I hate to complain, because I have a great life, but I have had precious little time to hunt this fall; 3 times so far for A22 and only once for D16. So I've really been looking forward to the next couple of weeks, hoping to fill my A22 tag.
I got out and set up my dog house blind by moonlight, and settled in to wait. At around 7:30 a couple doe showed up. There were no bucks in sight but reports say the rut is still on, so I was content to wait. At 8:15 a buck shows up browsing behind (east of) my blind, only 25 yards away. He didn't appear to be particularly interested in the does, but there is a large group of them In the area and I am sure that's why he was there.
There is a zippered opening on that side but I only had it open to peep through and the other sides were open. I carefully closed them to avoid being backlit, before I slowly started opening the side facing him. It was painfully slow because he looked up and his ears went back every time I made any sound. He was pretty skittish.
After 10 minutes, I finally had what I thought was a sufficient opening to shoot through. I drew and let off twice without releasing, trying to get low enough in the blind to draw and anchor without bumping the walls. It was a little cramped, but I finally had a position that let me see him and allowed me to come to full draw without moving the blind. He turned and gave me a broadside shot. As I released the arrow, the bow slapped the blind and I pushed the arrow right, striking him just in front of his left hip. He jumped, bucked a few times and started to run, with the arrow still in his side. He was limping badly, though. After 100 yards, the arrow still protruding from his left flank, he stopped and seemed inclined to bed down. Then he limped slowly out of sight.
I settled down to wait, feeling bummed about my shot and trying to figure out what happened.
There was no blood where I hit him, but we found blood where I had seen the buck pause. By that time a friend had come with his dog to help. Unfortunately the dog is out of practice and had no interest in following the blood trail.
We slow walked for several hours but there wasn't enough blood for us to track, and without a dog I didn't want to push him. Tracking was made even more difficult because this morning was cold, so despite the recent rain there were few really good hoof prints in the dirt.
I'll go back tomorrow and, if necessary, again on Tuesday. I don't think he can go far with his wound, but he won't be easy to find unless the buzzards show us, and I really hope that won't happen. Sprig and Matagi were kind enough to offer to help tomorrow; Matagi will bring one of his dogs to help track. I can't say how grateful I am to have friends who can help at times like this.
Updates to follow...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I got out and set up my dog house blind by moonlight, and settled in to wait. At around 7:30 a couple doe showed up. There were no bucks in sight but reports say the rut is still on, so I was content to wait. At 8:15 a buck shows up browsing behind (east of) my blind, only 25 yards away. He didn't appear to be particularly interested in the does, but there is a large group of them In the area and I am sure that's why he was there.
There is a zippered opening on that side but I only had it open to peep through and the other sides were open. I carefully closed them to avoid being backlit, before I slowly started opening the side facing him. It was painfully slow because he looked up and his ears went back every time I made any sound. He was pretty skittish.
After 10 minutes, I finally had what I thought was a sufficient opening to shoot through. I drew and let off twice without releasing, trying to get low enough in the blind to draw and anchor without bumping the walls. It was a little cramped, but I finally had a position that let me see him and allowed me to come to full draw without moving the blind. He turned and gave me a broadside shot. As I released the arrow, the bow slapped the blind and I pushed the arrow right, striking him just in front of his left hip. He jumped, bucked a few times and started to run, with the arrow still in his side. He was limping badly, though. After 100 yards, the arrow still protruding from his left flank, he stopped and seemed inclined to bed down. Then he limped slowly out of sight.
I settled down to wait, feeling bummed about my shot and trying to figure out what happened.
There was no blood where I hit him, but we found blood where I had seen the buck pause. By that time a friend had come with his dog to help. Unfortunately the dog is out of practice and had no interest in following the blood trail.
We slow walked for several hours but there wasn't enough blood for us to track, and without a dog I didn't want to push him. Tracking was made even more difficult because this morning was cold, so despite the recent rain there were few really good hoof prints in the dirt.
I'll go back tomorrow and, if necessary, again on Tuesday. I don't think he can go far with his wound, but he won't be easy to find unless the buzzards show us, and I really hope that won't happen. Sprig and Matagi were kind enough to offer to help tomorrow; Matagi will bring one of his dogs to help track. I can't say how grateful I am to have friends who can help at times like this.
Updates to follow...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
