HOWATTANDHAWKEN
PMA Member
Although I havent been able to connect with a deer yet. my Son Jake has two already this year. This is his first with a bow. He put a perfect shot on this gal at just under 20 yards. The kid is a natural.
Heres the story . We had been practicing regularly and hunting as often as we possibly could. Jacob had already taken a 7 point with a muzzleloader during the youth season and was now hunting with his bow. Since he had never harvested a deer with his bow he was clear with me from the start that he would shoot any deer that walked close enough. We had some close calls the first couple of weeks but no luck. Last Sat. on the 5th of Nov. We were up nice and early and ready to go hunting. We climbed into our tree stands at about 5:45 AM and got settled in for the morning hunt. We sit in two tree stands that are in two different trees but close enough to climb a ladder to one and step across to the other. They face opposite directions so we have a 360 degree view. It’s really kind of a neat setup.
At about 7:15 or so Jake says to me “Here comes a deer” I asked him where and he said” Up the hill.” Well since I’m the older more experienced hunter I go and whip my head around to look just in time for her to spot me. That’s just great, I think to myself. After a very short staring contest she turned tail and ran away. At least she did not snort as she went. That kind of discouraged Jake but I told him it was still early and that I usually see deer moving through the area between 7:30 and 8:00 am. So we settled down again and just kept looking around. Finally 8:00 rolls around and Jake asks me what time it is. Before I could answer he says once again “Here comes a deer”. Again I asked him where and he pointed out in front of himself which is the direction straight behind me. This time I’m not moving a bit, I don’t want to spook another one. At first he thought it was a small buck but after a while he says to me that it is a doe. “a big one”. Well I’m not moving,so instead I was whispering to him to find out what’s going on behind me. At this point he says to me that she is going up the hill the other way. Now once again being the older more experienced hunter,I figured this is my chance to redeem myself. As she headed up the hill behind me I dug out my grunt tube and gave a couple long soft grunts. Within about 10 seconds Jacob say’s to me “here she comes” And back down the hill she came looking for another deer. At this point I told Jake to stand up when he got the chance. As she came to the bottom and around to my left where I could finally see her I told Jake to draw at the appropriate time and since she was about 17 or 18 yards away I told him to use his top pin and to aim a little high. I planned to blow a short grunt to stop her but when she hit the opening she stopped on her own. Jake was already at full draw and when she stopped he let the arrow fly. It was so cool to be right there and watch the whole thing come together. The shot was good, A perfect lung shot.
After the deer took off we talked about the whole thing, gave high fives and just relived it quietly and waited 30 minutes before getting out of the stands. I told him that it was up to him to blood trail the deer and I would follow and mark last blood. The trail was hard to find at first but within about 20 yards it was easy to see that the Muzzy broadhead had done it’s job. After a relatively short tracking job of about 75 yards. Jake found his first bow harvest A big fat doe. The shot was perfect and got both lungs. After taking some pictures we hauled her out of there. What a great thing to be a part of. Congrats to Jake on my behalf. The kid is a natural.
Heres the story . We had been practicing regularly and hunting as often as we possibly could. Jacob had already taken a 7 point with a muzzleloader during the youth season and was now hunting with his bow. Since he had never harvested a deer with his bow he was clear with me from the start that he would shoot any deer that walked close enough. We had some close calls the first couple of weeks but no luck. Last Sat. on the 5th of Nov. We were up nice and early and ready to go hunting. We climbed into our tree stands at about 5:45 AM and got settled in for the morning hunt. We sit in two tree stands that are in two different trees but close enough to climb a ladder to one and step across to the other. They face opposite directions so we have a 360 degree view. It’s really kind of a neat setup.
At about 7:15 or so Jake says to me “Here comes a deer” I asked him where and he said” Up the hill.” Well since I’m the older more experienced hunter I go and whip my head around to look just in time for her to spot me. That’s just great, I think to myself. After a very short staring contest she turned tail and ran away. At least she did not snort as she went. That kind of discouraged Jake but I told him it was still early and that I usually see deer moving through the area between 7:30 and 8:00 am. So we settled down again and just kept looking around. Finally 8:00 rolls around and Jake asks me what time it is. Before I could answer he says once again “Here comes a deer”. Again I asked him where and he pointed out in front of himself which is the direction straight behind me. This time I’m not moving a bit, I don’t want to spook another one. At first he thought it was a small buck but after a while he says to me that it is a doe. “a big one”. Well I’m not moving,so instead I was whispering to him to find out what’s going on behind me. At this point he says to me that she is going up the hill the other way. Now once again being the older more experienced hunter,I figured this is my chance to redeem myself. As she headed up the hill behind me I dug out my grunt tube and gave a couple long soft grunts. Within about 10 seconds Jacob say’s to me “here she comes” And back down the hill she came looking for another deer. At this point I told Jake to stand up when he got the chance. As she came to the bottom and around to my left where I could finally see her I told Jake to draw at the appropriate time and since she was about 17 or 18 yards away I told him to use his top pin and to aim a little high. I planned to blow a short grunt to stop her but when she hit the opening she stopped on her own. Jake was already at full draw and when she stopped he let the arrow fly. It was so cool to be right there and watch the whole thing come together. The shot was good, A perfect lung shot.
After the deer took off we talked about the whole thing, gave high fives and just relived it quietly and waited 30 minutes before getting out of the stands. I told him that it was up to him to blood trail the deer and I would follow and mark last blood. The trail was hard to find at first but within about 20 yards it was easy to see that the Muzzy broadhead had done it’s job. After a relatively short tracking job of about 75 yards. Jake found his first bow harvest A big fat doe. The shot was perfect and got both lungs. After taking some pictures we hauled her out of there. What a great thing to be a part of. Congrats to Jake on my behalf. The kid is a natural.
