Long story for those who would like to read about my hunt:
Yesterday, I decided to go do an afternoon sit at my lease in efforts to shoot my first whitetail doe with a bow. I've been fortunate to have been on a few guided hunts out of state but never shot a whitetail.. Goal was to simply put down a doe with the bow and have some meat.
Had several ideas of where I wanted to hunt on the property with the wind and deer movement in mind. This last week has been a north wind which isn't the most favorable and my least planned, but I made the plan to slip in from the southwest corner and overlook a well traveled dry creek.
Around 2pm, I'm making the half mile walk in, and I notice a lot more sign along the way than I would have thought and am already thinking I might be cursed for the day. I make it to a nice tree for my climber and get about 15 feet up, overlooking the creek and trails.
About 30 yards in front of me is a field they travel into, from the dry creek and ridges. I'm in the shade, and the wind has a nice breeze.. Couldn't imagine a better sit for Oct 1st.
I stay off my phone as much as I can to enjoy the weather and nature around me, but periodically am checking TNDeer and a few other similar sites. In between that, I'm checking the wind and low and behold it's between a northeast and straight east. I'm happy about that.
About 5:50pm, I see about 5 does slowly working their way in front of me, in the field, about 40 yards away. They took a different route than usual, and although I knew I wouldn't be able to make a shot through the woods into the field, I was just happy to see them. They start making their way across the field when suddenly I hear noises over my left shoulder. Is it a squirrel again?!
A mature doe with 2 yearlings are walking my trail. Mama begins to snort and stomp. She knows she doesn't like what she smells. Luckily, the wind is heavily coming from the east, with my scent staying parallel to her.
There are several does with fawns and yearlings on the property, and I told myself I would only take a mama doe if her babies lost their spots and looked healthy enough to live on their own. For about 5 minutes, mama doe continues to snort and stomp, but still works her way towards me, but more behind me and the tree.
Mama doe has the other deer in the nearby field snorting too. I'm thinking there's no way I'll be able to turn around with my bow for a shot, since I'm pinned down.
Patience continues and mama doe looks away for a second or two. I slowly stand up, turn around and am looking around the right side of the tree as a lefty! Talk about twisted up in my harness and in the most awkward shooting position.
Mama doe is at about 25 yards out when she busts back to about 30 and is giving me a good, but hard quartering away shot. I draw my bow back, put the pin where I felt it needed to go and let it fly.
Mama doe and the yearlings run off and I'm thinking I was either too tight and low to the shoulder that I either nicked the heart, or I missed entirely. I give it about 30 minutes, climb down and go investigate.
I found my arrow with blood covering it, and a few small specs of bright red blood on the leaves nearby. I see one single piece of white hair on the arrow and begin thinking I hit brisket and the blood was from muscle.. At this point, I'm a little discouraged because I would rather miss than make a bad shot.
I call in help for tracking. About an hour after the shot, we begin following minimal blood for approximately 80 yards, when the blood starts getting heavier. Keep following and in about 40 more yards, there she is.
Shot was mid body, gut shot and exited out behind the opposite shoulder. Minimal blood was due to gut coming out and plugging the hole.. But the other side had a good hole. It was the shot I was trying to take, due to the quartering away angle, but it's not what I thought it was when I released.
Relief.
Yesterday, I decided to go do an afternoon sit at my lease in efforts to shoot my first whitetail doe with a bow. I've been fortunate to have been on a few guided hunts out of state but never shot a whitetail.. Goal was to simply put down a doe with the bow and have some meat.
Had several ideas of where I wanted to hunt on the property with the wind and deer movement in mind. This last week has been a north wind which isn't the most favorable and my least planned, but I made the plan to slip in from the southwest corner and overlook a well traveled dry creek.
Around 2pm, I'm making the half mile walk in, and I notice a lot more sign along the way than I would have thought and am already thinking I might be cursed for the day. I make it to a nice tree for my climber and get about 15 feet up, overlooking the creek and trails.
About 30 yards in front of me is a field they travel into, from the dry creek and ridges. I'm in the shade, and the wind has a nice breeze.. Couldn't imagine a better sit for Oct 1st.
I stay off my phone as much as I can to enjoy the weather and nature around me, but periodically am checking TNDeer and a few other similar sites. In between that, I'm checking the wind and low and behold it's between a northeast and straight east. I'm happy about that.
About 5:50pm, I see about 5 does slowly working their way in front of me, in the field, about 40 yards away. They took a different route than usual, and although I knew I wouldn't be able to make a shot through the woods into the field, I was just happy to see them. They start making their way across the field when suddenly I hear noises over my left shoulder. Is it a squirrel again?!
A mature doe with 2 yearlings are walking my trail. Mama begins to snort and stomp. She knows she doesn't like what she smells. Luckily, the wind is heavily coming from the east, with my scent staying parallel to her.
There are several does with fawns and yearlings on the property, and I told myself I would only take a mama doe if her babies lost their spots and looked healthy enough to live on their own. For about 5 minutes, mama doe continues to snort and stomp, but still works her way towards me, but more behind me and the tree.
Mama doe has the other deer in the nearby field snorting too. I'm thinking there's no way I'll be able to turn around with my bow for a shot, since I'm pinned down.
Patience continues and mama doe looks away for a second or two. I slowly stand up, turn around and am looking around the right side of the tree as a lefty! Talk about twisted up in my harness and in the most awkward shooting position.
Mama doe is at about 25 yards out when she busts back to about 30 and is giving me a good, but hard quartering away shot. I draw my bow back, put the pin where I felt it needed to go and let it fly.
Mama doe and the yearlings run off and I'm thinking I was either too tight and low to the shoulder that I either nicked the heart, or I missed entirely. I give it about 30 minutes, climb down and go investigate.
I found my arrow with blood covering it, and a few small specs of bright red blood on the leaves nearby. I see one single piece of white hair on the arrow and begin thinking I hit brisket and the blood was from muscle.. At this point, I'm a little discouraged because I would rather miss than make a bad shot.
I call in help for tracking. About an hour after the shot, we begin following minimal blood for approximately 80 yards, when the blood starts getting heavier. Keep following and in about 40 more yards, there she is.
Shot was mid body, gut shot and exited out behind the opposite shoulder. Minimal blood was due to gut coming out and plugging the hole.. But the other side had a good hole. It was the shot I was trying to take, due to the quartering away angle, but it's not what I thought it was when I released.
Relief.
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