BOW HUNTING "96"
BOW HUNTING "96"
It all started with the usual preseason practice at the local 3D shoots and the good old back yard target range. As the season neared the practicing slowed and the preseason scouting started. First the close to home hunting areas, then the customary up state trips. These up state trips were in Lycoming CO. and are three hour drives, so I normally would go two or three times before the season started. That’s really all the time I needed to spend there as things don't really change much from year to year except for maybe a abnormally high acorn crop or lack there of, or maybe a bumper crop of apples. When you have been hunting the same area for fifteen years you sort of get a good idea where the deer will be. The first two trips up north proved to be nothing out of the ordinary, with lots of deer sign as well as seeing some of the deer that made that sign. A lot of does and three small bucks on video made me very happy and even more excited for season to begin. One last trip up state to scout an area a little further away from my normal hunting spot. This same area the previous two years had produced big buck sightings and lots of deer activity sign, so on this last trip I was determined to find a tree in which to place my tree stand. After a long walk I finally reached my destination.
I was just getting into a quiet slow paced scouting mode when to my surprise a deer jumped up out of its bed directly beside me. I turned my head to see what I thought was going to be a doe, but instead I saw a very nice buck leaving for parts unknown.
As I looked around this area I found one in particular trail with a lot of very large prints on it paralleling this old stone wall next to where I have been seeing these bucks. This is the place I thought. Now just find a tree and wait for the correct wind direction, so I did.
October 4, season has finally arrived and the usual group of guys that head to the mountains with me every year set up our camp for the first four day of archery season. My good friend's John Geltz and Bill Carmody would be hunting with me. John would hunt from his regular spot and Bill from a spot where I had video taped three different bucks in July. I went to my new spot with high hopes of seeing that buck again. As I started the hike in to my tree stand, which I set up on the previous scouting trip, I was almost there when I spooked a lot of deer that had been feeding in an old apple orchard. They all ran right past my stand site, snorting all the way. Well I was disappointed to say the least, however I went to my stand and sat there till 10:30 without as much as a tail being sighted.
As I made my way back to meet the other guys and see how they fared I noticed that the deer I jumped were not feeding on apples, but on lots of white oak acorns all over the ground. Another hot spot I thought to myself as I passed on bye mentally noting various tree stand spots. Both John and Bill did not see anything either. They also noticed the overabundance of acorns. That evening found me back in my stand anxiously awaiting a buck to come down my trail, but none did and I was beginning to wonder about my new spots ability to produce a chance at any deer. I knew that even though I didn't see any deer the first day, it was probably because I spooked all those deer before they had a chance to come bye my stand. Now I had a choice to make for the second day of the season, stay where I'm at and approach my stand from a different direction, or set a stand around all those fresh oaks that were raining down. I decided to give it one more try on the stone wall stand.
Monday morning came and I was just sixty yards from my stand, so far I had not spooked any deer by coming in from a different direction. That’s when I started hearing some deer walking in the leaves behind my stand site, wind direction was good so I carefully made it to the base of my tree. I could still here these deer walking toward me now. After bending over to tie my bow to my pull up rope my rattling antlers that I had around my neck slid off and hit one of my tree steps before I could catch them. The deer stopped walking my way, so I quickly climbed up and got into position as quietly as I could, figuring that they would spook, but they didn't. Twenty minutes later a deer passed underneath me, still to dark to shoot, but in the moonlight I could see it was a doe. Another ten minutes and just enough light to shoot a second deer came down the same trail, at twenty five yards I could see this one had a good set of horns so I got ready to shoot, at ten yards he stopped to eat some acorns. Already at full draw my pin was burning a hole right were my arrow disappeared a second later. The buck ran off just out of sight and I heard him crash into the brush, he was down.
After an hour of waiting I took up the trail, not going more than sixty yards there he was. Big and beautiful wide with heavy horns he had eight points, right around two hundred pounds. What a drag! Thank god for having two close friends along to help me out. The next evening I shot a mature doe as it fed past me at eight yards. Back home in York CO. I managed to take two more antlerless deer with my bonus tags before archery season was over. Maryland archery season was also good to me, as I shot a five point that I called in. Not a bad year for bow hunting, can't wait till next year.
The End...