Hey guys, look at Mark's picture at the top of the page..
Is that super or what ???
Way to go Mark, congrats !
Congrat's Mark!!
congrats Marc :thumbsup:
Nice deer! So what are the details???
I think this a great tradional picture of traditional values...
congrats mark! enjoy your week at the top. how about the story?
Storytime. Hap
TTT
I've heard the story from Marc and I'm pretty sure he posted it earlier... but he's obligated by his time at the top to tell it again :D
:cool: :campfire: :archer:
Nice pic Marc, love the camo!
David
Great pic, good job.
Hey! I know Marc! That's awesome ! Congratulations, Marc. Jawge
Great pic, need details on the hat!
That picture reminds me of Chester Stevenson...the guy in the book "In the Den of the Old Bowhunter". Nice photo.
Congrats Marc, Injoy your week. :thumbsup:
What's the story I would like to hear it.
Tracy
ok ok...I'll spill...
he he nice to have some time at the top :D
long version:
Oct 26th...woke not feeling great (and knowing that I hadn't bagged a deer IN SIX YEARS), thought for a few moments about crushing the alarm clock and crawl back under the warm covers, but then thought that my friend Mark (more on him later) would be sitting at the gate of the farm waiting on me. Knowing that he can't hunt it without me there (stipulation of the farm owners), I crawled down to the shower.
met him at the gate and drove in. I had noticed the weekend before a large area at the edge of a clearing under some oaks was really torn up, so I skipped out on halftime of a Patriots game to hang a stand over the run leading up to this area. I decided to try that stand this morning and my buddie mark (who'd already bagged 3 deer in CT) went to one of my other stands. we bid each other good luck, I took a final drag of coffee, and rubbed some burnt cork on my face. climbed abort in a light fog (the air...not my brain :) ).
hung my bow, got settled right around legal shooting hours 1/2 hour before sunrise. decided to wait 15 minutes so I could see a bit better, then I would rattle. after 15, I picked up the antlers and gave 'em a go. after a minute of few of silence I turned to hang the antlers on the hook and movement caught my eye. it was a doe, on the runway coming up to the oaks. in the half light I thought it was small yearling or fawn..and it was active VERY skittish. head bobbing, sniffing the air, prancing back and forth. while watching this behavior, which I could only interpret as her intent as trying to avoid the bucks she heard fighting, I quietly lifted the bow from the hook and got in position. over 20 minutes she must have changed directions 6 times, undecided about what route to follow. but eventually she came up the run. it was nearly a perfect setup, she was coming in from behind the tree, passing to my left at about 15 yards, the only suboptimal thing was even though the stand was 16 feet up in a maple, the run rose up a hill which would put us on about the same elevation. I knew I had to draw as her head went behind a tree.
when her head disappeared behind the tree I began the draw...but only got about halfway when she popped out the other side oblivious to me. I let her take two steps, and thought, 'draw'...
next thing I know I see the home made lumi-nock dissappear, shes spins around bolting into a clearing we call 'the whole' she gets to about 50 yards and I see a wabble in her gate. boom, she goes down, in sight 60 yards away. THEN the adrenaline kicks into high gear. (I think I actually raised my hands in victory) I whip out my cell phone to send a text to Mark, but my fingers are shaking so much the message must have appeared as 'IIII JJUUSTT SHHOTTTT A FREEEEAAKKINGGG DOEEEE!!!!....I can't find the words to tell you how excited I was, as I said earlier, it had been since October 2001 that I had gotten a deer.
I calm my shakes, climb down and almost get jerked back to the tree as I'm walking away (forgot to unclip from the static line). Mark meets me at the truck and we drive down to check her out. nice healthy mature doe. guestimate the weight at about 120 pounds, got the top of near lung, the top of the heart lung connection and the middle of the off lung. the arrow passed completely through, only hanging on by the nock as she spun and fell 4 down her path.
now for getting back to my friend Mark, he made the bow I shot her with. I had bought it off him in January when I began seriously trying to improve my accuracy. I dare say he was AS excited as I was!
the bow is osage & paduk limbs, osage, paduk and grey action wood riser. 56# at 27.5". shooting CX terminators 4560s with 300 grains up front (WW with a 75 grn adapter, and 100 grain insert.) and as I mentioned before sporting home made lumi-nocks.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/hickstick/07doenbow.jpg)
oh yah...dave..the shirt-jack was a post season clearance from wally world...prolly cost me 10 bucks...the hat is an old irish flat cap (worn backwards) that I got from noggin tops years ago. was also sportin swedish surplus wool pants.
oh and THANKS for the congrats guys. really appreciate it! but Pat, I'm not really sure I'm the poster boy of trad values....I'm just an aging punk trying to find his way through the world (be it with a 'curve or longbow in his hand.) :bigsmyl:
Nice deer, Nice bow and thanks for the story :goldtooth:
Tracy
Great story and great pics...
I was kind of bummed when I went to check her in, in Mass you're required to check in the whole carcass field dressed within 24 hours. but they only weigh, measure and age during the gun seasons, during archery they just take your temp tag and affix a metal tag and record the day/time of kill and the town. I was really hoping they'd weigh her.
but the really neat thing about this was I grew up across the street from this farm, a horse farm where they raise saddlebreds. in the last 38 years, the town has gone from a semi-rural suburb, to a full on burb with no buildable land left. the only forests left are on the outskirts of town - were i grew up. the town almost took the farm under emminant domain 10 years ago to build a new high school, but luckily (for us) they picked another spot on the other side of town. when the town didn't take it, the farms neighbor ended up giving her undeveloped chunk to the town as conservation land. unfortunately the neighbors brother, who owned the land behind the farm sold his to a developer who's throwing up 300 apartment units and another useless strip mall. its gonna leave probably a a 100 acres of forest left. not much but enough for a few stands. :)
Awesome story Marc, I thought I recognized the shirt jac, I just bought one last month for twelve bucks, greena and black plaid at our local Wally World, great deal.
David
When I first saw it, I thought David Feherty had taken up trad bowhunting. :D You golfers will know what I mean.
Congrats! Great deer and great story.
Congrats Marc. Not only on your week of fame but also on the beautful animal.
Super looking bow.
Thanks for the story.
Ed :campfire: :archer:
well...since my '15 minutes' is almost up, figured I bring this back up and milk the most out of it :bigsmyl:
anyone else have an questions...(or invitations to hunt some big bucks in the ohio or missouri area???? :D
Thanks for telling a great story. I wonder if they still have some of those shirt-jacs at the Wal-Mart...
Killdeer :wavey:
Great story, Congrats on a fine looking Doe!