Daver
PMA Member
I shot a nice 10 point last night, it'll probably score around 135, but by far the best part was that my 9 year old son was in the tree with me when we got him. Since it was so warm it worked out to take him with me for a short evening hunt and things turned out perfectly.
I carried a second stand into the woods and set it right next to mine. I followed him up the ladder and belted him in and he thought he was on top of the world just sitting in the stand for the first time next to me. He was having a grand time as he pointed out squirrels and critiqued my stand site, observing that it would have been better to be "down in the woods further because that's where the big ones are"..., when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a galloping deer in the rut.
I saw the buck coming from about 80 yards out and he was coming straight at us if he kept his line. He came into the timber right where I thought he would and then as he got within 10-12 yards he turned sharply away from the stand, heading away from us now. I was at full draw waiting for a good shot opportunity but he wasn't stopping. I had to grunt three times to stop him, each time louder than the first. By the third one, I basically yelled and he stopped cold and looked back. I released, he ducked, but the arrow caught him in the spine and he dropped in his tracks. I gave him another "boiler room" shot then to hasten the finish and he was done for about 10 seconds later.
Needless to say it was a grand father/son time with much shouting and rejoicing. We paused for a moment to give God thanks for such a wonderful time together and such a beautiful deer and then my boy got a first hand anatomy lesson as I field dressed the deer with him providing the color commentary all along the way.
We took some pictures this morning and I'll post them later when I get the film developed. All in all, it was awesome time together that I know neither one of us will forget.
BTW - I am confident this buck was scent checking a known bedding area from the down wind side. There is no doubt in my mind he was out loping from one likely bedding area to another trying to locate a hot doe. Right now I would position myself just down wind of prime bedding areas and keep your bow handy! The next several days will only see more of this type of behavior IMO.
PS. I still have two antlerless bow tags to go, so I'll be back at it later this week! Hopefully I don't get a Booner in that I can only look at! But even so, I wouldn't trade last night for anything.
I carried a second stand into the woods and set it right next to mine. I followed him up the ladder and belted him in and he thought he was on top of the world just sitting in the stand for the first time next to me. He was having a grand time as he pointed out squirrels and critiqued my stand site, observing that it would have been better to be "down in the woods further because that's where the big ones are"..., when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a galloping deer in the rut.
I saw the buck coming from about 80 yards out and he was coming straight at us if he kept his line. He came into the timber right where I thought he would and then as he got within 10-12 yards he turned sharply away from the stand, heading away from us now. I was at full draw waiting for a good shot opportunity but he wasn't stopping. I had to grunt three times to stop him, each time louder than the first. By the third one, I basically yelled and he stopped cold and looked back. I released, he ducked, but the arrow caught him in the spine and he dropped in his tracks. I gave him another "boiler room" shot then to hasten the finish and he was done for about 10 seconds later.
Needless to say it was a grand father/son time with much shouting and rejoicing. We paused for a moment to give God thanks for such a wonderful time together and such a beautiful deer and then my boy got a first hand anatomy lesson as I field dressed the deer with him providing the color commentary all along the way.
We took some pictures this morning and I'll post them later when I get the film developed. All in all, it was awesome time together that I know neither one of us will forget.
BTW - I am confident this buck was scent checking a known bedding area from the down wind side. There is no doubt in my mind he was out loping from one likely bedding area to another trying to locate a hot doe. Right now I would position myself just down wind of prime bedding areas and keep your bow handy! The next several days will only see more of this type of behavior IMO.
PS. I still have two antlerless bow tags to go, so I'll be back at it later this week! Hopefully I don't get a Booner in that I can only look at! But even so, I wouldn't trade last night for anything.
