First Kill

I began my season this year by taking a doe.  It is the last week of September; it was a very cool day for the time of year.    A light wind blew out of the south.  There is no moon as I walk to the spot where I was going to setup my tree stand. The woods were very dark as I turned off my flashlight and stared into the darkness.  I couldn’t see any thing. It is one of those days when you say that you are going see some deer.

As the sun started to rise and the woods came alive, I started to scan the woods for deer movement.  This has been a very bad season for acorns.  When they fall the birds, squirrels, and deer run to pick them up.  Acorns are a key source of protein for deer in the fall.  With the decrease in acorns, the deer have to feed a lot more just to get the same amount of protein that they would have gotten from the acorns.

I was in the tree stand for an hour and half when I saw four or five deer feeding about a hundred and fifty yards away.  With the leaves on the trees it was hard to see all the deer at one time. I have always thought that just seeing deer make it a good hunt.  I watched the deer through my binoculars, keeping an eye on them as they feed.  I also keep an eye out for other deer that might be moving into the oak flat that I’m hunting.

The feeding deer are starting to move in my direction.  They still are well out of bow range.  Every time an acorn would fall the closest deer would run to it and pick it up.  As I watched this little group of deer my first thought was that this was a doe with three fawns but after an hour of watching I would discover that it was two does and two fawns.  A nice pair of binoculars can give you a lot of information about the deer in the woods.

The deer are now walking down a deer trail that’s leads right to my setup.  They are feeding unaware of my presence in the woods.  I have four deer tags in my pocket and a good tasting doe would fit nicely in my empty freezer.

The deer are feeding about 35 yards away and they are moving very slowly in my direction.  The first deer that walks by is a fawn and a doe is following a couple of yards behind.  The doe had a long nose which means that she is a couple of years old.  The doe is quartering toward me a little but it is a good shot. 

As I drew back my bow the doe picked me off.   She was looking right at me and I settled my twenty yard pin right behind her front leg.  The next thing I know the bow went off.  I don’t remember pulling the trigger of the release.  The arrow was on its way.  I hear nothing as the arrow hits the deer.

The deer took off and I thought that I heard the deer fall.  The next couple minutes would make me doubt the shot.  The other two does started to blow and stomp.  They were looking where the doe I had hit ran.   A doe started to walk from the area where the doe I had shot went.   Is this the doe I shot?  I was going to shoot this doe but I was not a 100% sure that this was the doe I shot.  This would mean that I would possibly have two dead deer to deal with. I have a one mile trek out of the woods.

I waited in the tree for a half hour.  I felt that I got a good hit on the deer.   I got down and went over to where the deer was standing.  I forgot my camera.  I found the arrow lying on top of the ground.  There was good blood and a piece of bone on the ground. I was feeling good that this deer was dead.  I took two steps and lost the blood.  I was not following the blood but a set of deer footprints.  After a few yards I went back to the blood trail.

This was a tough blood trail to follow because there was a small swamp that the deer had run into.  It was flooded and the only blood that I could find was the blood was on plant that was higher than the water.  I followed the blood to the deer. 

I range to where the deer was hit.  It was 19 yards away.  This deer was dead in less than 10 seconds.  This is a good eating deer.  I will now be hunting for bucks.  With any luck you will see more successful deer hunting stories.

 

Good luck

Sean