My First Bow Deer

"I placed my sight pin accordingly and I let the arrow fly"

On Saturday I went out bow hunting for the second time this year. I got out to my stand at about 2:00 pm. The woods where quiet until 4:00 and then a group of two bucks and four does came through the woods. They where around for about 15 minutes before finely heading on their way. For the rest of the day deer kept filtering their way through the woods. I even had a porcupine (which I have never seen here before) came through the woods.

And at 7:00 I finely had a doe came into bow range in a pretty good clear part of the woods, but it had its vitals behind a tree. So I held my bow at full draw until the deer walked out from behind the tree. I estimated the yardage at 30 yards, and when the deer walked out from behind the tree, I placed my sight pin accordingly and I let the arrow fly. Since hunting hours on Saturday closed at 7:13 it was pretty dark by the time I shot it, so when I shot, I saw the lighted nock on my arrow fly through the air, hit the deer and then come out the other side.

After I shot it I watched it run off and sat in my in stand for 20 minutes so I would not jump the deer if it where close by. Then I got out of my stand and found my arrow because it had the lighted nock. The arrow was nice and soaked with blood. Since I forgot to bring a flashlight when I went out to my stand, I went back to my truck to see if I had a flashlight in it, on the way back I saw 5 more deer; all together I saw 16 deer total. When I got to my truck it did not have a flashlight in it, so I went home for a flashlight and some supper.

I went back out at 8:30 with a friend to look for it. We went to where I shot the deer and found blood right away, so we started to follow the blood trail. The trail was easy to follow as there was a pretty steady trail of blood. Then we found it only about 40 yards from where I shot it. When we got there I found that the arrow hit right where I had intended for it to, since the deer was quartering away I placed the arrow behind the ribs so that it would angle up into the chest cavity, so that it would have the biggest wound channel in the vital area as possible. Then we took some pictures, and then gutted it. When gutting it I found that I got both lungs and the heart when I shot it. Then on Sunday we cut it up and put it in the freezer

This is not the first deer I shot with the bow, but it is the first one I have recovered. Last year I shot I nice big 8 pointer. It laid down 3 times after I shot it then I trailed for 3 ½ miles and lost the trail. I spent several hours trying to pick up the trail again but was never able to. I know this one is not a very big deer but it was a yearling which makes the best eating.

I'll be having some for supper tonight.

Good Hunting,

Caleb

Bow Season is Finely Here

Yesterday was the opening day of Wisconsin’s bow deer season. I went out in the afternoon because I had to work in the morning. I got out to my stand at about 2:00pm.

After I got out to my stand it was quiet until about 3:00, and then 5 squirrels started to run all around and play, I even had one fox squirrel clime on halfway onto the seat of my treestand. At about 4:00 a raccoon walked thru and all the squirrels ran off, and then about ten minuets later a red fox walked thru and while I was watching it, it walked right past a deer.

At first I couldn’t tell whether or not it was a buck or a doe but as the deer came closer and more out of the brush I could see that it was a doe. A doe is what I wanted to put some meat in the freezer, I wasn’t going to shoot a buck unless it was a huge buck, and I know that there are some around I have seen a couple nice 10 pointers around and there is at least one 12 pointer around. That doe came within 40 yards but never came out of the brush enough to give me a shot.

That doe hung around for about a half hour and then walked off. It wasn’t long after that one left that five more deer came in. there were 3 adult does and 2 yearling does. They all came within 40 yards one even came to about 20 yards, but I was never presented with a opportunity to take a shot that I was shore that I could have a clean kill. They walked around the woods eating until about 5:30. And then the squirrels came back but there were about 15 of them, and I hunted until 6:00 because I had to be some ware by 6:30. All and all it was a awesome opening day of bow seoson.