When I went out hunting yesterday morning, I didn't think it was going to be too great with temps in the mid 50's at 5 AM. I went out anyway being I'm running out of time before the orange army invades the woods so I tried to keep an open mind. The action started just after shooting hours opened when I heard some of the loudest grunting ever in the creek bottom below me long before I heard the deer moving let alone seeing them. A few minutes after the loud grunts I saw a doe squirt throught the bottom and right on her tail was the giant 8 we call Mr.Clean. I was hoping she would lead him up to the bench I was perched on being they like bedding in the area, but no such luck. Mr.Clean..... I watched a nice looking 2.5 yr old 8 chase a doe around on the hillside by me for about 45 minutes before they headed up the hill the rest of the way into the thick nasty stuff they bed in. After they vacated the area I was suddenly witnessing a parade grounds over the next hour seeing a total of 14 other deer which included a small 6 point chasing anything that moved. Things finally settled down around 8:10 and the whole time I was thinking about Mr.Clean tearing around in that bottom kicking myself for possibly picking the wrong stand for the morning. I heard movement around 8:20 down in the little valley to my north, and as I watched that way a big doe came up out of it and stood looking around. She started angling up the hill coming somewhat towards me and yet not, but after she started moving a great buck had also come up out of the valley that I immediately grabbed my bow. She continued on her angling path up the hill and stopped in a spot that was a clear shot at her, and with her boyfriend 20-30 feet behind her I had time to shoot her with the range finder....42 yards. She then continued on again, and I drew the Admiral back as the buck passed behind a big cherry tree. He too stopped the same spot the doe did, and I picked a nice tuft of hair on his chest about mid body for height settled the 40 yard pin and touched the release. The arrow was flying true until I heard a "tink" that gave my arrow a slight upward kick, and at the noise the buck hit the deck as I watched my arrow go clean over his back. A tiny no-seeum twig as we call them here cost me huge as I watched him trot up the hill and then walk away. As I watched him walk away through the binos I knew him from a game camera pic from late July or early August though I think he put on a couple more inches since the pic being I guessed him around 150 class as I watched him come up the hill. I'll take a clean miss any day in a botched shot over a bad hit, but it still burns me....it gets in your head. I shot today and from the first to the fifth from 40 yards they were all dead center...I know the bow is on...just a dang twig! OMG.....I just realized I saw 18 deer in a 4 hour sit...don't tell Duke!:D
Lol!! That's funny stuff!! :p Like you said though, a clean miss Is always better then a wound. Good luck with him, cool story!!
Schultzy...it's all in good fun! lol:D Rob: I know you're getting frustrated, and I feel your pain bud. Day after this happened I was torn between two stands, and I chose the wrong one because I watched a shooter walk about 15 yards from the other one! Troy: SOON is the operative word there. I feel like I'm into the minutes already with rifle season rapidly approaching here because once that hits, all bets are off! The deer really don't settle down around here until about Feb. after the guns leave the woods so it's hard to even attempt to get within bow range of one.
Hey, the deer gotta be someplace and you gotta be someplace, all you've got to do is make it the same place. Sounds simple don't it? Best of Luck!!!
