Monday Morning

My goal was to find a few new places to hunt this weekend, but somehow I couldn't pull myself away from the Swivel Limb on Hi-Line road.  I thought I might see either the ten from the previous day, or perhaps even the big buck I had been longing for all season, which should be well into the 150 class, if not more.  Therefore, I made my way once again in the dark to the lone mesquite in the middle of Hi-Line road.  I decided that the decoy, which had now been up for two days, might be making the deer a little nervous with its constant gaze into the brush, so I took it down for this morning's hunt.  I quickly scattered an entire 50 pound sack of corn into the primary shooting/video lane hoping to draw either a buck, doe or hog into a shot situation. 

The weather forecast for Laredo called for a low of 32 degrees this morning.  I dressed in layers, with a t-shirt, turtleneck and Brush Country Henley shirt on top, and warmups and Brush Country six pocket pants on bottom.  I had my insulated coveralls in the pickup from a previous morning's hunt, and decided the layered effect would keep me warm.  I dropped off my bow and backpack as I drove past the stand and continued to my parking location on the cutoff road, a couple hundred yards from the stand.  I quickly grabbed my coveralls and began the walk back to the stand.  As I approached, I felt almost warm and decided that I wouldn't need the coveralls.  I hung them on the fence for retrieval after the hunt. 

As I neared the tree, there was a large figure in the road.  As it was getting light, I decided to press on, knowing that I would have to run the deer off to get into my stand.  The buck ran into the brush, and as I reached down to pick up my bow, I glanced to where the buck had run and saw him standing broadside, in the open, a mere 40 yards away!  I glassed him through my binoculars and even in the darkness, he appeared to be a fine buck!  I figured my best strategy was to just keep on walking to the stand and get into the tree before it got light enough for him to figure out what I was, thinking perhaps he might return later in the morning.  As I was climbing the limbs up to the Swivel Limb, and before I ever reached the seat, the buck was already walking back into the corn!  I quietly continued my climb and situated my camera and backpack as the buck continued to feed.

Soon he was joined by another, smaller buck.  I was able to get a good look at the big buck to see that he was a fairly heavy ten point with small crab-claws at the tips of each main beam.  He was a pretty buck, to be sure, but I'm not too keen on the crab-claw look.  I thought momentarily about taking him to remove that characteristic from the herd, but opted to let him pass.  He wandered off behind me, while a couple of smaller bucks and a doe continued to feed.

I decided that I would attempt a shot at the doe.  She had moved into position for a video shot at a distance of about 15 yards.  However, it was tricky trying to keep her still for a shot.  Either one of the bucks would walk toward her, causing her to move out of the viewfinder on the camera, or she would simply move in either direction behind a branch or out of the view of the camera.  We played the game for most of the morning, until finally the two bucks moved into the closer position, leaving the farther shooting lane as her only option if she wanted to remain in on the feast of corn.  I focused the camera on that spot, and as soon as she started walking toward it I began readying for the draw.  I was able to draw undetected by either of the bucks or the doe, and after briefly checking the camera, reminded myself to hold low.  I placed the pin right on the underline of her chest, right behind the shoulder, then squeezed the trigger sending the white dipped arrow racing toward her!  Click on the picture to see the results!

As you can see, the arrow missed just under the deer.  Although I estimated the yardage at 25, and later stepped it off at 24, I failed to compensate for the longer yardage, instead placing the 20 yard pin low anticipating a possible "jump" of the string.  Actually, I was probably fortunate to have missed low, as if you'll advance the video slowly, it appears that the hit would have been far back of the lung/heart region.  In reviewing the video, the doe takes a step forward just before I shot, and I don't remember if I was able to see that in my sight window or not during the moment of the shot.

The deer all ran off, though the two bucks returned less than a minute later.  "Crabclaw" came in again later in the morning, and I was able to study him a little more in the better light.  He also sported a split brow on his right antler. 

Eventually, all of the deer left, and I reluctantly ended my hunt so I could retrieve my Gametamer treestand, the Swivel Limb, the ICE Blind and still be able to get home at a decent time.  It was a great hunt, and I saw some very nice bucks even if not "the big one!"  With two more weekend trips planned, one to Cotulla and another back to Encinal, I'm still holding out hope of arrowing a buck to beat the 143" nine pointer from last season!  I hope you'll join me again.