HawkeyeHerps
New Member
Here's the story…
Saturday night I was out late with Tineseeker helping to haul out his buck (see “Tineseeker Bags a Bruiser”) and with my bad back I was feeling pretty miserable. I didn't get up until 8:30 AM Sunday morning and one look at the 40 mph winds outside made me just a little more depressed. The plan was for me to hunt Tineseeker's climber where he left it since he saw a big 8 that he didn't shoot. I lay around the house until 11 AM hoping for the wind to die down and when it didn't I figured I'd better just go. At the last minute I changed my mind, talked to Tineseeker about him getting his climber out, checked the topos and found a good bottleneck 400 yards from where he was hunting the night before.
I went in around 12 PM and found a scrape and a few rubs in an area where 3 deer trails meet. I climber up to about 20 feet in the biggest tree I could get my climber around because I get kind of sea sick when the tree starts swaying in the heavy wind. Well, it was miserable! There were heavy winds coming out of the north and like a dummy, that's the way I set up; I wanted the tree between me and the major trail. After an hour I looked up and saw that a 3 inch thick branch was hanging from the next tree over and swaying pretty good in the wind. If it fell, I would have been in trouble. I decided to inch my climber around the tree away from the branch and the wind. I'm glad I did! I sat for 3 hours without seeing a single deer. I was beginning to second guess myself. The tree I was in was leaning into my back so I had to sit kind of hunched over. I was just staring out into space at 3:15 when I see tines come out of a gully straight in front of me on a trail I had NOT been watching. This guy was marching straight at me at about 80 yards. I stood up as slowly as I could and made the quick decision to shoot. I drew back, picked a shooting lane and waited. Ten seconds later he was in my lane, I grunted, he stopped, I fired! He took off running with his hind legs low but as he left I saw a big blood spot where the arrow went in. It was a slightly quartering towards shot but I felt pretty good about it. The deer ran over to a gully and over the edge.
After a couple of minutes I calmed down and caught my breath. Last year I started tracking a doe too early and I lost her by chasing her all over the woods. There was no way I was going to do that again. Knowing he was over the gully and not seeing him come up the other side, I climbed down, checked the blood and walked out of the woods. I was at my car by 3:25. I called Tineseeker and told him I got a buck. He asked “How big?”
I said, “I don't know.”
He asked “Is he down?”
I said, “I don't know.”
He asked “Where'd you shoot him?”
I said, “I think I was a little far back.”
He said, “Get out of there and we'll go back at 4:15.”
My SECOND call was to my house.
I waited for Tineseeker and his brother to come over and I thought I was going pass out from hyperventilation. Everything was becoming a blur and I was starting to think my deer was going to suffer from serious ground shrinkage. We got loaded up and headed back to my stand. Tineseeker looked at the blood and shook his head. Now I'm worried sick. We follow a good trail over to the gully but he's not at the bottom. Tine and Josh climbed down while I went to get my son who stayed at the first blood. As my son and I were walking toward the gully I hear a “Yeah!” and knew they'd found my deer. The arrow went in through the left lung and out through the liver. He only made it about 100 yards before lying down in some grass in the gully. It's my biggest deer to date and I'm still a little giddy. The best part was having my son with me when we found it.
Thanks Tineseeker and Josh, I never could have hauled it out without you guys. And thanks to Tineseeker for giving me a deal on his old Matthews Q1, I love that bow!
Saturday night I was out late with Tineseeker helping to haul out his buck (see “Tineseeker Bags a Bruiser”) and with my bad back I was feeling pretty miserable. I didn't get up until 8:30 AM Sunday morning and one look at the 40 mph winds outside made me just a little more depressed. The plan was for me to hunt Tineseeker's climber where he left it since he saw a big 8 that he didn't shoot. I lay around the house until 11 AM hoping for the wind to die down and when it didn't I figured I'd better just go. At the last minute I changed my mind, talked to Tineseeker about him getting his climber out, checked the topos and found a good bottleneck 400 yards from where he was hunting the night before.
I went in around 12 PM and found a scrape and a few rubs in an area where 3 deer trails meet. I climber up to about 20 feet in the biggest tree I could get my climber around because I get kind of sea sick when the tree starts swaying in the heavy wind. Well, it was miserable! There were heavy winds coming out of the north and like a dummy, that's the way I set up; I wanted the tree between me and the major trail. After an hour I looked up and saw that a 3 inch thick branch was hanging from the next tree over and swaying pretty good in the wind. If it fell, I would have been in trouble. I decided to inch my climber around the tree away from the branch and the wind. I'm glad I did! I sat for 3 hours without seeing a single deer. I was beginning to second guess myself. The tree I was in was leaning into my back so I had to sit kind of hunched over. I was just staring out into space at 3:15 when I see tines come out of a gully straight in front of me on a trail I had NOT been watching. This guy was marching straight at me at about 80 yards. I stood up as slowly as I could and made the quick decision to shoot. I drew back, picked a shooting lane and waited. Ten seconds later he was in my lane, I grunted, he stopped, I fired! He took off running with his hind legs low but as he left I saw a big blood spot where the arrow went in. It was a slightly quartering towards shot but I felt pretty good about it. The deer ran over to a gully and over the edge.
After a couple of minutes I calmed down and caught my breath. Last year I started tracking a doe too early and I lost her by chasing her all over the woods. There was no way I was going to do that again. Knowing he was over the gully and not seeing him come up the other side, I climbed down, checked the blood and walked out of the woods. I was at my car by 3:25. I called Tineseeker and told him I got a buck. He asked “How big?”
I said, “I don't know.”
He asked “Is he down?”
I said, “I don't know.”
He asked “Where'd you shoot him?”
I said, “I think I was a little far back.”
He said, “Get out of there and we'll go back at 4:15.”
My SECOND call was to my house.
I waited for Tineseeker and his brother to come over and I thought I was going pass out from hyperventilation. Everything was becoming a blur and I was starting to think my deer was going to suffer from serious ground shrinkage. We got loaded up and headed back to my stand. Tineseeker looked at the blood and shook his head. Now I'm worried sick. We follow a good trail over to the gully but he's not at the bottom. Tine and Josh climbed down while I went to get my son who stayed at the first blood. As my son and I were walking toward the gully I hear a “Yeah!” and knew they'd found my deer. The arrow went in through the left lung and out through the liver. He only made it about 100 yards before lying down in some grass in the gully. It's my biggest deer to date and I'm still a little giddy. The best part was having my son with me when we found it.
Thanks Tineseeker and Josh, I never could have hauled it out without you guys. And thanks to Tineseeker for giving me a deal on his old Matthews Q1, I love that bow!
