Ohio opening weekend doe

[Claym]

I recently gained permission from a former patient of mine to hunt on a small piece of private property about 10 minutes outside of the small, southeastern Ohio college town where I live & work. While the property is only about 30 acres total, its absolutely loaded with deer, and to say I was excited about the opportunity would be an understatement!

I was able to get out and do a fair amount of scouting throughout the summer. Sign was abundant, and I knew that if I could get the right set up, this could prove to be an amazing place to hunt.

By the end of the summer, I had decided on 3 basic locations for my climber. With trees prepped and shooting lanes cut, I decided to go with the spot that put me up in an oak on the side of a secondary ridge, with two mowed trails on either side for the opening weekend of Ohio's archery season.

Pictures from my treestand looking from far left to far right:

 

 

 

 

 

Opening day saw me sitting in a classroom for a continuing education course on dry needling (read: sticking surprisingly long needles into muscles to relieve trigger points and referred pain). It's oddly effective, if a little unsettling to think about at first. Either way, I digress. So even as I was having a 100 millimeter needle buried into my side to release my quadratus lumborum muscle, I was dreaming of being up in a tree.

Luckily, I was able to get out of the course by 4 and make it to the woods by 5 that evening.

I'd like to say that everything came together as planned and I walked out of the woods with a deer that night, but truth be told, all I saw while in the tree was a glimpse of a deer at about 70-80 yards out that never came my way. Though I did manage to see quite a few on my way out of the property that night, and I left determined to be back in the same tree for the next morning.

Sunday morning came quickly and I managed to get up in the same tree again on time and uneventfully. I know its been said before, but there's just something amazing about watching the woods wake up in the morning. I'm not nearly skillful enough to describe it with words, but all I know is there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

As I sat there enjoying the morning and contemplating life's great mysteries (just plain spacing out might be the better term in my case lol) from 15 feet up, I caught some movement from the top of the mowed trail to my left.

[Claym]

As I focused in on the spot, I made out a doe headed down the trail. She was quickly followed by 3 others. I sat rock still at first as the deer had a clear eye level view of me from where they currently were. If they made it another 10 yards down the trail though, I'd be covered by the branches of a dogwood tree.

They kept coming and I was able to shift into position as planned. My heart was racing at this point and I began to put some tension on the string as the does drew closer. As soon as they cleared the branches of the dogwood, I'd have an easy 8 yard shot down to my left.

Unfortunately, they didn't like this plan much and decided turn left and head downhill while still covered up by the dogwood. This was both a curse and a blessing. While the branches were blocking my shot, they were giving me the cover I needed to reposition.

I was able to turn and get in position, but if the does kept on their current heading, I didn't know if I'd have a shot. By some amazing stroke of luck, one of the does stopped broadside in the only hole in that tree. That being said, it still wasn't much! This was gonna be difficult...

I leaned out as far as I could in the seat with my bow held almost horizontal, and bore down on the doe. I picked my spot and watched the lighted nock zip through her before I even realized I'd released the string.

The doe did a quick mule kick and trotted away and slightly downhill from me about 40 yards. I watched her pull up, stand for a sec, and then topple over.

Here's a pic of the hole I had to thread the arrow through:



Arrow still had plenty left on it after going through the doe:



And here she is:



It was an amazing hunt and it feels great to have some cool memories and delicious meat in the freezer this early in the season.

Thanks for reading and good hunting everyone!

[Bernie B.]

Super!  Great pictures and story!  Thanks for sharing!    

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[Robertfishes]

Nice doe and nice shot!

[david janssen]

Congrats on a great deer.

[South MS Bowhunter]

Congrats Clay!

[joe ashton]

excellent.

[John146]

AWESOME and OUTSTANDING! Those woods are beautiful and so is the deer you harvested! Congratulations and thanks for the story and pictures. A+ on all accounts.  

[Mike VanBuren]

[DamselflyFarm]

Great photos and story. Thanks for taking us along.

[maineac]

Great story and picts!  Congrats!!

[Josh Perdue]

Great job

[59Alaskan]

Congrats!  Great story

[Claym]

Thanks everyone!

[Fletcher]

Great doe and story.  Thanks!

[VictoryHunter]

Great story and photos, congrats!

[DanielB89]

congrats on the doe!  May i ask what kind of bow that is?

[coryd]

Great story and pictures.  Way to thread the needle through those leaves.

[BUCK-EYE]

 way to go!

[Bob B.]

Great pics, nice Doe!

Bob.