First Archery Hunt

[bustedoldman]

Multi-season tags in hand @ninjahunter and I decided we would give bow hunting a shot (First season ever to bow hunt) as originally we had planned for just muzzleloader and modern. We decided to try a new area that had been on my mind for a couple years. First outing was a day before season started as I have a committed softball player and her games are important to the family so sacrifices have to be made! As I drive into the spot I wanted to be there were 2 other trucks parked at the end of the road and my heart sank a little and my mind started racing, if I thought it was a good place then of course somebody else would too, how many people hunt it, should I turn around and leave? I decided to stay and hike in the several miles to get where I wanted to be, I only saw one person on the way up, I did however find it odd that he was creeping around with his bow 1 day before the season started but passed it off as practice. Hiked back out with a little disappointment as I saw no deer at all and just old sign......To be continued.

[elkboy]

Nice foreshadowing with the arrow... 

[OutHouse]

Nice foreshadowing with the arrow... 

   What happened man?? Can't leave us hanging with a bloody arrow pic!

[bustedoldman]

The following weekend rolls around with a softball tourney and its hard to focus on the games, they went 3-3, with the weather being cooler and rainy....All I want to do is get back up in the hills and see what I've been missing. As I talk about the area to the wife on the drive back to town Sunday evening she says "Just call @ninjahunter and see if he will take Monday off and go up there with you?". For some odd reason she hates it when I go by myself, even tho I have been solo hunting since I could drive, I'm usually pretty safe and don't put myself in bad positions other than wanting to see what's over the next ridge until its dark, but she says all it takes is one time. I call ninja and he is unable to go due to a work commitment, even tho I call him several names and peer pressure the heck out of him, he laughs and says cant do it. The wife sees my disappointment and says she will go just to make herself feel better about it, basically to keep an eye on me LOL. We head out in the early morning see several small bucks and does/fawns on the way in....Nobody's at the end of the road this time. As we make our way up to the cam we notice several does up in a slide walking away across some rimrocks then the wife says "Buck to the left in the next draw!" I shift over and instantly see its 4 pt on one side but the other is pretty funky looking, not sure what is going on there. She whispers "752", I whisper back " I have a bow not the .300WM" we both laugh. We watch him crawl thru the rocks and back over the top out of sight. Since I don't know mule deer behavior the best and even less about bow hunting I say " Lets go check the cam and then hunt the crazy buck on the way back?" "OK!". Get up to the cam and see there is 400 plus pics and I get excited! It's short lived as I completely spaced out the fact that is open range and I had one doe pic and the rest were cattle walking by #@%$! As we start heading back to where we saw the buck last the wind, rain, thunder and lightening start rolling in, I'm not a fan of lightening since it's so unpredictable. We get to where he had crested over, the wind in our face, slight rain and thunder booms to cover our approach. I move to the edge of the rim rocks and see a doe bedded at 43 yrds, we sit there for 25mins waiting to see if the buck was around or not. The doe stands up uneasy and walks away, nothing else moves other than the lightening in the sky. I tell the wife I'm getting a little nervous with how close the storm is and we should hunt our way out....She asked if I was a 9 yr old girl or a man, I laughed and told her either way I was going to be off the ridge top and alive in 45 min. We start to creep out and not even 30 yrds away in a shallow dip full of sage the buck springs up like I had already poked him with an arrow!! I give a good "meeeew" and he stops to look..I hear a "67yrds" whisper.....Way out of my range....He then decides to start walking back to us and stops, "51yrds" still out of my league...He stomps turns away and walks off. I turn look at the wife "Cool looking buck!" Very cool!". We head for the truck at a fast walk to avoid the storm.

[OutHouse]

Good story keep it coming

[MacAttack]

Last pic is crazy, sky is sooo dark!

Tagging along

[dlb.730]

Excited to read how this played out! Sky looks REAL nasty in those pics though.. 

[bustedoldman]

This weekend rolls around with another softball tourney, and the weather is looking great for hunting!! @ninjahunter gives me a call Friday night to see what the options are, he has some side work to do putting in a transmission but can make the time to head out, I tell him game times are 8, 1130 and 420 so Saturday is a bust but depending on how it goes then maybe Sunday if they play bad, but the weather he says, I know I know.....Timing is everything! Saturday starts off with a bang and the girls win 15-3, text to ninja "one win" ninja's text back " Nice and cool outside, overcast, deer are feeding". Next game the girls are on fire 15-0....Text to ninja " Win #2, Sunday is not looking good" Ninja's text back "You suck, ridicule the ump next game, get kicked off the field and lets go!" "Great Idea!!" Next game starts back and forth, ump makes some bad calls so I let him know, but he is a man of steel shrugs them off, "No luck with the ump" "Go kick dirt on him" "Another great Idea! But too late game 7-5 win". On to championship Sunday! First game starts off at 1030, tough game but they win 15-10, so I text ninja " on to the championship gold bracket,130 game time, no late hunt today" " I'll be there". Ninja shows up and game starts, super tough nail bitter, 0-0 going into the last inning, ump sucks, ninja and I let him have it. We score 1! Other team up to bat...They score 1. Game over all tied up, overtime inning, we score 1 again! Other team up, bad calls by the ump again, the hecklers in us let him have it and he shoots us a nasty look that's says we better stop. Other team loads the bases...Passed ball game over we lose 2-3. I wake up feeling bummed with the loss of a great game and head to work, 930 rolls around and I text ninja " I'm outta here, lets go!" " Pick me up at 1030?" "Already here waiting for you!" We get to the end of the road at 1245 with no one there.....Game on!

[CoryTDF]

Jazzed to her more! What age softball? My daughter plays 10U and will be moving to 12U next spring.

[bustedoldman]

14U, moves to 16U in the spring...

[ninjahunter]

COME ON!!!! I was there and I'm getting excited to hear how the story ends!!

[bustedoldman]

We throw on our packs and start up the trail, great overcast, sprinkles of rain and wind in our face. As my adrenalin kicks in ninja has to remind me that we have all afternoon and its humid so I should probably slow it down, I say something about him just being out of shape and he should speed up. Just then I look up the hill and see a set of ears on a outcropping "DEER!", we drop down and glass it over, just a doe 400 yrds and nothing else around. We agree to take turns glassing it on the way up just in case something else is there. It doesn't move and we slowly fade away from it as we trek up the hill. We stop to take a water break and a coyote comes strolling out of the brush looks us over, yips and strolls off...We bust up laughing wondering what that was all about and blame each other for not being attentive enough to draw an arrow and kill it, ninja said at 12yrds I could have thrown a rock and gotten it, I told him he should have tackled it and put it in a choke hold, either way it walked off laughing at us. We start a steep climb and I pick my pace up but ninja gives me the finger and stays steady. I round a small bend and come face to face with about 20 head of cattle, I talk to them in a soft voice "Hey Betsy, easy Betsy" hoping they don't start a small stampeded. They move off after about 3 minutes and I continue up. I crest the hill and immediately see a buck on the horizon, duck behind some rocks and look for ninja, he pops around the corner and I give him the animated horns sign and act like its the first buck I've seen in my life! He decides that's as good as anytime to sit down to take a drink, I turn around and crawl out to a point to get a better view, not one, not two but three bucks are feeding across the slope. The first one I saw was a large forknhorn, shoot able in any ones book had it had a third point anywhere. Second buck looked to be a nice 3x4 def one we will go after. Third buck was in the bushes not giving me a view yet. I turn around and ninja is crawling his way to me, I let him know via hand signals that there were 52 shoot able bucks, 10 yrds away or so he says. He gets up with me and notices a fourth buck laying in the rocks, little 3x3 with tiny crab claws, by this time the other buck we couldn't see comes out and I immediately say "Its that Dufus buck from last week, I'll take him!". After about 20 minutes we agree he is mine and I'll move in first, followed by ninja and he will go after the 3x4. They are about 200yrds out, feeding, wind in our face and sun on our backs so we feel its time to move. We crawl thru sage and grass, rock to rock as slowly as possible. Sweat dripping down our faces, stickers poking threw our clothes hearts pounding so loud we can hear the other ones and think its to loud. I give ninja the signal that the deer are coming down our way at 50 yrds, I move up behind a rock and let him know I'll let loose at 30yrds, then he should stand and find his target asap. Dufus stops at 32 yrds and turns right around quartering slightly away, my brain hits over drive, did he see me? Smell me? Is he too far? I let loose...With a resounding thud I know the broad head hit its target, was it a good shot? Lethal? I look at ninja and he nods his head and gives me thumbs up, and then the finger again as the other bucks bound up the hill. Dufus goes 40 yrds and lays down. We wait about 20 minutes discussing the hit, ninja says perfect shot I feel other wise. We start the short stalk in and he has expired, FIRST ARCHERY BUCK DOWN!! We sit there looking at the crazy antler on him and then ninja exclaims "Buck coming down the draw!" Wouldn't you know the 3x4 had just gone around the knob and was coming back to where they were just at. He sets up in the brush and waits for the ambush.....Arrow flies, fist in the air!! Ninja said he waited until 26 yards cause he's a lefty shooting a right handed bow....We wait another 20 minutes and then go look, we see him laying there, still breathing but not giving up life easy. He stumbles to his feet broadside at 15 yards and ninja lets another one fly. DOUBLED DOWN ON 1ST ARCHERY BUCKS!! We tried to take as many photos as possible, forgot to video and made many mistakes along the way but persistence paid off. Man we're lucky and blessed!! A few pics of ATL and together.....

[OutHouse]

What a great hunt! And great write-up

[powderbounder]

Great job!😊 Persistence pays off! Well done. PB

[mfswallace]

Awesome hunt and storytelling!

[throwingsticks]

epic story and write up! nice work

[Tapp8277]

Thanks for bringing us along for the ride. Great hunt and story!

[dlb.730]

Awesome story- loved that you wrote it in sections. That kept the suspense up  The best part is that you guys were able to double down and bring home a couple nice bucks!

[NOCK NOCK]

Awesome job!  Thanks for sharing

[Birdgetter]

Awesome story- loved that you wrote it in sections. That kept the suspense up  The best part is that you guys were able to double down and bring home a couple nice bucks!

Great job!