts, and encouragement. I appreciate it buddy! And, of course, thanks to my wife for allowing and encouraging me to pursue this passion! Sorry for the long read, but 5 days later, I'm still floating and had to tell the whole story.
Monday morning came and, after the hunt, my BIL had to go back to work to deal with some issues, leaving me at the ranch. I shot my bow a little and then jumped in the Mule with a pair of loppers and a bottle of scent-remover. I went to town lopping branches and pulling weeds and placing them everywhere I could to break up the outline of the blind. I don't know how many of you have ever spent time in any kind of thornscrub, but my hands were just about hamburger by the time I got done placing cacti, mesquite, acacia, hackbery, and wait-a-minute branches all around, in holders, and on top of the blind as well as using half of a bottle of scent remover on it.
Jump to Tuesday morning. I sat in an elevated blind down the road from the ground blind just to watch the activity in front of the blind. At first light, I counted 5 deer in front of the ground blind, all within 20 yards. Brushing it in definitely worked! After missing a hog at 260 yards with my rifle, I looked up a few minutes later to see a big-bodied deer with antlers right in front of my blind. He stayed there for 15-20 minutes. Excited doesn't even describe it all. Oil rig workers drove by 200 yards from the group of deer and that buck spooked, but headed my way. Long story short, after a some really good looks at him, he was a main-frame 10 with at least 1 split G3 (maybe a match on the other side). He looked to be 3.5-4.5 years old and I was trying to call my BIL to talk about him, still trying to follow his management of 5.5 yo bucks, but this one was 1-2 inches outside his ears and standing 200 yds from me. After no luck reaching my BIL, I let him walk. After getting picked up, my BIL told me to take him if I saw him again, since the oil rigs on neighboring ranches had his management all messed up.
I got in the blind Wednesday morning with every intention of holding out for my Thornscrub Buck (as I dubbed him after tearing my hands up with the brush and digging out all the broken thorns later). I had 4 does from 4 yards to 20 yards that morning and what a rush! Thornscrub never showed up and the oil rig trucks chased off my 4 does!
I decided to sit there patiently hoping another mature doe would come back. About 20 minutes later, I had a mature doe (small for IA, big for TX) coming in to 20 yards and very young doe at 5 yards. I was holding out for the older gal when she came into my shooting lane. I managed to get to full draw without spooking the young doe only to find my peep site crooked and no view of my pins. ARRGGGHH! She spooked a little when I had to let down, but started to come back my way after a couple of minutes. I'm not sure what all happened next, but I remember going to draw and her walking away, letting down and then her coming back. 3rd time was a charm! I settled the 20 yard pin and let my Axis Epic ST with Shuttle T-Lock fly! I saw a great hit and watched the direction she ran. A couple of minutes later, I could hear her stamping right next to my blind. I grabbed my phone, texted my BIL, my wife, and a couple of other buddies. Bowman texted back almost immediately so I called him. I haven't been that excited about a deer ever and I'm sure I sounded like an idiot to Bowman, but I sure did appreciate his encouragement and excitement for me!! I told him I was positive of a double lung shot and he told me to just go get my deer. I walked out of the blind, went to where I hit her and found good blood and my arrow in a bush across the road. In all my excitement, I forgot her travel direction, so I couldn't find the blood trail. I went to the area she went into the brush hoping to pick up her blood trail and there she was, not 10 yards in and about 10 yards from my blind. She didn't travel 20 yards total. I don't know if the shoot-through mesh altered the flight of my arrow, but my shot was a little farther back than I intended (got the stomach, too), but I got both lungs and got the job done (lesson learned about making sure pin is where it should be). I got her back to my blind, cleaned her up (after a very long thank you to her and prayer), and began waiting to get picked up. While waiting for my BIL, I went back to the spot she entered the bush and remembered her travel route on the other side of the road. Sure enough, I back-tracked her blood trail straight to the impact site! I never saw that big-boy again, but I didn't really care because I had my 1st bow harvest of any animal ever and I was as excited as I've ever been. Thanks to Wayne for the phone calls, texts, and encouragement. I appreciate it buddy! And, of course, thanks to my wife for allowing and encouraging me to pursue this passion! Sorry for the long read, but 5 days later, I'm still floating and had to tell the whole story.
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