Hey everyone. I used to post quite a bit here but have admittedly took a bit of a breather from here and from bowhunting really. Seems like life caught up to me in more ways than one and I, over the course of the last two seasons, didn't hunt nearly as much or as hard as I love to. This season, I decided to take a year off from my annual midwest trip. I did this because mainly because I'm planning a trip west to elk hunt next season and even moreso because our two kids homeschooling and leaving my wife for two weeks to deer hunt just wasn't in the cards. So, I focused on hunting around home. Early season was really good from a sense of seeing deer. I was pulling sits of 10-20 deer per sit on an acorn pattern that had many deer piling in to eat what turned out to be a pretty quick drop of acorns that didn't do well this year because of a drought here in PA. But, frustrating enough, I didn't have a big doe in range early... For some reason, I could not get a doe in range and it drove me nuts. Week two, we had a decent cold front here and I started getting pics of an awfully nice 10 during daylight hours in the evening hitting those acorns. So, being that I'm working from home this year because of the whole Pandemic, I jumped on the opportunity and went in to hunt him. Sure enough, around 4pm, he appeared. He fed in the vicinity for over an hour, not moving a whole lot, as deer usually do when they're on acorns. At one point, I figured he would feed into a lane at 30 yards. So here is the fun part. A couple years ago, I took the plunge and switched to a single pin sight. I chose the Spot Hogg Fast Eddie double pin. It pretty much makes it idiot proof for me. With the pin set on 25 yards, I'm good out to 30 with the top pin and the secondary pin falls at 38 yards. So, I really have no need to move this sight from 20-40 yards shots. Well as I figured where this buck would be, I decided to get cute and move the pin to 30 and wait for the shot. All of a sudden I had another buck come in behind me, bouncing a doe around a bit. I was watching him to see what he was and if he may be an even better buck. He was in some thick stuff behind me messing around and i was just getting quick glimpses. I realized that he wasn't a good buck. When I turned back around, there was the big 10 at 18 yards. Well.. you guessed it. I drew, aimed for the center of the chest and released. As soon as I released I immediately knew what I just did... I shot 6" over his back and he ran unharmed away... I pulled the shot a bit high to begin with, but also shot the 30 pin.. I was just glad it was a clean miss and I could lick my wounds and laugh about it. The rest of the season was really uneventful. I did have an encounter with a giant 8 during the peak of the rut, but otherwise, I just couldn't but a deer. This particular property has always been historically good, especially on good acorn years. Its always been a place that if you buy your time, you will eventually get an opportunity at a shooter. It just didn't happen this year and I ended my season deerless and honestly very frustrated. One of the lessons I learned this year is that a ton can change from year to year. I haven't hunted the PA rut in 7 years, as I have always been in Missouri during that time. So I quickly learned I was playing catch up and figuring out new deer patterns that I didn't see in the past. What was pretty much a given during the rut here, was not happening and I spent a lot of time hunting an old pattern that simply wasn't the right one this year. Anyway, thanks for listening to me pout about my disappointing season. I am really looking forward to taking my son out with the rifle in a week. He was supposed to hunt with a crossbow this fall, but I had to play the bad dad and shut him down because of school work. I really hope he learned his lesson.. haha. I'm also looking forward to picking the bow back up after Christmas for late season hunting as I've found a new love in hunting that time of year. Thanks again guys.
You are not a bad dad. You have responsibility to the boy for monitoring his school work. He has responsibility, too. He will appreciate this down the road. All of us have in our lives. Good luck with his rifle season and your late season bow hunt.
Bummer that you didn't tag one this year, but I enjoyed reading your post. Welcome back! Hope you stick around.
Thanks man. I just had to vent a little... was a rough year for me, even though working from home, I had more time to hunt than ever. I felt like I was walking around with a bottle of my wife's perfume in my pack. I'll be around more now.
Welcome back muzzyman. The season you described would be a good one for me. Just seeing those two good bucks would have made my season!
well, I saw 32 deer total. like 15-16 sits. I killed one. a doe. not exactly a stellar year. I have not killed a buck with a bow since 2012! lol
I hear ya guys. I know my season wasn't terrible by many standards. The part that frustrated me is that I simply struggled to put deer in range for some reason. I also have the fortune to hunt very pristine whitetail property that belongs to a relative. We have heavily managed it for over 30 years and there are plenty of deer and plenty of very good bucks, some that would be considered midwest caliber. And here I am, still holding a tag... haha. It really makes a guy question if they're any good at this game ya know? lol.
