Awesome season opener
#1
Awesome season opener
Hello, everyone. Today was the season opener for me, and I have to admit that it was a very strange day at best.
Let's start with last night. I haven't been this pumped up about bowhunting in as long as I can remember. I have this forum and all the GREAT people here to thank for that. I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep. I laid down to go to sleep about 11:00, but it was useless. I just laid there staring at the ceiling. Long story short, I finally dozed off about 2:30 this morning. The alarm was set for 4:00 A.M. because I have to drive an hour just to get to the farm that I hunt on.
My girlfriend (whom according to my signature cannot honestly be calledmy girlfriend until the end of season) finally got me to wake up at 9:30 this morning. I couldn't believe I overslept!!! I rushed into the livingroom, got all my gear, and I was out the door.
The whole way to the farm, I had to keep reminding myself that the deer on the farm usually move more during the afternoon than they do in the morning. At the time, that's the only way I could have a positive outlook on oversleeping on opening day. I finally got there, parked the car,and started walking up the little dirt road that leads through the middle of the farm. The whole way I just wanted to kick myself.
Made it to my treestand at about 11:15. As I was climbing the tree, it started to sprinkle. Once I got all the way up the tree, I turned around and pulled my bow up. Before I could even put my bow in the bowholder, I heard a slight shuffle just behind my tree, and out of the thicket came a small spike. He seemed like he knew something was going on, but he never spotted me and he never spooked. In eastern Tennessee, we are only allowed two bucks for the whole season, but can shoot two does through archery season. I decided to let him walk. There's gotta be bigger bucks there. After about a minute, he turned around and walked back into the thicket. About another minute passes, and a young doe walks out about 15 yards from me. I drew back and was waiting on her to take one more step when I noticed more deer walking behind her. I let them all come into view, picked the biggest "doe" and let "her" have it. The deer was quartering away, and my arrow hit exactly where I wanted it to,just behind the ribcage. All the deer took off running down the hill, but the one I shot collapsed after running about 25 yards. After I collected myself, I climbed back down the tree and went to get my deer. As soon as I got about 20 feet away, I realized that it was a spike!!! I thought it was a doe. I guess I'll really have to be picky about what I shoot for the rest of the season, because I'm only allowed one more buck. I just couldn't believe that I was in the stand for less that 5 minutes, and shot a deer. This is only my third deer with a bow,and i'm completely addicted.
Good luck to everyone this season.
Let's start with last night. I haven't been this pumped up about bowhunting in as long as I can remember. I have this forum and all the GREAT people here to thank for that. I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep. I laid down to go to sleep about 11:00, but it was useless. I just laid there staring at the ceiling. Long story short, I finally dozed off about 2:30 this morning. The alarm was set for 4:00 A.M. because I have to drive an hour just to get to the farm that I hunt on.
My girlfriend (whom according to my signature cannot honestly be calledmy girlfriend until the end of season) finally got me to wake up at 9:30 this morning. I couldn't believe I overslept!!! I rushed into the livingroom, got all my gear, and I was out the door.
The whole way to the farm, I had to keep reminding myself that the deer on the farm usually move more during the afternoon than they do in the morning. At the time, that's the only way I could have a positive outlook on oversleeping on opening day. I finally got there, parked the car,and started walking up the little dirt road that leads through the middle of the farm. The whole way I just wanted to kick myself.
Made it to my treestand at about 11:15. As I was climbing the tree, it started to sprinkle. Once I got all the way up the tree, I turned around and pulled my bow up. Before I could even put my bow in the bowholder, I heard a slight shuffle just behind my tree, and out of the thicket came a small spike. He seemed like he knew something was going on, but he never spotted me and he never spooked. In eastern Tennessee, we are only allowed two bucks for the whole season, but can shoot two does through archery season. I decided to let him walk. There's gotta be bigger bucks there. After about a minute, he turned around and walked back into the thicket. About another minute passes, and a young doe walks out about 15 yards from me. I drew back and was waiting on her to take one more step when I noticed more deer walking behind her. I let them all come into view, picked the biggest "doe" and let "her" have it. The deer was quartering away, and my arrow hit exactly where I wanted it to,just behind the ribcage. All the deer took off running down the hill, but the one I shot collapsed after running about 25 yards. After I collected myself, I climbed back down the tree and went to get my deer. As soon as I got about 20 feet away, I realized that it was a spike!!! I thought it was a doe. I guess I'll really have to be picky about what I shoot for the rest of the season, because I'm only allowed one more buck. I just couldn't believe that I was in the stand for less that 5 minutes, and shot a deer. This is only my third deer with a bow,and i'm completely addicted.
Good luck to everyone this season.
#5
RE: Awesome season opener
Congrats, great to hear you are so excited and top effort for staying positive. A lot of people would have thought that the morning was wasted and only hunted the evening. Good luck trying to get that extra buck and i hope he is a biggun. Happy hunting.