tddeangelo
Handloader
- May 18, 2011
- 2,023
- 20
I have had a mixed bow season here in PA. The opener (29 Sept) was overcast, and at the first minute of legal shooting time, when the overcast skies meant a real late arrival of daylight, I had a nice-sized deer come through several shooting lanes without hesitating, and I never got any kind of real look at it. It's size and behavior said it was a buck, but I couldn't be sure.
Including that time out, I sat a stand 16 times as of this morning, and sighted deer 11 of those 16 trips. Not bad, but only one was a buck, and it was a goofy lookin' spiker (his right antler was bent out and down so it almost looked to come out parallel to the ground).
My dad and our hunting buddy on our hunting lease, however, have seen bucks regularly, coming close several times. Dad even witnessed a brawl, full on FIGHT, between two bucks in a winter barley field! One of those bucks wandered past the other guy we hunt with that evening, and he duffed the shot when his crossbow bolt snagged a twig.
Wednesday evening, my dad connected on a beauty of an 8pt that we roughly measured in the field at 118".
Last night, I decided against my "gut feeling" of where to go and went where my "logic" told me to. Dad sat a stand where he could glass the parts of the same field that I could not see (he's done hunting till rifle season now), and he said a buck looked to have walked right by the stand my gut feeling told me to go to. Darn it!
This morning, I went to a stand we have set up on a steep hillside that has mature oaks on it. Dad and I have shot more than a few deer on this hillside in bow season, and he saw a buck there on Wed. morning. This is where I saw the deer the morning of the opener that I mentioned above.
There was NO action at first. I missed my alarm, got up 45 min late, still managed to get setup and still in the stand a 1/2 hour before light, though. Had a raccoon contemplate climbing up with me, but I gave him a friendly wave and he moved on. Very polite of him, I thought.
At about quarter to 8 or so, I saw movement on the edge of a shooting lane, and a buck walked in just like the one did on the first morning. Looked similar in body size, too. Saw a decent rack on his head and stopped looking at it, letting him cross the shooting lane at 35 yards quartering hard toward me.
He entered brush on my left front side, and was through a small opening before I could draw. He got into some honeysuckle and I drew my bow. He came out the other side, his front half exposed, and stopped. Then he looked right at me and got that "oh BLEEP!" look on his face, but it was too late. The Bowtech was already released, the FMJ and Muzzy were on their way, with a TracerNock showing me clearly that my shot was on the mark. Heard the familiar and gratifying hollow thump/smack of an arrow hitting a rib cage, and he took off downhill, looking wobbly. Inside of 50 yards, he dropped over, close enough I could hear him hit the ground. He kicked a bit and rolled back into sight. No tracking needed!
It took me a bit to find my arrow, as the thing bounced a bit after leaving the deer and wound up with it's nicely lit/blinking nock down in the leaves. Lit nocks don't show up well when the arrow ends up like that!
Got some pics, and was fortunate that he was on a hill that went down to the road into the property with a cut out of the bank to make the road. Backed up the truck to the bank and slid him right on in!
He weighed 146lbs. dressed on the butcher's scale. Decent 2.5 yr old buck. I've taken bigger ones, but for a 2nd straight year, I've filled my buck tag (one per year here) with my bow. Gotta love that!
Here's the deer:
You're looking at the side of him the arrow entered. I was happy with that shot. It was 28 yards from my stand to where the arrow hit him. On opening him up to field dress him, the arrow hit both lungs and sliced through the aorta juuuuust above the heart. There wasn't a big blood trail, as we got dumped on with rain last night and the leaves were puddled up with water. Most of the blood simply dissolved into the water on the leaves/ground and dissipated. Thankfully, though, the Muzzy did a good job and put him down quick.
here's what the exit wound looked like:
Now I'm just fiddling with rifles and packing gear.....I leave for a hunting trip to North Carolina soon, and I can possibly kill two bucks down there. Based on my progress at the range, it looks like the M70 Extreme Weather 300WSM and M70 Classic 30-06 are getting the nod for this year's NC hunting duties.
I'm thinking for doe hunting here, I may try to whip that 25-06 Ruger No. 1 I just got into shape and take that, just for something different. If I can get the stock work done and a scope on it in time.
Including that time out, I sat a stand 16 times as of this morning, and sighted deer 11 of those 16 trips. Not bad, but only one was a buck, and it was a goofy lookin' spiker (his right antler was bent out and down so it almost looked to come out parallel to the ground).
My dad and our hunting buddy on our hunting lease, however, have seen bucks regularly, coming close several times. Dad even witnessed a brawl, full on FIGHT, between two bucks in a winter barley field! One of those bucks wandered past the other guy we hunt with that evening, and he duffed the shot when his crossbow bolt snagged a twig.
Wednesday evening, my dad connected on a beauty of an 8pt that we roughly measured in the field at 118".
Last night, I decided against my "gut feeling" of where to go and went where my "logic" told me to. Dad sat a stand where he could glass the parts of the same field that I could not see (he's done hunting till rifle season now), and he said a buck looked to have walked right by the stand my gut feeling told me to go to. Darn it!
This morning, I went to a stand we have set up on a steep hillside that has mature oaks on it. Dad and I have shot more than a few deer on this hillside in bow season, and he saw a buck there on Wed. morning. This is where I saw the deer the morning of the opener that I mentioned above.
There was NO action at first. I missed my alarm, got up 45 min late, still managed to get setup and still in the stand a 1/2 hour before light, though. Had a raccoon contemplate climbing up with me, but I gave him a friendly wave and he moved on. Very polite of him, I thought.
At about quarter to 8 or so, I saw movement on the edge of a shooting lane, and a buck walked in just like the one did on the first morning. Looked similar in body size, too. Saw a decent rack on his head and stopped looking at it, letting him cross the shooting lane at 35 yards quartering hard toward me.
He entered brush on my left front side, and was through a small opening before I could draw. He got into some honeysuckle and I drew my bow. He came out the other side, his front half exposed, and stopped. Then he looked right at me and got that "oh BLEEP!" look on his face, but it was too late. The Bowtech was already released, the FMJ and Muzzy were on their way, with a TracerNock showing me clearly that my shot was on the mark. Heard the familiar and gratifying hollow thump/smack of an arrow hitting a rib cage, and he took off downhill, looking wobbly. Inside of 50 yards, he dropped over, close enough I could hear him hit the ground. He kicked a bit and rolled back into sight. No tracking needed!
It took me a bit to find my arrow, as the thing bounced a bit after leaving the deer and wound up with it's nicely lit/blinking nock down in the leaves. Lit nocks don't show up well when the arrow ends up like that!
Got some pics, and was fortunate that he was on a hill that went down to the road into the property with a cut out of the bank to make the road. Backed up the truck to the bank and slid him right on in!
He weighed 146lbs. dressed on the butcher's scale. Decent 2.5 yr old buck. I've taken bigger ones, but for a 2nd straight year, I've filled my buck tag (one per year here) with my bow. Gotta love that!
Here's the deer:
You're looking at the side of him the arrow entered. I was happy with that shot. It was 28 yards from my stand to where the arrow hit him. On opening him up to field dress him, the arrow hit both lungs and sliced through the aorta juuuuust above the heart. There wasn't a big blood trail, as we got dumped on with rain last night and the leaves were puddled up with water. Most of the blood simply dissolved into the water on the leaves/ground and dissipated. Thankfully, though, the Muzzy did a good job and put him down quick.
here's what the exit wound looked like:
Now I'm just fiddling with rifles and packing gear.....I leave for a hunting trip to North Carolina soon, and I can possibly kill two bucks down there. Based on my progress at the range, it looks like the M70 Extreme Weather 300WSM and M70 Classic 30-06 are getting the nod for this year's NC hunting duties.
I'm thinking for doe hunting here, I may try to whip that 25-06 Ruger No. 1 I just got into shape and take that, just for something different. If I can get the stock work done and a scope on it in time.
