Early Season Success!

School has prohibited me from hitting the woods (or from doing anything fun...) the last couple of weeks. I've only made it to my stand twice. Wednesday morning of last week, I had a pair of year and a half old bucks at 7 yards away...which was actually too close for my liking. The morning was incredibly quiet, and they certainly would have heard me pull back at that range, so I let them go to hunt another day.

Tuesday afternoon, I was pleased to find out a scheduled meeting had been canceled. I grabbed my stuff after class and drove to my hunting destination as fast as I could. It was rather dry, and the leaves made it a noisy walk to my tree. After climbing into my stand, I immediately began putting on my safety belt. Just as I wrapped the strap around the tree, I glanced to my right and noticed a doe chewing on a bush 20 yards away! I couldn't believe I snuck in my tree silent enough to go undetected, so I quickly sat down on the stand and pulled my bow up. Slowly, I nocked an arrow and glanced back--she was still there feeding on the bush. I waited about ten minutes for her to walk down the trail broadside. She stopped at the perfect opening, so I let the arrow fly! She ran a few yards in the brush and stopped. A large pine tree blocked my view, but I knew she was standing right on the other side.

The shot looked a little low for my liking, so I decided to giver her a good hour before I got down from the tree. It was only 4:30pm, so there would be plenty of tracking light. About 2o minutes later, a button buck strolled down the trail she was on. Once he hit the spot where the doe was shot, he became very alert. Slowly, he made his way down the trail the doe ran. He disappeared into the brush, and there was silence for a couple minutes. Suddenly, the button buck began snorting wildly and running around in circles! He finally jumped across the ditch and moved out of my area. Because of the peculiar actions of the button buck, I guessed the doe I shot was dead in the brush. I got down from the tree and followed the trail from where the shot was...and there she laid--only 15 yards from where I hit her! The 100 grain Thunderhead broadheads made a perfect double lung shot.

She was only a small yearling doe, but she'll make great meals. I still have a buck tag left, but I'm not sure when I'll make it out to get it filled. I'm thinking I won't get to be picky this season about the buck I shoot, which is okay with me. I'm planning a deer and bear hunting trip this December in West Virginia, so the sooner I can get my tags filled now, the better.

I see some others have had productive hunts so far this season! As always, "Good luck!" to everyone heading to the woods this season!!

Weekly Update: Bow Hunting, Blindness, and Outdoor Art!

As usual, my school schedule is preventing me from any serious blogging. I greatly apologize to all my blogging friends for my lack of activity. When things get busy, I neglect my own blog, as well as the blogs I love to read. I greatly miss the daily rounds of reading and commenting. I'm hoping to start making time to accommodate for my blogging needs, but only time will tell if it is a possibility.

As far as the weekly update is concerned, I have three topics at hand worth mentioning. Last weekend, I took a few hours and got my broadheads sighted in! Equipped with a new arrow rest and a dozen new arrows, I was very pleased with how the process went. I was a little concerned at first, however. The broadheads flew consistently six inches low and eight inches to the left. I've never had windage problems while sighting in broadheads, but it seemed to be consistent enough to move my sights. I also took a few shots from an elevated position, as well. I think it is always good to take a few shots from a deck or from the tree at the beginning of the season. That way, you will find problems early on in the season...not when the big bucks start walking by.

The second topic regards my vision, or lack there of. Due to over-use of my contact lenses, my eyes began swelling up Tuesday afternoon. My glasses are out of order at the moment, leaving me blind as a bat until the swelling subsides. The redness and swelling have gone down tremendously, but my eyes are still not ready for contact lenses! This sudden lack of vision has delayed my bow hunting plans for now, but hopefully I will be in a treestand soon.

While reading hasn't been a top priority on my list due to the vision problems, I decided to break out the sketch book and throw down my first attempt at an elk:

While I wish I could produce such a picture from my head, I was forced to find a photo online and copy from it. Here is a link to the photo--Elk Photo. Still, there is no shame in reproducing photographs. It was fun to sketch, and I can't wait to create more pictures from the outdoors.

I'm afraid my updates will continue to be sporadic, so the usual "Good luck!" to all those hunting this Fall!!