We scurried to our
stands, cutting it close with the arrival of
daylight. I settled into my tripod where last night
I had seen the yearling. Glenn chose his ICE Blind,
Les climbed in another ICE Blind I had positioned next to
the road while Steve climbed the oak tree where his
Non-Typical is hung. We were all set as the sun rose
on a gorgeous hill country morning. As
the hillsides at my spot began to light up, I noticed two
does and a yearling heading towards me from the other side
of the draw. I watched them travel about 200 yards
before they disappeared in the bed of the draw.
These were the only deer I saw this morning. Steve
had several deer feed in front of him for most of the
morning, including the same doe and spike he saw last
night. He never had any deer get close. Glenn
watched a small spike make his way towards Les' stand at
about 7:15. He also had 5 doe cross the ridge in
front of him, 30 yards out of range. Les
sat quietly, not seeing anything until about 7:40, when
the spike Glenn had seen appeared to the west of his
stand. He sprang into action, working his way into
position for a shot from his knees. Leaning to his
right, and in an awkward position, he let the arrow
go. Les reported that he saw the arrow disappear,
and felt certain that arrow met it's mark. He sat
for 30 minutes before attempting to blood-trail his
trophy. During the 30 minute period, I called Les on
the radio and he informed me of his good fortune. I
told him I'd get there as soon as I could, to help with
the tracking. As
I arrived at Les' stand, I found him standing over the
point of impact. Several good sized blood drops
started the blood trail for us. We followed the
trail as it became Manson-esque. After following it
about 20 yards, our jaws dropped slack and agape in utter
awe and amazement. Les looked up, just off the edge
of the ridge and spotted the deer! This buck
traveled about 30 yards from the spot at which he was
shot. We searched and found the arrow further down
the ridge. The arrow had traveled about 20 yards
further than the deer. Inspecting
the animal revealed an absolute perfect shot. The
entrance wound was tucked behind the right front leg of
the animal. With surgical precision, Les had
threaded the arrow perfectly behind the right leg and it
exited in front of the opposite leg. With wounds
that only a Rocket Steelhead mechanical broadhead can
inflict, the deer's struggle ended quickly. Les'
whisper quiet, deadly accurate Hoyt Havoc performed
flawlessly! Below is Les with his buck. It's
important to note, that this deer ends an 18 year
bowhunting drought for Mr. Tompkins. He just
recently rejoined the ranks of bowhunters, and this shot
solidifies him among the elite! The
afternoon found Les and Glenn retreating shamelessly to
the comforts of a Rocksprings cafe. Les needed to
ice his trophy and several provisions needed
procuring. During their absence, Steve and I
relocated two stands and then began our marathon afternoon
ICE Blind extravaganza. Taking to our stands at
approximately 11:30, be settled in for our vigil.
After thoroughly checking our eyelids for light leaks, we
both got serious about the hunt. Les
and Glenn made it back to the area around 3:00. I
spoke briefly with Les on the radio as he spelled out his
and Glenn's afternoon plans. Les had opted to give
the lucky ICE Blind one more shot. Glenn strolled
down into the valley to sit in his Sling Seat. I
sat without seeing anything, other than the neighboring
landowner. This psychopath had arrived in my area on
his four-wheeler, and was quickly off, strolling with his
dog, handgun and rifle. He made several loops around
the place, reappearing to my right and then working his
way down the fenceline to my left. As he walked the
fence, he checked the wiring at every post and searched
the ground for what I was certain were human tracks.
I was under the impression, after he noticed my blind,
that he was hoping to find evidence of our trespassing on
his property. As it got dark, I noticed him stalking
erratically towards the area where I believe he had a
feeder. He disappeared into the cedars as I
continued searching for deer. When it had gotten too
dark to see, I gathered my stuff and began to exit the
blind. As I crawled out, I noticed two dark objects
on the other side of the boundary gate. I looked
through my binoculars to verify that the animals were
whitetails. They snorted and moved away. Just
as I turned to head down the road, I heard the tell-tale
sound of a shell being chambered by a hallucinogenic
moron. In an instant, the landowner fired off three
rounds in the direction of the deer. I was certain
he was firing at me as every pore and orifice in my body
slammed shut in reaction. Of course, it's not deer
season, so the Parks and Wildlife Manager was very
interested in my tale. He said he would call the
appropriate people about the incident. Needless to
say, we went back to retrieve the ICE Blind, vowing that
our hunt in that proximity was over. Steve,
whose stand is within 200 yards of mine, also saw
the landowner on several occasions as the goober
made his way around his property. Other than these
sightings, Steve was blanked on the evening. Les
was blanked as well. Glenn
reported seeing several deer including a buck with a
16"+ rack. None of the animals moving around
him came close enough for a shot. We're
hoping to follow Les' lead tomorrow.
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