I went to a new hunting spot this afternoon with my non hunting son. We set up on the ground in a nice looking area.It was good to be out in the woods together. Nothing like observing Mother Nature with a youngster.
About 45 minutes into our hunt we thought we heard does being chased by a buck but they were just over the other side of the small ridge we were sitting and could not see any deer. My son who happens to be 10 was able to remain quiet and occupied by reading a book.
After another 45 minutes pass by I hear some more deer movement. This time out in front of us. I spotted the first of 6 deer of the evening. This was a very large bodied buck. I didn't bother counting points because I didn't buy a buck tag, besides he passed well out of my shooting range.
The rest of the deer were all does. They acted jumpy. Maybe they were catching some of our scent in the swirling wind. I kept whispering to my son not to move and to stay quiet.
One of the does that had passed by out of range got spooked and ran back towards us and stopped 20 yards away from were we were sitting. I had the bow in my hand and made myself ready to shoot but there was too much brush to shoot through so I waited.
She started moving up hill and was going to pass in a shooting lane but she spooked again and ran through the shooting lane stopping behind more brush, no shot. But I waited some more, said a quick prayer and kept my cool.
She then steps out into the clear stands broadside. I drew when she turned her head away from us. I held, picked a spot and let her rip.
At the last moment of flight the arrow starts loosing altitude but it looked like I may have hit her perfectly in the heart. She runs off tail waving high. My son starts asking if I hit her or not. He never saw the shot because I told him not to move. Good boy. I went over to look for my arrow and or some kind of sign. I quickly found my arrow, broadhead had some white hairs stuck to it but in the light I didn't see any blood. I figured I just shaved her hair a little bit. She was one lucky doe.
After we got home my son asked to see the arrow. He quickly found a tiny smear of blood on the shaft up by the knock. So I drew blood but the deer isn't going to be bothered from the wound. Like I said before she was one lucky doe.
So the question I want to ask is this. Was this hunt sucessful even though no meat was made? I think the answer is yes because we were sitting on the ground. Twice as much scent, movement and noise. Six deer 12 eyes and ears. I feel pretty good about tonight's adventure. What do you Trad Gangers think?
Sounds like a good evening to me. I haven't seen a deer within range since last Sunday! Good luck! Mike
That's a question only you can answer...and I think you did already....
Sounds like you had a good day with your son, but if you wounded a deer, my vote is that it is a bad day.
Anytime you take a shoot and it is even close to a hit, you need to check the ground very throughly for blood. You may have hit it better than you think.
sounds good,its also good that your son found the smear of blood.
any time doing anything out in the field with children in a GREAT thing, yesterday i shot a good whitetail, today i took my 6 yr. old daughter out to ware i was hunting and took her through the process of the the hunt from getting in the tree stand to following the blood trail even to ware i guted the deer. ( she was very instered in that part even held the heart and wanted to know about all the other parts) we found the broken arrow and she also brought some leaves home with blood on them. take them hunting or just out in the field but have fun when you are out their or they could loose insterest. doug77
I have a three year old grandson and, I waiting for such an adventure.
Wowsers! I'm sorry I didn't leave Old Mine Road when you called lunch time!!! Hey, tell Andrew he did a heck of a job!!The only thing left to make your hunt PERFECT was to aim 2 inches higher.Did you take my Turkey Creek in the woods?
How can you not call that success? You got out and shared a special part of yourself with your son. More fathers these days should learn to do that.
As far as wounding that doe? White hair and a small smear of blood on the nock end? Well, in my experience, the way you described the events, you just gave her a paper cut. If you hit her any better her tail would not have been up when she took off.
Hats off to you!
How do you define success? To me just getting out and away from life in general is a kind of success. Seeing game is better still and getting a shot - sounds like a good day.
However, I agree w/ SRTA - I'd be interested to know if there was any more blood on the ground on her trail. Maybe if you get your son back out there today you guys can see what sort of success you could have reading tracks (and maybe - hopefully - blood).
I had a similiar experience this year. White hair and faint smear of blood = ok deer. They get cut worse when FIghting each other. If you had a pass through, I'd say you could start looking for your deer.