Dad had put out some trail cameras that week and shared the card contents with me as I ate. There was the usual procession of does and fawns but what really caught my eye was the time stamps. At a place we call the Deer Turnaround, the majority of the pictures were taken in the afternoon. I have hunted that spot for over 20 years and could count the number of deer I've seen in the afternoon there on one hand. I had planned on hunting there Saturday morning but decided to change things up after seeing those photos.
Saturday morning was crisp and still down in the holler and I packed my climbing stand over to the mouth of Shop Holler to hunt that morning. I would be overlooking a food plot at the edge of our upper hay field and it was here that I missed a doe a couple of weeks ago. I won't bore you with the details of my morning sit other than to say I saw seven deer in three different groups. Due to a comedy of errors, though, no shot opportunities came out of the sightings.
I got an early start on my evening sit, arriving at my hickory tree on the northwest corner of the Deer Turnaround about 2:30. The place got its name because it once was a small logging loading ground that was just big enough to turn a truck around in. Dad has a salt lick and a food plot there now. It sits about halfway up a ridge that borders the western side of our lower field. The hickory nuts were falling fast and furious and I wondered if I should have brought a hard hat!
About 5:15, I heard a deer coming through the forest from the southeast. It was a yearling doe coming to graze in the food plot. The wind was in my face so all I needed to do was wait for a shot. She came out of the brush and started nibbling on the sparse vegetation. Every now and then, she would throw her head up and look the direction she had come. I figured there was another deer behind her and, sure enough, another young doe joined her in few minutes. They both fed as I waited for an opportunity.
The first doe finally started working her way toward me and eventually walked to within 10 feet of the tree I was in. At first the shot was head on and then it was straight down - neither one will I take. Finally, she turned around and for a brief moment gave me a good quartering away angle. I started to draw but she turned again. The angle was too steep so I let the tension off the string.
While the first doe was walking away, the second one started towards me at a much better angle. I knew if I was patient, I would get the shot I wanted. She was now quartering away but her head was turned towards me. I waited just a little bit more and she turned her head away and extended that front leg. I immediately drew my longbow and picked a spot lining up with the front leg on the off side. The arrow hit perfectly and I watched her bound off into the brush and down into Woodland Holler. I listened as she ran and then caught sight of her as she made about a 100 yard semi-circle. I saw her stumble and then keel over. There was a bit of thrashing and then she was still. From shot to expiration might have been 20 seconds. My single-bevel Meathead had gotten the job done!
I took a good compass reading on her position before I climbed out of my tree. I had plenty of daylight left but I was still glad that I could walk over to her instead of having to trail blood. I took my time gathering up my things, grabbed my bow and quiver and then went over to investigate. I planned on walking an old skid trail until I got to where I would need to start fine tuning my search. Fortunately, I didn't need to. She was laying right next to the road. The exit point of my arrow was right behind the elbow of her front leg so it looked like I got lung and heart. I knelt down next to her, placed my hands on her side, and gave thanks to her spirit for the meat she would provide my family. Then I walked out to our lower field where my truck was, came back to get her, and headed towards Dad's house. I stopped in the field to get a few pictures because the light was better and then went home to start the work ahead of me. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, in my estimation!
Darren
I found the back 1/3 of my arrow in her body cavity. I never did locate the more expensive front 2/3. Oh well, it was a small price to pay!
I always try to get all the meat off the carcass that I can. Dad often kids me about leaving something for the coyotes to eat. I always tell him that the coyotes can go get their own deer!
BEFORE
AFTER
Here's a short video of the hunt. I slowed down the shot at the end.