I was very fortunate to harvest this old, mature doe Saturday afternoon while hunting close to my clover food plot. It was a beautiful sunny fall afternoon and I had seen about 7-8 does in and out of the food plot and 15 turkeys throughout the afternoon. I was watching 2 does and 2 fawns out in the food plot hoping they would work their way to me when I heard footsteps coming from behind. i turned around and spot a fawn sprinting through the woods ready to chow down on some clover. I throw up my bino's trying to locate the mom, and lo and behold, there she came. A doe that we nicknamed Momma that I figured to be at least 8 or 9 years old. She had a distinctive white streak down her nose. She had another fawn with her who stuck closer by her side and they finally hit a trail that would take them in front of my stand at 20 yards. She took her time covering the last 20 yards before she'd walk in front of me broadside. Taking a couple steps, scanning the food plot. Taking a couple more checking her wind, and looking behind her. I stood there knees shaking convinced she'd bust me sooner or later. She walked behind a split cherry tree and I drew back, still not confident I'd get away with it cleanly. Fortunately, she never saw me, took a couple steps out of the timber, I stopped her with a soft bleat and send my Carbon Express Thunderhead EDGE tipped arrow on it's away. I always aim for the heart, and in this case I'm glad I did. She ducked a good 6-8 inches on the shot, but I still caught her square in the lungs and saw my arrow buries itself behind the shoulder. She took, ran 60-70 yards and crashed. Mature doe down! The Thunderhead EDGE did a sweet job, and she was down in no time. This is a very special deer and one that I am extremely proud of. I wrote about and encounter I had with her last season in a blog this past winter that you can read here: http://www.bowhunting.com/blog-archive/post/saying-goodbye-to-the-2011-bow-season.aspx I sent pics of her jawbone and e-mailed them to the editor of Quality Whitetails and asked if he could float them around the office at QMDA HQ. Most seemed to agree she was in her early teens. Blows my mind. This deer was born when I was still playing Little League baseball. Anyway, mature doe down! Hope you enjoy the pics.
Congrats again, Cody! Just as cool as any buck would have been I bet. Did you think the moment you bleated that she might bolt on you like she did the year before?
So you had previous encounters with her in prior seasons and couldn't close the deal, but now that she is so old that she is blind in one eye and can't see out the other, and she can longer smell or hear, and we are supposed to congratulate you? J/K....congratulations...I really like the pic in the snow.
