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My First Archery Buck

Category: article

 Oct 13th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Oct 13th, 2008 at 12:00 AM

	Big Snort’s Buck

Well after a couple of days of trying to figure out how to get pictures off of my phone, I am ready to tell my story

Opening morning was crisp and there was very little breeze at all. I walked out to my stand, trying to be quite and aware of what I may be touching, didn’t want to leave a scent trail where I went. I climbed into the stand, got settled, and waited for day light to come.

I had read in the “Archery Tip of the Week” thread about taking an apple along to eat to mask a person’s breath, so I took a couple bites and continued to wait. It was quite cold, and I was a little underdressed, but I hunkered down and kept a keen eye on the woods and adjacent corn field.

The sun was coming up over the rise to the east and the warmth was welcome. I was much more comfortable now, but still no sign of any deer.

At about 7:30, that all started to change. Out of seemingly no where a nice six point buck shows up on the edge of the corn field. It takes a minute or so poking around and then heads right down the trail past my stand. I knew it was not a shooter, but nice to see one and get the blood pumping. He walked passed me and finally directly downwind, and I was a bit anxious as to what he reaction would be. Nothing. He had no idea I was there, and just continued milling about in the general area.

About two minutes later a fawn pops out of the corn field and walks right passed me also. It still had spots, and was pretty cool to see. By this time I am getting pretty jazzed up and now the woods and corn have my full attention. A few minutes later I notice an ear flicker in the corn, and I stay focused only to see another fawn pop out. It also had spots, and I am guessing twins. This one milled around for a bit, and continues down the trail past my stand. So now I have three deer milling about all within sight. I am starting to think that there are a lot of eyes in the woods.

Just a few minutes later another six pointer comes down the edge of the corn field and continues down the edge next to the woods. Just a minute or so later a small buck with a fork on one side and a spike on the other comes down the same path. The cool thing about this one was that it still had some raggedy velvet hanging of his little antlers and they were still all red and bloody looking. He went right down the edge of the corn chasing after that other six pointer. I really didn’t think much of it, but about 30 seconds later I heard the two of them knocking antlers. That was my first time hearing two bucks “sparring” and it was pretty cool to see and hear. They did that for a minute or so and then the six pointer slipped into the woods, and the fork horn walked passed me again. Now there are five deer that are all within 25-60 yards away from me, and now there are a whole lot of eyes in the woods!!

Well all this commotion has taking about 25 minutes or so, and none of these deer seem to be in the mood to move on, so I decide that I need to finish my apple. I start crunching away at it and they really seem to have no care in the world, or any idea that I am there.

One of the fawns decided to walk back towards me as I am crunching away on my apple and walks directly under my stand. I think it actually walked between the ladder and the tree, not sure, but the path that it was on sure seemed like it would have had to be that close. It continues by me and gets to the edge of the field and then turns around and heads back from where it came. I have now finished my apple and drop the core to the ground. I thought maybe that that would get a rise out of maybe one of the five deer that I can still see, but to no avail.

Gradually they all continue to move on and over the next 5-10 minutes or so they have all gotten out of sight. I am seriously thinking about heading for the cabin, as now I am about frozen. I stood up in the stand to get a better view, and to see if I could spot any of the five, when from behind me I hear something.

The sound was a small 8 pointer that had just jumped over an old fence on the edge of the woods and some CRP and he was followed by two more bucks. They were coming down the wood line, and I could not get a good look at them until they hopped into the woods. The second one hopped in and he was a nice buck, a shooter even, but I had time to wait for the third buck. When he jumped over I knew I had my chance at a trophy. They were about 20-25 yards behind me so I had the protection of the tree to be able to move around and get myself in position for the shot. There was a small shooting lane, and that was where my focus was now at.

I watched intently as the first buck stepped through the lane, and exactly how it was traveling. Straight across the lane, affording me a beautiful broadside shot. The next buck was not far behind, and he followed the same path directly across the shooting lane, affording me yet another great opportunity, but number three was the one I was waiting for. Number three steps into the lane, and I give out a whistle. Not sure why, I think it was some genetic, ancestral thing, but the buck actually looked the other way. I am not much of a whistler, and maybe he didn’t even hear me. I was already at full draw and my pin was right on it’s vitals so I pulled the trigger. Now that was one of the coolest things I have ever seen or done in my life. It almost seemed to be in slow motion. I saw the arrow hit right where I had aimed. The buck hunched up and then took off like a shot!!  

I knew I had put a good shot on it, but I lost site if it just a few yards after I shot. I heard a couple crashes and then nothing. Then it all settled in, I was extremely calm during their approach and during the shot, and I think seeing all the deer earlier in the morning had help with me nerves, but after I shot I was a wreck. Between all the excitement and being a bit cold, I was shivering uncontrollably!! The excitement was unbelievable!!

I waited about a half of an hour and walked back to the cabin. This was more involuntary that voluntary, as I was shaking so badly for about 25 minutes, I would have fallen on my head had I tried to climb down!!

 I had to walk pass where I shot him and saw the blood trail. It looked very good, and the uncontrollable shaking that I had managed to get over was back right again. At the cabin I met up with my buddy and I told to whole story to him. Of course with all the gusto and excitement a nervously shaking man can have. He was amazed and excited also. Even came so far as to laugh at me and my uncontrollable shaking. He had not seen anything all morning, and was getting excited to see my quarry.

We heading out to find him about a half hour later, and after just a few minutes of walking down the blood trail, there he laid. It was an incredible hunt and this was also my first bow kill ever!! I am just amazed at how vivid the whole situation is in my mind, I will never forget this hunt.