Finally got an archery deer.

Read about it Hunting with my Dad here

Glad you got one. I really hate to follow links though. There is too much risk on the web.

As I have said many times before, THIS was going to be the year I finally take a deer with a bow. I finally did it. It took me switching to a crossbow, but I was able to take a deer. It was not the greatest shot, but it sure got the job done.

The season started two weeks ago. It was hot. The moon was nearly full, rose around 10:00p or 11:00p and was out all night lighting everything up. The deer were moving throughout the night and not during the day. I stayed on the north side of our lease where I have a setup for archery range shots. Result? I saw absolutely nothing. I thought about going to my south setup, to maybe see something, but in the end decided against it. Why go hunt where you may see something, but will not be able to get a shot?

This last weekend, I went back out with my wife. Friday’s hunt was back on the northside, and resulted in more of the same. I saw nothing. Saturday morning came around and I did not go hunt. It rained all night and into the morning. Lightening knocked power out. The morning hunt was a wash. The evening hunt, I went back to my North setup and still again saw nothing. I have a game camera there. I know deer visit the area. I have hunted that area before and see deer. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

Sunday morning comes along and I decide to hunt my south setup. This will be the first time I have hunted there. I do not know where the deer will come from or where they will leave. My feeder is out of bow range. This will be more to hopefully see deer than to actually shoot them. I saw it as a scouting mission more than anything else. I ended up oversleeping. I woke up and the fog was thick. I got down to my blind and started setting up. I had done no scent control. I did not put on my face mask, nor my gloves. This was a sit for fun and observation. I was beginning to wonder why I lugged my crossbow with me. Oh well, it is here and so am I.

I got into the blind, opened the windows, found a place to rest my cross bow, pull out my binoculars, opened another window and finally settled in. I could not even see my feeder, 80 yards off, with my naked eye. I pulled up my binoculars to see if I could even SEE my feeder with them. Not only could I see the feeder, I could see a buck standing there. I watched him and numerous other does and yearlings mingle around the feeder. The does kept moving in and out so I never knew exactly how many there were. I guessed 3 or 4. The does started moving off. I followed them but mainly watched the buck. He never left the feeder. I pulled my binoculars down for a quick look around, and off to my right were the does. And they were close!!!

I checked my area references and realized that they were just out of my range. But they were still moving and wandering around. Finally, one got close. She stood about 25 yards away. Unfortunately, as I raised my crossbow up, I was spotted. This put the deer on alert. However, the deer I had targeted put her head down. I released my arrow……



***THWACK***



It was a sound like no other. She fell right where she was. I had released my bolt, and as I did, she twisted and dropped. This is known as jumping the string. Typically however, ducking the string more accurate. But it was still a hit. I went to see how solid of a hit it was. The arrow went in through her upper neck, and came put right between her eyes. Clean, quick and fatal. No tracking need. I am not exactly happy with where the arrow went in, I am very happy with the end result. I have meat in the freezer.

For what it is worth, I hit a doe in the neck that did something similar to what you describe. Made for a very easy tracking job of about 50 yards. Just amazing how fast they move once the arrow is shot. Congrats on your first.