i missed
daggumit. my last hunt had to be 12/31 as my wife worked 1/1 and i knew i was going to watch football. i decided to go shoot my recurve and take it hunting. I shot it well. Never missed the deer target...but didnt have a whole lot of confidence I would even see a deer. I also took my shotgun only because i had been dog driving that morning and had it. I took a qdma magazine (i wanted to know more about "outside the ears") and went down between a food plot and a pine thicket in a 75 yard wide hedgrerow and sat in the edge of a ditch at the end....about 50 yards from the stand I shot my first deer with the bow out of years ago.
I read the mag. Had a doe and a little one come trotting by at 40 steps. i actually drew on her but too much brush in between us and too far. Anyway, about 5:15 i stood up in the ditch in a little spot I had cleared of leaves when I got there. there was a nice little holly bush covering me well. I was facing the food plot about 50 yards in front of me but heard a crunch behind me and spun slowly. On top of the ditch, 25 yards to my left and feeding in the briars is a nice buck. Holy shit.
So...here I am. Having hardly glimpsed a deer in weeks hunting with the rifle...and my dumbass has the recurve in my hands...standing in a ditch....with a nice buck tearing at the briars above me. I have no shot. Its getting dark, but i can tell there is way too much crap between me and him. I peek at the shotgun. It looks lovely about 3 feet away from me. My magazine is sitting on the edge of the ditch and I have my dick in my hand.
The deer feeds there for 10 minutes. damn him. he finally looks like he is ready to come across the ditch. I pick a spot and think I will let him get just quartering away on the far side of the ditch and shoot him...but he turns up the ditch away from me and stops at 35 steps. its hard to tell but i think he is looking my way. He must see the shotgun and think it looks pretty, too. Who knows? But he bounds away from the ditch towards the pines. There is a firebreak and i get the feeling he stopped there. there is a big oak in between us and i cant see or hear anything.
Is it over? Did that just happen? Was he 3.5?
Its getting dark. Two or three minutes passes. I hear a footstep. The buck is coming down the firebreak. I turn slowly and get my arrow clear of the holly and some other briars. I can see his dark form with antlers leading the way...head down like a buck is made to walk. I get drawn and he clears between two trees. I let the arrow go and all hell breaks loose. I think the arrow hits every little briar in the next millisecond as the deer ducks and turns. the arrow passes over the base of his neck. all i remember hearing is antlers. antlers crashing thru briars sounded just like my arrow did.
he goes into the pines and starts blowing. bucks dont blow. yeah, right. deer blows more and is gone.
i throw the bow down in disgust and then realize i should be smiling...so I do. i get my first chance to spit in 20 minutes. well, i missed. first deer ever drawn on with my 'curve. gonna start "glenn"-ing my own wood arrows this spring and cant wait to get back in the woods after a deer. damn, what a thrill.
i guess I could've closed the deal...but where is the challenge? it cant be that easy. stand in a ditch and shoot a keeper? dang, i just dont know if that's the way its supposed to work. the chase is fun as hell, though, ain't it?
i missed. I know.
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Originally Posted by 2thDoc
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