Big day tomorrow , first frosty morning sit of the season and taken a buddy out for his first bow hunt of his life. Gave him my old portable set up and etc and hopefully get him on his first deer with a bow. Mathews HTR, Sword 5 pin, Truball release, Goldtip XT hunter 300, QAD 125 gr Swept, QAD rest
Okay folks, I finally got the doe all cut up and on ice. I also got all my gear prepped for tomorrow. I actually thought I was posting a lot more info, but come to find out I had sent Tynimiller a PM and it was still on that screen, so all of the updates went to Ty instead of the LFTS thread. I wonder if he was thinking "why the heck is he sending me a play by play of his hunt?" I got to the T woods way late. I don't know what made me decide to cut through the woods instead of walking around them like I've always done in the past, but I did. Turned out to be a good thing. I walked all the way through them and headed to a hickory tree that offers a great shot of the field edge, an inside corner and three trails. I don't like it because it's so much bigger at the base that the only way to hunt it is to adjust the top and bottom of my Summit Viper when I get to climbing height. It takes some contorting, but I can still do it. When I got to my tree I saw another tree that would be better, but it had a vine on it and I'd have to cut three limbs. Okay. I got to that tree right at the field edge, took my climber off my back and looked up. There were three does on the other field edge 80 yards away. I ducked down grabbed my stuff and shuffled back to my other tree. If I had walked around the woods I'd have blown them out of there. As quietly as I could, I got the stand on the tree, got my gear on it and climbed up. I kept watching for the does but I lost sight of them. I got my hooks in and my Ozonics set up and turned on and then did the contortion act it takes to adjust the top and the bottom of my Viper. I got my bow ready and got my jacket on and glanced to where the does had been. Here come six of them now. I still wasn't totally set up, so I grabbed my release out of my pack, strapped it on, got my range finder and put it around my neck and then grabbed my bow. They got to 60 yards and the biggest doe cut east followed by two others. The other three cut west. They all passed by at 40 yards and I opted not to attempt either shot. As luck would have it, they converged right were I'd walked through the woods. They stomped around, milled around and finally the big doe started following my trail towards me. She was on total alert. She kept bobbing her head even though she had no idea I was there. Finally, she'd had enough and turned and walked a trail that took her 30 yards from me. She got broadside and stopped. I was already drawn by then. I anticipated her drop but she REALLY dropped. What I didn't anticipate was the jump forward of over a foot by the time the arrow got there. I got lucky on that shot, pure and simple. I saw that arrow hit just below the spine and about 10 inches in front of her hindquarters and my heart sank. I was praying that I'd cut the aorta. She bounded about 30 yards on the trail, stopped, stood there for about 30 seconds and fell over. I could have doubled but I decided not to. I let the other does meander off and scrambled down to find my arrow and get her out of there before any bucks came in. Evidently she also leaned hard to the right because I was almost 30' high and the entry and exit wounds were level with each other. No gut shot. It blew through both tenderloins and I had one of the cleanest field dresses I've had in a long time.
Guess I'd better call it a night. The 4:00 am alarm is going to hurt a little in the morning. Good luck to everyone getting after them tomorrow. It's going to be a good day to be out.
Up and having my morning coffee, actually taking my new manager from work out for his first public land sit ever, should be a good morning, temps below 40 here this morning!! Good luck out there guys
Stuffing my piehole then heading out. Debating on setting up my decoy. I’ll be there plenty early enough. Good luck am crew.
All set up. Again I’m very early but I know I’ll be ready when daylight comes. Beautiful morning. Stars everywhere.!!!! Good luck out there. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Waiting on coffee and my son! Hope to be in stand where I saw the parade of does about 45 minutes before legal time! Good luck all! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Yeah I’m never late for anything plus my routine of getting ready and into the saddle is getting faster every time I go in. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
All set up in stand. 29 degrees here and I love it. Good luck to all Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Congrats LC another one bites the dust, another one gone . It's 28 degrees out here at home leaving soon. Should be a great day in the deer woods. It's also first day of bear archery season. I have a tag for that also. We shall see. Time to leave here we go.
Good luck out there guys!! 37 here in southern PA, opening day of doe in-line muzzleloader and it looks like they are out in force, have seen 4 or 5 headlamps go by on the trail, the more pressure he better for this stand, on an escape route to private surrounded by some really thick stuff
I definitely made the right call by sleeping in! 6:15, just fed my dogs and brought them outside and it's pouring out. Cold hard rain 39 degrees. weather app now says rain till 9am. Good luck this morning everyone, It should be a great morning for you all!!
