davidmil

So I arrived all alone in NY, walked off the road about 1/2 mile and found a tree. I was settled in by 11:00 AM between 2 trails. I immediately saw one whispy little limb that was a problem. I debated climbing down and getting it but said I' d get it when I got down at dark. For the next 5 hours I must have said 20 times...that pencil limb has got to go. At 4 a small one came by and I said NO. At 4:10 the biggest doe I' ve ever seen in the Southern Tier came from the wrong direction and had gotten through my two shooting lanes before I saw her. She stopped in the lane 2 yards this side of a 33 yard marker.. right in line with the Whispy limb. YUP, you guessed it.... I hit it. Arrow off into 4 inches of fresh snow.

The next morning I' m in the same tree. At 7 the same doe and 3 others pass by going to the bedding thicket but they were 50 yards away and in the pines. At 9:00 this nice little buck comes up the hill. I' m facing the tree. It was a chinese firedrill as I changed direction 3 times as the deer did trying figure out which side he' d go by on. At 40 yards he strightened out and I said, the 20 yard trail. I got my body ready and he changed directions. Came dead to my tree and sniffed the garbage bag I had placed on the ground to lay my bow on before I pulled it up. He freezes 3 feet from the tree. I can' t see him(he' s on the other side directly under me. I can see his shadow. He starts to turn left, I move, he turns back, I swing the arrow to the other side of the tree and clip the pine bark, a piece of which falls to the ground. He bolts back right and up the hill. I whirled, drew and bleated with my voice. He hit the breaks at 30 yards(I thought) right in a small hole. I could see his shoulder and ribs. I said 30, whack and I gave him a reverse mohawk right behind the shoulder across his back. There was enough hair there it looked like someone skinned a cat. I gave him an hour and got down. NO blood. I followed him out for 200 yards and found a speck of blood and a couple more piece of hair where he ducked under a hemlock. I followed him for another 700-800 yards. One time he went under a blowdown and left hair and blood where his back rubbed on it. The deer never went to a walk, never stopped and finally lost me in a maze of tracks and hunter tracks. I found maybe 3 eraser sized spots of blood on the snow. I was sure it was a grazing shot but followed for a half mile to make sure. I went back, stepped off the 23 yards to the deer. DUHHHH... nice range estimation in haste Dave.

Round number 3 was the that afternoon. I went to my hidden apple trees. I saw a 6 point cruise by chasing a doe at about 100 yards. A spike and a raghorn spike showed up. 4 does came in from the other side. I watched them and decided the 4 point would make a good deer for my buddy. I watched him for 15 minutes. He came to the heaviest apple tree where I was stationed in a pine. He got to 10 yards, turned broadside and looked away. Well, I raised the bow, started to draw, got about 2 inches drawn and the release went off. The arrow made it a little more than half way to the deer. He jumped about 15 yards and looked at the arrow. I reach down to the side of my stand and was retrieving a second arrow when one of the 4 does behind me saw the movement. The kind of jogged off. The buck steps behind the apple tree. He looks around for a couple minutes and follows the does. 15 minutes later the spike comes back, then a doe and a fawn, then another doe, then 5 more, then a little basket rack and a BIG deer but he stayed out at about 80 yards harassing a doe running back and forth. Two of the smaller deer smelled my arrow 5 yards away and thought nothing off it. A third one walked by and jumped right out of her skin. She came back, smelled it and bounced away. I decided I wasn' t going to shoot a doe in case the big boy came in. When it got to dark to see my pins I started clearing my throat, flashing my light, coughing... the 12 or 15 deer within 50 yards finally wandered away so I could get down. It was a blast, but if anything could go wrong it did. I took Sunday off to play with my non bowhunting highschool classmates and watch football. My buddy went to the apple trees this morning and shot a nice buck with his gun about the time I was back in Baltimore dragging out Lens multiple kills.

So there you have it. I screwed up more shots in 36 hours than I do in a year. Go figure. I blew out my release before the deer came back. CLipped on and off the loop a half dozen times. Drew the bow 5 or 6 times and it worked fine. I had gotten snow in it walking in and had it on when I sawed a couple limbs off climbing up. I don' t know if it had trash in it or I somehow got the trigger tangled in my cutt off finger fuzz on my gloves. I always cut off the trigger finger but it was cold so I' d put on a thermax glove liner under it. I don' t know what happened.

NY Bowhunter

I' m dizzy from thinking about what transpired for you. Sounds like enough action for a season for me.

brucelit

[][&:] Sounds like one heck of a trip david Seems like you have all the good luck

royak

Man you have all the fun

Urban_Redneck

That' s living lavita loca [8D]

davidmil

Yaaa... sure I have all the fun. I looked like one of those dolls with the bouncing head in the back window of your high school street rod on that one deer. The tree was barely small enough to get my stand on. I' m trying to peak left, right, back left and I can' t see the deer, but I can see his dang shadow. If I couldn' t have seen it I would have thought he went by or something. I changed directions about 6 times on that dude. He just couldn' t make up my mind for me. And the buck in that apple trees. I honestly said something along the line of " well little buddy, I hate to do this to you.... but it' s your turn to die" . I had no doubt a buck broadside at 10 yards looking the other way was dead. The only thing between him and me was the " Gotcha Gods" . They just have to humble you once in a while you know. It' s the way the universe is built. I figure I had enough humbling in 36 hours for the next couple years.[X(]

JeramyK

LOL, that was my thoughts too.

CargoF16

That is bowhunting plain and simple. I' d like to read an article by the pros detailing the many days like yours I' m sure they' ve had but dont talk about much.

jimpok61

Years ago my Dad had a bow story you can now relate to. He was sitting under a big oak all day. It was getting quite dim and he figured " oh well it' s better than working at IBM!" Suddenly, he hears the telltale signs of a deer coming up behind his tree. Adrenaline is firing and he' s frozen stiff for fear he would bust ' em. Minutes seem like hours, until he is about ready to pass out waiting for the dang deer to go left or right of the oak. No such luck. The big boy decides he like my dads tree also. Dad hears him crunching acorns and occasionally rubbing. Poor guy just could' nt sit any longer. Nature was calling, no pun intended, he just had to relieve himself. He figures I might as well take a peek before I leak. Ever so gently he turns while more acorns are being munched. There he was 24" from the snorter of a 10 point monster. With a hefty snort the buck lurched high and to my dads left. Simultaneously, my dad took his leak!!!![8D][&:] He laughed all the way home and his story kinda reminded me that bow hunting never fails to amaze us characters who carry sticks & arrows into the homes of clever and funny whitetails.