As I climbed up my stand and got settled in for an afternoon hunt in mid-September this opening day of the 2014 bow season I thought to myself, “what a perfect day to shoot a deer.” -The sun was out and the temperatures were cool, which would make for good deer movement. Additionally, in the event that a deer would be shot, it could hang over night without the worry of any meat spoiling. Typically, this is not the scenario I’ve grown to expect on opening weekend as it seems like it is usually raining or sultry hot and muggy with mosquitoes swarming and buzzing you like a flock of famished buzzards.
After a couple of hours on the stand I was very settled in and quite comfortable. –I had really missed sitting up in the stand reflecting on life and simply relaxing over the past few months. –For me, this is my total Zen. No deer for the first couple of hours, but that would soon change as a medium sized doe soon showed up as she came in from my backside. The only sound that she made was her hoof hitting a log, which put me on alert and let me know she was creeping near my stand. Soon thereafter, another deer showed up walking along the same trail, a young eight point. Things were looking better and better. Both deer nearly walked under my stand with no scent detection, which is always a good sign. After watching the two deer for a couple minutes both deer went on alert as another deer approached coming across a food plot that I had recently put in. –I immediately readied my bow as I saw a nice rack on this deer. The buck had his ears back and trotted within 15 yards of my stand as he chased the smaller eight point. After a few minutes, which seemed like an hour, he was standing at 29 yards and presented a slight quartering away shot for me. I drew back on him and settled the 30 yard pin right on his heart. Upon release I hit exactly where I was aiming and the buck took off with my arrow still in him, about 90% through, but with the fletching just sticking out. My eyes told me that I had buried the pin perfectly and made the exact shot that I wanted, but sometimes the mind can play tricks on you, and I was not about to get too over confident. All in all, I felt very good about the shot though.
I then waited about 15 minutes before lowering my bow from my stand. I summoned the troops, consisting of a couple of my good hunting friends, Nick and Steve, along with Steve’s older son, and my older son, JD. (Probably a lot of overkill in terms of a tracking team, but we all like to get in on a good track and I wasn’t about to leave anyone out.) We waited until dark and took to the trail with our headlamps on. Immediately we found good blood that soon turned to great blood. JD, my six year old, was leading the charge to find the buck as the blood trail was perfect for him as it glistened with the light of our headlamps even as the buck ran through the pine timber. Within 100 yards JD called out that he had found him. –What a way to start the year! Upon investigation it was discovered that I indeed had shot exactly where I was aiming as I “center punched” the buck through the heart. Obviously, it is great shooting a deer, but what made it all that much better was that my son and good friends could join in on a perfect opener, which could not have been scripted any better. We were able to hang the deer and the butchering commenced the following day. Fresh venison awaits.
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