After a couple of years of close encounters and near misses, my son Cory became a bowhunter Saturday afternoon. We arrived at our lease Friday night and unloaded the truck. After getting our gear situated, we kicked back and relaxed around the fire. I could tell Cory was ready. The cool weather and lack of moonlight really had him going. We turned in around midnight, and I soon heard his muffled snores.
We awoke to Ted singing Stranglehold on his iphone. For a 15 year old he has good taste in music. We quickly showered and were off. I walked him to the tripod that he would be hunting, got him ready, and wished him luck. I reminded him that he was only to take a shot at an old doe, and to make sure that she didn’t have nubs. I eased off into the darkness hoping that today would be his day. I got set up in my pop-up, and began the long wait for dawn.
As the sky began to turn pink in the East, I could hear the woods start to come alive. First it was the songbirds and then the turkeys. This is always my favorite time. You never know what the day will hold. Soon the sound of the feeders going off filled the me with anticipation. It shouldn’t be long now. The sound of hooves crunching in the leaves caught my attention. I watched as the young bucks and does jockeyed around the feeder, vacuuming up the corn. Suddenly, they all went on alert, then took off at a dead run.
A few minutes later Cory walked up and called out my name. I crawled out of the blind. By the look on his face, I could tell that he was disappointed. “What happened?” I asked. “I missed” he responded. Despondently, he told me of the old doe that he had taken a shot at. “I shot under her dad” was all he said. We gathered up my gear and went to have a look. Sure enough, there was no sign of a hit. We searched for over and hour and couldn’t find a thing. He said the arrow skipped off a rock and took off into outer space. I asked him to text another hunter to see if he was back in camp. Cory reached into his pocket and his eyes got REAL big. “My phone’s gone!” he shouted. Well, another hour of searching, and no sign of the phone either. Kind of hard to find a black phone in tall grass. We head back to camp with Cory totally dejected.
After breakfast, we get a few chores done around camp and then kicked back with the guys to shoot our bows. Everyone was shooting pretty well, but Cory was hitting the bull every time. His confidence restored, he’s ready to head out again. We showered and hit the road. I’ll let him take over now, he tells it a lot better than I could.
Hi! My name is Cory and I go by Hot Shot on TBH. As my Dad said, I was very disappointed with the miss and losing my phone that morning. As we talked, we went through the things that I should have done, and what I should do in different situations. Also, my dad says that shooting my bow always calms me down. Practicing relaxes me and gives me confidence that I can make the shot.
Later, as we are heading out to the blind, my dad asks me if I had put the tote with the scent loc in the truck. No, we had forgotten it. I look at him with a worried face. Camp was too far to go. The feeders would go off by the time we got back with the camo. I had a black long sleeve under armour shirt and a pair of brush country pants. I told my dad it was no big deal and that I would just hunt in the clothes that I had on. We got there on time, and got ready. We walked in quickly, and I got in my tripod. He walked over and got in his blind.
About 15 minutes after I got settled in the tripod, I could hear deer walking behind me. Luckily they didn’t smell me and blow. Eventually, they ended up to the left of me, (the feeder is in front). I tried to calm down by saying to myself “they’re just deer, and I don’t even know what they are. There is barely a 50 percent chance that I might shoot a one.” Then the deer either spit, or coughed, because about every 5 minutes the deer would make a hacking sound. They took forever to come out. They would stick their noses out and duck back, stick their noses out and duck back. I could tell that they weren’t bucks, but I still wasn’t 100 percent sure they were does either. Finally, about 10 minutes after the feeder went off, they walked out.
I have been watching these deer for about an hour. The deer were real jumpy because it was windy, probably 20 to 30 miles an hour. The first thing I decided was to let them walk all the way out and get relaxed. That took another 20 minutes. I then make darn sure that they were does. Finally I decided that the biggest doe was in a good location and relaxed. I got comfortable, and then I moved about an inch a minute. There was no way that that doe was going to leave, unless it was in the back of the Toyota. I finally got into position and slowly drew back. I admit that I couldn’t draw my bow back the first time. I guess I was a little too excited. The deer didn’t know I was there. I remembered my dad saying, “Hold your breath and pull” and that is exactly what I did. All right, I got it back. I did like I was taught and put the top pin right behind the shoulder. It was perfect. The deer was quartering away, and I gently squeezed the trigger. The doe jumped. But before she moved, I watched the arrow hit. As she took off, I saw a big spray of blood squirt out of her.
This was the most the most amazing feeling I have ever had in my entire life. The adrenaline rush was so intense, that I just about fell out of the tripod. My arrow was lying right behind where the deer was standing. I heard it hit a rock and saw it bounce back. My instructions were that I was to wait five minutes and then go get my dad. He was sitting about 100 yards away. I couldn’t take it a minute longer in the tripod, knowing that I hit the deer.
When I got down, I went to where the deer was standing. I laid my bow right in that spot. I couldn’t help but go look at my arrow. I saw that the arrow had a coat of bubbly red blood. Right then, I knelt down and said a short prayer. I thanked the Lord for letting me shoot the doe. I then walked over to get my dad. My heartbeat hadn’t changed a bit. It stayed really fast for the longest time. When I got to my dad, I stood underneath his feeder, with my hands on my knees. I had to take deep breaths and relax. I thought I was having a heart attack. I told my dad that I shot a deer and that I had hit it good. He gathered his gear and we went to where I had shot the deer. I told him on the way over how excited I was. The deer left an excellent blood trail. The further we went, the more excited I got. It turned out the deer only went about 25 to 30 yards. The shot couldn’t have been better, right through the top of the heart and the bottom of both lungs. WHACK and STACK baby. I will always remember that afternoon with my dad and will be telling this story forever.
Click the top photo to see them all.
We awoke to Ted singing Stranglehold on his iphone. For a 15 year old he has good taste in music. We quickly showered and were off. I walked him to the tripod that he would be hunting, got him ready, and wished him luck. I reminded him that he was only to take a shot at an old doe, and to make sure that she didn’t have nubs. I eased off into the darkness hoping that today would be his day. I got set up in my pop-up, and began the long wait for dawn.
As the sky began to turn pink in the East, I could hear the woods start to come alive. First it was the songbirds and then the turkeys. This is always my favorite time. You never know what the day will hold. Soon the sound of the feeders going off filled the me with anticipation. It shouldn’t be long now. The sound of hooves crunching in the leaves caught my attention. I watched as the young bucks and does jockeyed around the feeder, vacuuming up the corn. Suddenly, they all went on alert, then took off at a dead run.
A few minutes later Cory walked up and called out my name. I crawled out of the blind. By the look on his face, I could tell that he was disappointed. “What happened?” I asked. “I missed” he responded. Despondently, he told me of the old doe that he had taken a shot at. “I shot under her dad” was all he said. We gathered up my gear and went to have a look. Sure enough, there was no sign of a hit. We searched for over and hour and couldn’t find a thing. He said the arrow skipped off a rock and took off into outer space. I asked him to text another hunter to see if he was back in camp. Cory reached into his pocket and his eyes got REAL big. “My phone’s gone!” he shouted. Well, another hour of searching, and no sign of the phone either. Kind of hard to find a black phone in tall grass. We head back to camp with Cory totally dejected.
After breakfast, we get a few chores done around camp and then kicked back with the guys to shoot our bows. Everyone was shooting pretty well, but Cory was hitting the bull every time. His confidence restored, he’s ready to head out again. We showered and hit the road. I’ll let him take over now, he tells it a lot better than I could.
Hi! My name is Cory and I go by Hot Shot on TBH. As my Dad said, I was very disappointed with the miss and losing my phone that morning. As we talked, we went through the things that I should have done, and what I should do in different situations. Also, my dad says that shooting my bow always calms me down. Practicing relaxes me and gives me confidence that I can make the shot.
Later, as we are heading out to the blind, my dad asks me if I had put the tote with the scent loc in the truck. No, we had forgotten it. I look at him with a worried face. Camp was too far to go. The feeders would go off by the time we got back with the camo. I had a black long sleeve under armour shirt and a pair of brush country pants. I told my dad it was no big deal and that I would just hunt in the clothes that I had on. We got there on time, and got ready. We walked in quickly, and I got in my tripod. He walked over and got in his blind.
About 15 minutes after I got settled in the tripod, I could hear deer walking behind me. Luckily they didn’t smell me and blow. Eventually, they ended up to the left of me, (the feeder is in front). I tried to calm down by saying to myself “they’re just deer, and I don’t even know what they are. There is barely a 50 percent chance that I might shoot a one.” Then the deer either spit, or coughed, because about every 5 minutes the deer would make a hacking sound. They took forever to come out. They would stick their noses out and duck back, stick their noses out and duck back. I could tell that they weren’t bucks, but I still wasn’t 100 percent sure they were does either. Finally, about 10 minutes after the feeder went off, they walked out.
I have been watching these deer for about an hour. The deer were real jumpy because it was windy, probably 20 to 30 miles an hour. The first thing I decided was to let them walk all the way out and get relaxed. That took another 20 minutes. I then make darn sure that they were does. Finally I decided that the biggest doe was in a good location and relaxed. I got comfortable, and then I moved about an inch a minute. There was no way that that doe was going to leave, unless it was in the back of the Toyota. I finally got into position and slowly drew back. I admit that I couldn’t draw my bow back the first time. I guess I was a little too excited. The deer didn’t know I was there. I remembered my dad saying, “Hold your breath and pull” and that is exactly what I did. All right, I got it back. I did like I was taught and put the top pin right behind the shoulder. It was perfect. The deer was quartering away, and I gently squeezed the trigger. The doe jumped. But before she moved, I watched the arrow hit. As she took off, I saw a big spray of blood squirt out of her.
This was the most the most amazing feeling I have ever had in my entire life. The adrenaline rush was so intense, that I just about fell out of the tripod. My arrow was lying right behind where the deer was standing. I heard it hit a rock and saw it bounce back. My instructions were that I was to wait five minutes and then go get my dad. He was sitting about 100 yards away. I couldn’t take it a minute longer in the tripod, knowing that I hit the deer.
When I got down, I went to where the deer was standing. I laid my bow right in that spot. I couldn’t help but go look at my arrow. I saw that the arrow had a coat of bubbly red blood. Right then, I knelt down and said a short prayer. I thanked the Lord for letting me shoot the doe. I then walked over to get my dad. My heartbeat hadn’t changed a bit. It stayed really fast for the longest time. When I got to my dad, I stood underneath his feeder, with my hands on my knees. I had to take deep breaths and relax. I thought I was having a heart attack. I told my dad that I shot a deer and that I had hit it good. He gathered his gear and we went to where I had shot the deer. I told him on the way over how excited I was. The deer left an excellent blood trail. The further we went, the more excited I got. It turned out the deer only went about 25 to 30 yards. The shot couldn’t have been better, right through the top of the heart and the bottom of both lungs. WHACK and STACK baby. I will always remember that afternoon with my dad and will be telling this story forever.
Click the top photo to see them all.
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