Sunday, October 7, 2007

Opening Day 2007 Bow Season


This season is going to be tough...With two boys, a six week old and 19 month old, family obligations are going to limit my time in the woods this season. Add a busy work schedule and I will be lucky to get half a day hunt in on Saturdays... I also hurt my shoulder this past spring and it really never healed, every time I shoot the bow, I feel the pain. I didn’t have anytime to scout, luckily I hunt private land and my stands are still in place from last year... My goals are to shoot a few deer for the freezer and hope to get a shot at Mr. Big...He is still roaming the farm...

I was planning to check my stands last Saturday, but I got a call from work and they told me to prepare for a project and I would have a 4 day business trip immediately after Labor Day. The wife wasn’t happy but it’s my job….I got back from my business trip late Friday afternoon and took about an hour to get my gear ready for the morning hunt...

I hit the snooze too many times this morning and was running late... It was 6am as I was walking across the front field. Like I expected, I heard a loud snort and I kicked up a small herd that just entered the field for their morning feed. I was a little nervous walking in the woods, hoping that my stands were still in place. And sure enough they were there. It was already 72 degrees when I reached my stand and I was hot and sweaty. By 6:15 I was all settled in my stand looking over my favorite Oak flat. I knew the acorns would be falling and the deer would be feeding...Of course after only 20 minutes in stand, I started to doubt myself, probably because of the lack of scouting or preparation...It wasn’t too much longer when I saw two does walking directly towards my stand. They were coming up to a trail intersection, a short 15 yard shot away. I positioned myself to cover both shots and when the lead doe turned right and entered the oak flat I made a little grunt sound and stopped her at 12 yards. The shot was perfect and the muzzy performed as always. I watched her run off with the other doe following. She ran down the hill and died in the middle of the creek bed, within view of my stand. With the temps climbing, I immediately climbed down the tree and when I was retrieving my arrow, I saw a herd of 6 more does coming in my direction. They saw me and hightailed it...I made a quick job of field dressing and dragging her out of the woods...I expected to be the first at the check-in station but I was surprised that there were already 3 guys checking does and 2 more pulled up while I was there. By 8 am I was leaving the butcher and on the way home. A great way to break in the new season and my new Bowtech Commander...Now where is Mr. Big...

2 comments:

woj said...

nice job mr star wars/metallica!

Editor said...

congratulations on your first deer of the season.