Last Friday was already gonna be a good enough day with my wife and I set to close on our house and 65 acre farm in the heart of southeastern Ohio at noon that day. Well since I work four 10's & have Friday's off, I figured why not sneak out for a morning hunt before hand. We have about 5-6 huntable acres behind our current house & are surrounded by rolling cattle pasture & timber. While it's not a ton of ground, there's a lot of deer using the area & you can't beat walking out your door to hunt.
I was set up in a group of catalpa trees on a small secondary ridge below a pond that's kind of an intersection area between a mowed trail and multiple deer trails/funnels. Right after shooting light I had close movement from my right. A large doe appeared from behind the catalpa tree in front of me. She was 10 yards at the most and I had a good hole through the branches to her vitals.
Just as I hit full draw, she took a step forward and my tunnel was gone. I let down and urged her to take a few more steps to clear the branches completely. Of course, she picked this time to stand stock still and stair down the trail for what felt like 5 minutes.
After taking a few steps closer, she finally turned and walked out from the cover at only 6 steps from my tree! When she turned her head slightly away from me, I was able to ease the string back, hit anchor, and send the arrow on its way.
The shot was high, but did the trick. After a 40 yard dash and tumble, she was down for good.
She ran towards the house, which made for an even shorter drag :D
(http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa421/Claym12/DSCN1624_zpshfonmalg.jpg) (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/Claym12/media/DSCN1624_zpshfonmalg.jpg.html)
Even got my almost 6 month old german shorthair "Whiskey" in on the tracking job. He did well for his first real track, but with the high shot there wasn't much blood for him to go on. Still looks promising though.
(http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa421/Claym12/IMG_2326_zpseoc1z8wn.jpg) (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/Claym12/media/IMG_2326_zpseoc1z8wn.jpg.html)
With the bag limit in my county down to two this year, I'm gonna spend the rest of the season hunting for a mature SE Ohio buck out at our new place.
Thanks for reading and good hunting everyone :campfire:
Congrats! A 4-10 work schedule is something I dearly miss. Glad you took advantage of it. Be sure and give ole Whiskey a bite of back strap. He's a beautiful hound.
Congratulations Clay! That is a hoss of a doe. FWIW, my wife is from Barnesville.
Awesome! Well Done Clay and congrats on the new house!!!
Way to go!
Congrats,
Bisch
Congrats...on the deer and the new house!
Congrats all the way around to u and Whiskey.
Well done , Congrats sir....
,,,Sam,,,
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
:thumbsup: :clapper:
job well done sir!
Nice one !!! :thumbsup:
Bill
Congrats to you! Great deer!
Congrats! I'm just across the river from you.
Good lookin Doe
Good lookin Bow
Good Lookin Hound
Nothin better then walking out the back door to hunt :thumbsup:
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Fantastic and congrats on a mature doe kill Brother!
Nice doe and a great looking german short-hair.
Nice Doe! Congrats
big, healthy doe! that thing would be a monster for down here.
:bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
Congrats on the new property and doe!!! Like you said, you can't beat walking out your back door to hunt. I took it for granted when I had that opportunity. Good luck filling your buck tag!
Congratulations! Nice big doe!
Well done! That's a great looking doe! Good luck with your buck tag! :thumbsup:
Bernie
Congrats on a great close to home hunt, the doe looks huge. The GSP dog and bow are sharp too. What type of bow is that?
Thanks everyone! Yeah, she had some weight to her & I was glad for the short drag. Definitely the biggest I've killed for a few years. Whiskey was a little unsure when he first walked up to her, but after a few minutes sniffing and licking I think he's hooked!
Fletcher, I grew up in Guernsey county so I was over around Barnesville quite a bit. I'm down a little further south these days.
Sporthunter, Thanks its a 60" 3pc A&H ACS. I'm a big believer that if you have good form, you can shoot any bow well. But I really like this bow!
Good job !
good deer,
good shot and a well told recap.
Thanks for sharing.
Joe
Fine harvest...congrats!
Congrats! Beautiful dog too.
Nice doe!!!
Congratulations!
congrats
Congrats!I live on the river in Washington co. where are you living now?
Wow! That's a big doe! Congrats! :thumbsup:
Nice work! Could you post a tutorial on how to get them to run the right direction after you shoot?
I hunt a lot of public land and need'em to run back towards the truck! LOL.
Congrats on a great deer!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :archer:
Thanks again everyone!
Bucknut: I'm over in athens co not too far from you.
CoachBGriff: Hahaha I wish I could! Good luck on the public land!