It has always been a tradition in my family to hunt New Year's Day, which is the last day of the Michigan whitetail season. This year I was heading to a spot that normally has good deer activity late in the year. My hopes were high as I headed in for an evening sit. Unfortunately, the deer weren't really moving. Light was starting to fade and I was reflecting on my season and was considering packing up. With less than 10 minutes left in legal hunting hours, I spotted some movement heading my way. Two young does were heading down a trail that would lead them 25 yards to my left. I decided I would take a shot of one of them came in quickly. The lead doe started to trot and slowed to a walk at 30 yards. She entered a clearing at 25 yards and stopped quatering away. Everything about the shot felt good, but I hit low. I watched her stop at 60 yards where she stood motionless for 5 minutes. Then she slowly walked off. I called my brother to let him know what happened and that I would be waiting a while before quietly climbing down. We returned to a friend's house to check the weather only to find they were calling for snow around midnight. At 10:30 (5 hours after the shot), we decided to take a look. We found her bedded and alive about a 100 yards away. We tried to sneak out, but she got nervous and walked off. I awoke early the next morning to see the snow had missed us which was a big relief. We headed to the spot she had bedded and it didn't take long to find her from there thanks to the snow. She went about 100 yards before bedding again. She's not the biggest doe out there and the shot didn't go as planned, but I was happy to recover her. Matt
Great Job! At least once you jumped her you didn't push your luck and just waited til morning. I hate waiting overnight to track, because I get no sleep hardly, but it's the best thing to do in situations like that. Congrats on a nice doe.
