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!!