I was able to get my son his first deer kill. A 6.5 year old doe. I think he is hooked for life now. We had a couple shooter bucks that wouldn't turn broadside otherwise he would have had a buck. My season still goes through December so I am planning for at least a doe with my bow and possibly a buck. I have a blind set up that I can bow hunt out of that is in between food and bedding.
I'm rooting for the team and with the amount of time and guys members we have eligible it can happen and thanks for being a great motivation Joe Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Okay, it was a heck of a hunt yesterday morning. I towed my camper to Kentucky after Thanksgiving dinner for what was supposed to be three days of gun hunting. I really wanted to kill something with my Marlin 45/70. I got there, got set up and got on stand at 3:00. I didn't see anything that afternoon. The next morning I was walking into a different spot and I almost walked right into a deer while I was sneaking through the woods with my dim green light. It whistled, which scared the crap out of me because it was so close, and bounced away. I continued on to my tree, climbed up and got all settled in a half hour before first light. 15 minutes before first light I heard one coming. I knew that tell-tale foot stomp. A doe or a young, stupid buck had picked up my trail and it trailed me right to my tree. It stomped around the base of my tree for a couple of minutes and then stomped away. Weird. About 6:25 I heard running deer behind me. I stood up and struggled to spot them. They were close, but first light was at 6:12 and it was really dim. I finally spotted a doe. There was a bigger deer behind her. I knew it was a buck, but I didn't know how big. After a few minutes of trotting around the buck mounted the doe and bred her. I didn't have a shot anyway, so I let him finish. Afterwards, the doe starting walking straight to me and she spotted me. She did the head bob thing for about 30 seconds and then started stomping. I stayed frozen, but I thought it was game over. My rifle was still laying on the rail of my Viper and I was pressed up against the tree. The doe continued to stomp on past behind me. Then the buck stepped out from behind the trees and I finally saw his rack. He wasn't huge, but I knew I was going to shoot him if I could. I took a huge gamble and I didn't even risk moving to peek around the tree at the doe. I just slowly reached down, grabbed my 45/70 and slowly raised it, all the while expecting the doe to blow and take off. She never did. I got the gun up to my shoulder, pulled the hammer back and settled the crosshairs on the buck. He was quartering towards me at 40 yards. Since my brother was out of town I decided to shoot for the top of the shoulders and drop him. I fired and he collapsed. I racked another round in as the doe beat a path to the wood edge 60 yards away. She ran out into the field and stopped at 70 yards. Unfortunately for her, she stopped and I had a clear shot. I aimed and drilled her. I saw her go down 5 seconds later. Then I saw another deer running toward where I' shot the doe. Evidently the doe's fawn had been hanging on the outskirts and I didn't know it. It stopped at 50 yards and I dropped her too. I had three tags when I climbed the tree and I punched them all in a matter of minutes. It was a ton of work to get them all field dressed, loaded, transported, skinned, quartered and on ice by myself, but I managed it. Quite a few beers were consumed in celebration and I felt a little crappy this morning, but I was still back in a tree a half hour before first light after buying two more antlerless tags yesterday afternoon. I didn't see anything and to be honest I was glad. I didn't want to bother with another deer. It was a fantastic hunt! Maybe not as good as a buck kill with a bow, but definitely fantastic!
So, who all on the team is still hunting? I got all of the quartered up deer stuffed into the fridge yesterday to age a few days. I plan to process it and get it all vacuum sealed on Wednesday. Then I have to decide if I want to make a trip back to Kentucky this coming weekend (I love full moon hunts) or if I want to keep it simple and hunt behind my house. I've got a buddy who has struck out so far this season who could really use a deer or two and one of my club members hasn't been able to hunt this year so I'll try to get him one also. If I go back to Kentucky it'll be bow hunting for antlerless deer only. Here in Tennessee it's gun season until 15 January. Decisions, decisions.
Sorry I haven’t been on in a while I’ve been technology less for a few weeks and spent those few weeks Hunting non stopped. I got a buck this evening I hit him a little further back than I would have like I had a full pass throw and good blood. I let him go for a hour before I started tracking and I bumped him up about 30 minutes ago so I backed out and will be going back to look for him in the morning Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I might do a Saturday afternoon hunt instead of morning. I have to talk to Matt and find out what he thinks is better on that land. Plus now that the rut is over, I find it really really difficult to get up at three in the morning freeze my butt off to go hunting. LOL Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well I went and tracked for 3 hours this morning before I had to go to work and saw where he crossed over to the next property over I got the owners phone number and left them a message with no response yet so after work I’m going to call up the co to see if he can help me Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
In still hunting...though with a rifle, but after a misfire last week on a mercy kill I may return to the bow much sooner than expected.
I am still hunting with my bow. I have a 4 day hunt the weekend of Dec 15th and plan on hunting the week between Christmas and New Years. I should be able to get something down in that time frame.
