Hope and Faith Sarrels of 2014

[stabow]

Our season wont start till October 15th.....   :(

[59Alaskan]

Break her in Boyd.  I will hunt her in Michigan and Ohio.

Here is a likely view she will see during the Michigan rut.  This pic is from this AM

[stabow]

Nice        

[wapiti792]

 
Well lookie there...looks like a little red stuff on that Snag arra next to Ms Hope  

[stabow]

You didn't cut yourself on a BH did yah....  

[wapiti792]

Day 2 Hope Sarrels

I spent the whole day yesterday itching to get back after that buck the night before. I played the scenario in my head a thousand times and each time the arrow stays on Hopes rest. The shot just wasn't there...

Yesterday over lunch my wife and I did what a lot of couples do that work together...we ate lunch    This time though we hurried home and popped up a blind on a ridge at the bottom of the field where the buck encounter was and ate a sammich on the way back. It is just a little 10 acre woods, but deer and turkey seem to love it. My neighbor is a kind soul and understands my affliction, so it was cool! We brushed it in and got it the best we could, knowing that for a couple of weeks the deer (especially long nosed does) will avoid it. Back to work we went...



I run a little rural health clinic and nearly jumped out of my chair when the secretary told me my last patient of day had canceled and I was done. I grabbed my hunting clothes from the tub I keep in the office and headed home. On the way there I get a call reminding me that I have a boy that wants to go with me: I had promised him last week that we would get a hunt in this week. I knew trying to put him in a ghille and ambushing the buck would be tough. With the East wind I had no stand sites for a double, so the blind it was. I knew the odds were low, but what the heck. He wanted to go and I wanted him there. He knew about Hope and was excited. He knows all about St Jude's, too. He is helping me raise money for my marathon team. My fat butt is running a half and we are raising $500 for our team for the St Jude's Marathon in December. So far he has a ton of cans to turn into cash, and as he put it, cans for kids ain't hard to do. I love that big-hearted boy!

So grabbing our gear and getting him situated in the blind took a few minutes. We hadn't even put on our war paint when I heard turkeys clucking in the field. Almost as an afterthought I mouth called a few yelps and HERE THEY CAME! I mean we just sat down, stuff everywhere on the floor of the blind, arrow still in quiver, Hope leaning against the blind...nuts! I look at Seth and he has that wide-eyed look. "Dad, they're coming!"

* Here was our view. 2 windows only.

Instantly I grabbed Hope and found an arrow. Already we could hear leaves crinkling behind us and purrs, yelps and kee-kees. A finger over my lips for quiet and a nod by him and we were good. A few birds slipped past us right but I could hear birds to the left as well. Just then a purr to the right and right in the window steps a fat hen at 12 yards. Draw, anchor, thump from Hope...perfect.

She ran about 20 yards with wings out and I knew we were good. The other birds stood around awhile and despite the urging from my boy, I let them go. I have another tag, but why spoil perfect, right? Here is what we found...

[wapiti792]

So 1630: five minutes into our hunt and we are looking good. We ease out of the blind as the last of the birds are walking away. I knew the bird was down but let him trail. A few steps from the above pic and lookie here, we got a bird down! She is a beauty. Perfect fall bird    

 
*This is how we found her

The hit was right above the thighs and through the lungs. The 160 grain Ace Standard on a Doug Fir shaft by our own Snag weighing 630 gr total had passed right through. We recovered the arrow at the shot. Those fletchings are from my birds from Nebraska that Magnus hooked me up with. I think I know where my next fletch will come from    
 
*A fine bird with a fine bow

We took some photos which I will share and talked about how special this hunt was. How this bow symbolized what is good about our sport and Tradgang! We still had plenty of time so we hurried our photos and took the hen with us back to the blind. Here are a few pics:
 
*Boy takes some good pics...me not so much

 
*Beauty

[wapiti792]

We got back in the blind with an hour and a half until dark. No way we weren't going to get all out of this day. We had a ball game to watch later and to an 11 year old having your team on the verge of winning a division is a big deal (Go Cards). He told me the perfect day was hunting with Hope, killing a turkey, and having his team win...well looks like it happened! We reflected on the hunt, painted our faces, and he slipped on a dark jacket to hide the blue shirt. We hadn't even done that yet! We just kept talking about Hopes turkey and looked at our pics while keeping an ever vigil for more game.

Here are a few of those:


*Ms Hope and her first

*An excited 11 year old

Almost at last light I look up to see a bruiser of a buck headed right to us! I elbowed Seth and he was able to see him! At 35 or so I have Hope ready. At 30 he started to angle some and then finally in range at 25 or so he drops down the hill with only his rack visible. He starts eating acorns and I just know any moment he is going to give us a shot. He walks away and we never get a shot...same buck as last night. He doesn't notice the blind and has no idea there is a man, a boy, and Hope shaking with excitement inside. He also doesn't know how close he came to getting dead two nights in a row!

With light fading we take a final pic and gather our gear. Seth tells me he is hungry and that he was afraid the buck was going to hear his stomach growl. I tell him I thought he was going to hear my heart pound...Hope stays silent and deadly    

I remind Seth where Hope gets her name from: From Romans, "Now abideth these three, faith, Hope, and love. The greatest of these is love" Love is why we do this...and love is what I felt throwing that bird over my shoulder and walking a hungry boy back to the house to have him tell his mom and sister all about the perfect day.

[TJK68]

Congrats!
Tom  

[bow loving man]

Awesome hunt Mike and Seth!  Hope springs eternal!

[koger]

Great hunt, thanks for taking us along!

[elkken]

Congrats Mike, your out of the blocks like a sprinter !! What a great tradition, the St Judes Hope and Faith bows  

[FerretWYO]

Great hunt Mike. That smile on Seth says a lot.

[59Alaskan]

AWESOME!  Thank you for sharing!  Just a great way to start off the hunts - a child enjoying a hunt with dad.  He will never forget that day and if he wasn't before, his heart is forever touched with the spirit of charity, hope and faith!

[stabow]

Way to go Mike good job        

[Joeabowhunter]

Man Mike that was fantastic....way to share the experience with your boy.

[steadman]

You're a lucky man Mike! Congrats again my friend and way to start Team Yeti out this year! Almost time to start chasing deer here.  

[chinook907]

Great story. I honestly got a little tingly at that last part. Thanks Mike. Congrats !

[Lin Rhea]

Great story.
Great pictures.
Wonderful lesson for all!
Thank you.

[snakebit40]

Great hunt! Thanks for taking us along