I achieved one of my personal hunting goals for this season this past Friday. I harvested what I call a "Bottom Deer." What is a Bottom Deer, you ask? Well, it is a different species of deer that lives on our mountainous property in Virginia. They spend their entire lives in a deep series of ridges and ravines that all bottom out into a creek bottom. They are old, smart, bigger than deer of the same age that come from other parts of property and extremely difficult to hunt. I made a goal this off season to harvest on of these bottom deer and I did so on Friday I was hunting a small patch of timber that connects a clear cut and two open fields and, after three years of scouting and shed hunting, I learned that deer filter in an out of this piece of timber going to and from bedding and feeding areas. Bucks also cruise this patch of timber heavily during the rut as well. Anywho- It's a literal waste of time to hunt these deer, especially the does, with the wrong wind so this was only my third sit in the stand and at about 7:30 I hear a crunch behind me and I turn around and see this girl following a trail that would lead her at the most 20 yards past my stand. She cooperates walks to and stops at 13 yards from the base of the tree, I draw, release and smoke a G5 Montec through both lungs! woo hoo! I got a pic of this doe and her little on the trail cam about a month ago: After I had shot I had this little dude come bee boppin along and allowed me to snap a couple pics of him: A beautiful arrow, sweet wraps, eh? A little tri-pod self taken pic examining the arrow: And the trophy doe herself: And, the worst part of shooting a Bottom Deer, dragging them out of the bottom: I know this may seem like just another Doe thread, but I am just tickled pink with this deer. The deer on this section of the property are honestly a challenge to hunt. We cut out the jawbone of this deer and aged her at 2.5 years old but she dressed 95 lbs. That is 15 pounds bigger than the average 2 year old doe taken off our property in recent years and her long, gray face almost leads me to believe she is older than 2. But anyway, I'm super proud of this deer and I hope you enjoyed the pics!
I really enjoyed your post. I like hunting does, and in some cases, a specific doe. Thanks for posting and congrats on the bottom doe!
