arkansasbowhunter

Well I started out on wednesday morning here in arkansas hunting my deer lease. It was slightly cool and breazy. Saw 2 deer of unknown sex, only that they were deer. I hunted till about 930A.M. Decided to try somewhere different and went up to my cabin around clinton for the afternoon hunt. It was still breezy as I climbed into my loc on about 2p.m. I spotted my first deer around 3:45. They were 2 spike bucks that came up and feed directly underneath my tree for about 10 minutes before wandering off. I snapped some pictures but b/c I didn' t zoom in on them and they were in the shadows, they didn' t turn out that great with my digital camera. Any deer with less than 3 points on one side is illegal to shoot here in arkansas. Spent the night at my cabin and after a battle with a skunk who was insisting on coming inside to my warm cabin I arose on thurs am to a cool brisk morning. Perfectttttt morning that it was. I nestled into my same stand from the evening before as it is perfect for a north wind. around 7:45 I had a 5 point come strolling by (about 30 yeards)but it was just too thick and I couldn' t risk the shot. About 9am I had 4 does come by but they were also on a mission and even though they ranged at 33 yards, I still had no shot. Man what a first couple days of the season. I was batting 100% every time I hunted of seeing deer. didn' t hunt thurs pm as had errands to run. layed out of the woods on friday too waiting for the cable guy to come and hook me up so I could get the outdoor channel. Gotta love that channel man. Well invited a buddy of mine to hunt this morning down at our deer lease and it was on again. Heard deer walking all moring and finally saw first set of does at 745. they offered me an iffy shot at 28 yards but I thought that from the way they were angling they would pass closer and offer a better shot. well, was that a brain fart. they angled away from me and i decided to let an arrow fly at the biggest doe at about 33 yards. well thats all that happened was that my arrow flew. I never connected. they deer just stood there and slowly moved off. I had to be a contortionist to have shot the first time trying to maneuver around the limbs in the tree I was perched in and around the limbs of the nearby trees. Well there I was with my first miss of the season. I looked like elmer fudd up there with my arrow just a bobbling as I released it. I couldn' t hold my pin still on that ol gal for nothing. I just get so worked up and my heart beats so fast. Gotta love it don' t ya. oh well, got bored and tryed to work my crossword puzzle but my darn pen wouldn' t write. oh well, time slowly slipped by until around 830 I saw 3 does heading my way. It was on again. they just kept coming. I readied myself. at about 20 yards the first deer gave me a broadside shot. My arrow was sent flying. I tryed to calm myself as all this happened. well my arrow hit the deer but not in the right spot. I hit her in the AA@#$. She dropped like a rock. I readied another arrow and let er fly. gosh darn if I had not have practiced this shot a 1000 times in my yard and out of a tree before now. I was so darn nervous. my heart was racing, my ears were pounding, this ain' t no sport for the weak hearted. i tried to take deep breaths and calm myself. I needed to dispatch the doe but only had 2 arrows left by now. I readied another arrow. had only a 2 inch gap to shoot through to her vitals. I decided since I was shooting so poorly I would climb down from my perch and shoot her from the ground. Well, when I got on the ground I readied my arrow and shot her. My spitfire arrow hit its mark on center of her chest as I preached to myself " this is just another practice shot at the deer target in the yard" . I went and found my very first arrow and walked back to the deer. She was still alive. I couldn' t believe it. I took my last arrow from my quiver and finished her from 5 feet, surely I couldn' t miss her that close. Well I didn' t and she expired. After looking at my arrows I found that 2 of the spitfires did not open including the one direct hit to the chest. It just glanced down her shoulder blade. I was very surprised at this. This was my first year using them and I am not impressed. I couldn' t believe the shot to the center of her chest ricocheted down her chest instead of penetrating. I shoot 65lbs and a 28 inch beman ics 400 arrow which provides plenty of KE to do the job with mechanicals. Well thats my story as crazy as it seems but sometimes they just don' t allways turn out to be the perfect shot with a perfect hunt. I am gonna have to refletch my arrows now and buy some replacement blades for my old thunderheads. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to control this excitement, some say buck fever, but I think its just deer fever myself??? I sure would appreciate some tips. I guess if you ever lose that feeling it will be time to quit. I don' t want to lose it but control it better. good luck and shoot only once.

bogobble

Arkbowhunter, how about sendin some of those deer down south. congrats on your deer. have ya' ll got any acorns in your area? we have a very poor acorn crop here on our lease. no whitoaks, no cowoaks, no postoaks, only a few redoak and pinoak. goin to felsenthall refuge next week to see if there' s any acorns in the river bottoms. I saw one small spike first mornin and that' s all. there just ain' t nothin much for em to eat on our lease. good luck rest of season.

ps- I hope I have better luck with my shockwaves than you did with your spitfires.
can' t beleive those heads didn' t perform any better than that![]

jerseyhunter

When all that excitement wears off, its time to quit hunting. Cause THATS what its all about.

PAhunterJEN

I agree with jerseyhunter on this one. You just gotta learn to shoot straight in between the hyperventilating and heart pounding!
As for acorns...I haven' t seen anything in PA except one tree with very tiny acorns that look to be all shell. The squirrels don' t even eat them.

arkansasbowhunter

hey bogobble,

after the hunt this a.m. my friend and I rode our lease and we too found very few acorns. the deer are eating under the trees that are producing a few acorns though. also, most of the deer I have seen on our lease have been browsing heavily. We planted 9 food plots and had 1 that looks like they do on t.v., and 2 that produced minimally. the rest didn' t do worth a darn. My plot up at my cabin also didn' t do worth a darn. it came up but with the lack of rain, has just about wilted away. The 3 plots that came up at our lease the deer have been hammerin them in the last week. up till then, they weren' t touched at all. Next year I am gonna take soil samples and send to the coop or someone to see where we went wrong this year. Most of what I have been hunting are just travel areas along the edges and corners of cutovers. I back into the woods about 30-40 yards and set up shop. The lack of acorns will prove very beneficial for our feeders though. As far as acorns up around clinton, well there are a bunch on the ground already. the deer walk through and suck em up like vacuum cleaners. problem there is that they are hard to pattern with such abundance of the acorns. I am also hunting a travel area there and not feeding area.

Sooner_Hunter

gonna say bogobble when one loses the fast heartbeat, its time to quit. as to the acorn crop its to be expected with the crop AR had last year. My old buddies down in Huttig say its good when there are few acorns. Just find a white oak tree thats producing. It also helps with the feeders. Bogobble, I feel sorry for you. now you have to find those few trees in all of those thousands of acres in the Felsenthal Wildlife Refuge to hunt. Don' t know how you will do it. Its a sad, sad Saturday.

Good luck to you Razorbacks over there.

dsheally

I had some spitfires not open also. Three times to be exact. Sometimes they
would open, sometimes not. Now I shoot Wasp Hammer SST 100 gr. FIXED
broadheads. Like them much better. Shot an 8 point the first week of the season
with them. He' s in my freezer now.

bogobble

I agree the deer are easier to pattern when there' s fewer acorns. there ain' t no use in lookin for a whitoak with acorns on our lease, I' ve already checked just about all of them. I' ve found a few redoak acorns, their just not fallin good yet.
same on persimons, there still in the tree. ( I got to keep an eye on those persomion trees) I' ve found one place on a branch that' s got a few redoak on the ground, and the deer are eatin em. it' s also a great travel route. I hunted it thursday evenin, and friday mornin but saw nothin. I noticed last night it' s almost a full moon, that might have somethin to do with less movement. I' ll let ya' ll know about the acorns and deer sign down in felsenthall next week.

CLOUD 9, MN

Way to stay with her and be succesful! Not sure about the Spitfires! Good luck on your nex deer!

PORK CHOP

glad you got your deer, I would and do also use the Thunderhead broadheads.