Sat. evening I took my 8 year old daughter with me, she just turned 8 a couple weeks ago. Every year I take each daughter (I have two) on a couple hunts just to expose them to bow hunting, deer, and nature. After arriving at the farm I hunt, I’m putting on my gear and I smell perfume. My wife had won a perfume/smelly lotion basket at a charity raffle the night before and my daughter had liberally doused herself with the stuff earlier in the morning. I don’t know why I didn’t smell it sooner at home or in the truck as we drove to the farm, the fresh air must have cleaned out my nostrils, and the perfume was definitely out of place outside. Not much I could do about the stink, other than douse her with doe pee and I didn’t think that would be good idea. That would really confuse the bucks.
We hike to the stand I wanted to hunt from, a double-seater. We get settled in and I hit the rattle bag hard for a few minutes. No sooner do I put the rattle bag down and here comes a shooter buck, he’s coming in just perfect, and then at the last minute he turns left instead of right and holds up behind some small trees. I’m at full draw, heart pounding, hoping he steps out, but he takes a few stiff legged steps away from us and then walks away sniffing the ground. I try to grunt him back, but to no avail. My daughter is duly impressed with the “mean daddy†buck. A little later we see a six pointer and a couple doe come through, and then a forky and some yearlings.
About ½ hour before sundown a lone doe comes along down a path with the best shooting lane from this stand, I decide to take her; I have an antler-less bonus tag to use up. I slowly stand and draw the bow, she steps into the lane, I give a soft “Baaahâ€, she stops slightly quartering away, the 20 yard pin settles on a point midway up her chest lined up with the far side leg, I release, I see the arrow disappear, she jumps up hunching her back and takes off down the trail. My arrow is stuck in the ground behind where she was standing dripping blood. My daughter says “Did you catch it?†I say “Yeah, I think we caught that one.†We sit and discuss what happened, (“Why did I make that ‘baaah’ noise?â€), etc... I give the doe fifteen minutes as I’m very confident of the shot.
We take up the blood trail, once I show my daughter what to look for she is like a hound dog, I let her take the lead and keep scanning ahead. After about 50 yards of tracking I spot the dead doe about 20 yards ahead. I point the doe out to my daughter and she starts jumping up and down yelling like a kid who just hit a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth. I think that was the best thing about the whole hunt, her reaction to finding the downed doe. She held the flashlight when I field dressed the doe, at first she was a little grossed out, but then she said “This is really very interesting.†I showed her the entry and exit wounds and the heart with slice in it from the broad-head. She also “helped†drag the doe to the truck. In many ways this was my most successful hunt of the year. I think I’ll take her sister out to the same spot this weekend to try for the big boy.
We hike to the stand I wanted to hunt from, a double-seater. We get settled in and I hit the rattle bag hard for a few minutes. No sooner do I put the rattle bag down and here comes a shooter buck, he’s coming in just perfect, and then at the last minute he turns left instead of right and holds up behind some small trees. I’m at full draw, heart pounding, hoping he steps out, but he takes a few stiff legged steps away from us and then walks away sniffing the ground. I try to grunt him back, but to no avail. My daughter is duly impressed with the “mean daddy†buck. A little later we see a six pointer and a couple doe come through, and then a forky and some yearlings.
About ½ hour before sundown a lone doe comes along down a path with the best shooting lane from this stand, I decide to take her; I have an antler-less bonus tag to use up. I slowly stand and draw the bow, she steps into the lane, I give a soft “Baaahâ€, she stops slightly quartering away, the 20 yard pin settles on a point midway up her chest lined up with the far side leg, I release, I see the arrow disappear, she jumps up hunching her back and takes off down the trail. My arrow is stuck in the ground behind where she was standing dripping blood. My daughter says “Did you catch it?†I say “Yeah, I think we caught that one.†We sit and discuss what happened, (“Why did I make that ‘baaah’ noise?â€), etc... I give the doe fifteen minutes as I’m very confident of the shot.
We take up the blood trail, once I show my daughter what to look for she is like a hound dog, I let her take the lead and keep scanning ahead. After about 50 yards of tracking I spot the dead doe about 20 yards ahead. I point the doe out to my daughter and she starts jumping up and down yelling like a kid who just hit a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth. I think that was the best thing about the whole hunt, her reaction to finding the downed doe. She held the flashlight when I field dressed the doe, at first she was a little grossed out, but then she said “This is really very interesting.†I showed her the entry and exit wounds and the heart with slice in it from the broad-head. She also “helped†drag the doe to the truck. In many ways this was my most successful hunt of the year. I think I’ll take her sister out to the same spot this weekend to try for the big boy.
