Looking forward to the story.  

Winterhawk is toying with us!!!      

Congrats!      

Congrats!  You need to undress that Blacktail.

How can you be starving.....you just shot a deer.....fire up the grill.....      

O.K.......mmmmmmmmm, Cracker Barrel really hit the spot. I'm gonna upload a few more pictures and I will add the story as I go along.

To start out with, this morning before we left the house I walked into my "man cave" and without turning on any lights, I just "listened" to see which bow wanted to go to the woods today. Last evening I had replaced the strikeplate on my "Snakebit" and added some black beaver fur silencers to the string. Apparently......since I had "dressed" her all up and even waxed the string last night, she was ready to dance.......and told me so. So, today we made the hour drive to our spot.

It was such a refreshing morning, with a temperature right at the freezing mark and absolutely no wind. The place that I had in mind for a sit today is right on a point of land that sits about 20 to 25 feet above the bench that rolls around below me. I have sat there numerous hours over the past two seasons and had yet to have anything come through "slow enough" for me to get a chance at.

We hunt state property and this particular piece of land is right on a property line that I know the owner of. I have never asked for permission to hunt his land, and therefore do not hunt across the property line. It is a place that when the bucks get to chasing the does, they run them back and forth from left to right and back again over and over from one thicket to another. It is actually a bench that connects to two seperate thickets and the does go there when they are being "bothered" by the young bucks.

My wife and I hunted this corner of land last week for two days and I saw three different bucks, but they were all 70 to 80 yards below the bench in the thicker stuff when they came "sneaking" through. Last week, it seemed like the only thing moving on the ground was deer, but this morning the gray squirrels and chipmunks were really rooting around for acorns. This week, I decided that I would sit the point above the bench and sent my wife down about 60 yards or so and out to the left on the lower edge of the thick stuff.

More to come...........after I upload a couple more pics.    

Winterhawk1960

you are just killing us    

Way to go Don! Where did you get it?

Doug

 

Hmmm - Still waiting - seems like this may be a long one !! Ha Ha

Look forward to it...

Great deer !!!

This is like an awkward first date........I don't know whether to shake hands or kiss?   :rolleyes:

Before I post anymore pictures, I have to "admit" that both my wife and I FORGOT our digital camera's this morning. Actually, on the way there.....she said that today would be the day that one of us put something on the ground. How "true" of a prediction that turned out to be.

Now back to the story........

About 0930 or so.......a spike buck with about 10 inch......straight as an arrow.....spikes came through the bench traveling from my right to the left. He offered me a couple of shot opportunities at around 20 yards or so, but I wasn't about to waste my buck tag on a young'un. He picked up my wife's trail because she was dragging a scent rag with doe urine on it and promptly followed it towards where she was sitting. I was watching him very closely and he must have caught her moving.......I'm pretty sure that he didn't smell her because of the way he acted. He no more than got out of sight following the scent trail when here he came right back on his backtrail, walking all stiff-legged. He didn't blow, or run off......he stayed around for another few minutes and slowly ambled off out of site.

The squirrels and chipmunks were out in full force and were doing their best to keep intruders (of their own kind) out of their territories. It never ceases to amaze me how much noise one of those little 4 oz. devils can make. They were keeping their chases on terra-firma....but the squirrels were not only on the ground, but up and around what seemed like every tree in the woods.

I can't hear all that well and have trouble locating exactly "where" a sound is coming from without actually seeing it with my eyes, so my eyes are constantly on the move. Fast forward to about 1115 and I see a deer coming from my far right headed right out the bench that runs below me......not in much of a hurry, which allowed me to get up and rest on my right knee after turning towards the right. I could see antlers from the get-go, but wasn't sure that it was gonna be something "worthy" of my ONLY Ohio buck tag.

Slowly, methodically the buck keeps coming my way. At about 40 yards or so, he turns and starts walking uphill directly at me. CRAP....this one's gonna be to close and directly facing me if it keeps on this course. I have my bow already at arms length and he just keeps coming......at a little over 10 yards he turns broadside and looks back the direction that he came from. THAT was what I had been waiting on !!! I come to full draw, thumb knuckle on earlobe, feather touching the tip of my nose......PICK A SPOT.....PICK A SPOT...I say to myself. I can see two little trees about an inch in diameter in my sight picture. I tell myself that I can thread the needle. Just concentrate on the spot, and allow the release to happen. The next thing that I remember is the arrow on it's way and the side of the shaft hits the little sapling that is on the right of my sight window.

THWACK !!!!!!!!!! Arrow is in deer right above the hip joint at spine level. He wheels and takes off like a banshee and I see blood squirting everytime he takes another leap. He crashes around the bench running into, instead of around, anything in his path.

The woods are deathly quiet.....not even a bird can be heard. I was NOT happy with what had just transpired. Everything was perfect, and I hit something that I was sure that I could shoot around. I gathered my thoughts and sat and re-played it over in my mind for probably 10 minutes. I thought, what the heck......I'm at least gonna see what kind of blood trail there is over as far as the gas-line right of way. I don't think I have ever seen more blood sprayed everywhere all the way out of site.

GOOD SIGN !!!! I remember thinking to myself that Ray Charles could follow this blood trail, so I continued to follow it across the gas-line right of way. From the other edge of the right of way, I could see a white belly. HOLY COW !!!! I had just killed my first white-tail deer with a traditional bow. I stood there.......looking up at the sky and thanked the Great Creator for allowing me the opportunity, and ability to be able.......and capable of being exactly where I was at that moment in time.

I had started this journey with a recurve bow back in 1972.....and this being only my second season since coming back from the "dark side" I had finally arrived at my goal that was started so many years ago.

I want to take this time to thank each and every one of the people that frequent this site. I have met and shot with some of you and you ALL have taught me more than I ever thought possible. It wouldn't have been possible without my having been "associated" with you people. YOU are the BEST and this site is absolutely the BEST on the internet !!!!!

So............................ without further adooooooooo........here is what was at the end of that trail of blood.

Winterhawk1960

 

 

 

 

 

He is a dandy Don, Congrats!!!!          

My wife really likes the split brow on the left side.

 

 

This isn't one of the Ohio "monsters" that I know for a fact exist.......but for a fella that was "side-tracked" in his original quest for a deer killed with traditional equipment, from the ground..........I'm HAPPY as a carp in a cess-pool !!!!!

Thank-You............one and all for bearing with me and I hope the story and pictures made it worth your wait. My ONLY regret is that I didn't have one of our camera's with me so that I could have taken pictures of that blood trail. I'm tellin' ya'll.........those Centaur heads are BAD NEWS for white-tail sized critters, and that is a fact.

I've gotta hit the sack.......0300 for work in the morning is gonna come early and I'm plumb tuckered out.......I'll post a few more details tomorrow.        

Winterhawk1960

Great Buck!! Congratulations!
GLENN

Nice job Don.

         

Nice job Don.  Congrats!

That's a fine Buck Don. I'm very happy for you, way to go!  

WHOA Don! Really nice one, and great story!

Congrats all around!

Nice deer.  Congratlations!