Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: oneshotkill on September 23, 2011, 09:33:09 PM
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I had a successful archery deer hunt out in the San Juan Islands. Here is the story. It is really long (so long it has to be broken into two posts) and was written for my grandfather who is not a hunter so some of the things are worded in a way that are like DUH to us hunters but I want to make as clear as possible for him. Hope you enjoy it!
I spent the first part of this week out hunting deer with my bow and managed to be successful. Before I start this I have to put in a disclaimer that I am speaking relative to the area I hunt. Where I am hunting a buck will rarely get more then 2 points to each side. A "good buck" is one with at least two solid points to each side. If it has more then two points on a side it is a really good buck.
Normally around here you can only kill one deer a year. This year I put my name in for a special drawing and was drawn for a second deer tag with the stipulation that the second one had to be a doe. So I was looking to kill a big doe and a decent buck. In order to start hunting at first light I had to get on the earliest ferry out to the place I was hunting which is out on an island. This ferry leaves at 6:00 am. It is a 40 minute drive to the ferry terminal and with needing to get gas and wanting to be there about an hour early, I had to get up at 4:00 am. I made myself a pot of coffee and put it in my thermos and I was on my way. It was a crystal clear morning and there was very little wind making for a very pleasant ferry ride. I arrived on the island at about 7:30 am and went to the area I was hunting. This year I was able to secure permission to hunt a prime piece of property. It is more then 400 acres that are full of deer and have had little to no hunting pressure in the last several years. The terrain is quite varied from wide open fields, to small apple orchards, to ponds, to steep hills covered in brush, to deep woods where the canopy is so thick that there is no underbrush. This makes it so no matter what kind of terrain the deer are wanting at that time, they are not going to leave this property because they have everything they want.
I started out slowly working my way through some of the fields in hope of finding deer bedded down. Most of these fields have waist to chest high grass so it is hard to spot deer before they spook. About ten minutes into my hunt I spotted a nice buck walking about 40 yards away. I couldn't clearly see his antlers but could tell that he had at least two points per side. Unfortunately it had seen/heard/smelled me first and was trying to quietly sneak away. It was broadside to me and was a shot I could have made except for the fact that while I could see his head just fine, there was 40 yards of thick grass between his vitals and me. It would have been a stretch to try to shoot through that much grass and hope that my arrow made it. While I didn't get a shot, it was encouraging to see a nice buck that early on. I kept slowly working my way through the field and soon came to the edge of a large pond. I love hunting around ponds because there is such a variety of life there. Waterfowl, songbirds, deer, raccoons, minks, you never know what you are going to see. I started working my way around it moving agonizingly slow. I was taking a step or two then stopping and looking/listening for a minute or so then taking another step of two. It is amazing the things you see when you do this. There were several deer that had seen or smelled me but instead of running had stood completely still hoping I would pass by. If I was moving at my normal pace I probably would have. Taking a minute of two to observe everything within sight or hearing with each step I took allowed me to spot quite a few. It is hard to move this slow, especially for someone like me who likes to cover a lot of territory, but a very worthwhile method. While there were a number of deer I spotted that had already spotted me, there were even more who had no idea I was there! I was seeing a good number of deer but most were smaller then I wanted to shoot. The few that I saw that I would have shot all were in a position where I couldn't shoot because of brush in the way or something else was wrong. The highlights of that morning were a few I came upon at ridiculously close distances. Often times I am able to hear the deer before I see them. It makes a fair bit of noise as they walk through the tall grass and thick brush. I was slooowwwwly moving around the pond when I heard a deer moving towards me. I got as close to where I thought it was headed as possible and hunkered down. As it got close I drew my bow back and waited. A few seconds later a small doe popped out of the brush about a foot in front of me. It was so close I almost could have touched it. I stayed completely still. As it saw me it slammed on the brakes and its eyes almost popped out of its head. I stared me down from that distance for about a minute before very nervously trotting away looking back at me over its shoulder as it went. It was smaller then I wanted to shoot but quite the experience to have a deer that close! About an hour later I was moving painfully slow down a deer trail when I heard a deer feeding in some thick brush. I crept as close as I could and tried to get a look at it. All of a sudden its head popped up out of the brush just a few feet from me. I stayed really still and it didn't notice that I was there. It continued feeding and I slowly moved away since it was smaller then I wanted to shoot. A few minutes later I heard a deer in front of me and started trying to see where it was. Eventually I spotted it and saw that it was a really big doe! I was excited to finally find a doe worth shooting. I came to full draw and waited for her to turn broadside so I would have a clean shot. Right as she turned another smaller doe wandered up and stood right in front of her vitals giving me no shot. I waited but they both wandered away from me never giving me a clear shot. I tried to get close to them again but wasn't able to. As it got to late morning I moved to some low brush that the deer tend to move through as they go from feeding in the fields and ponds to bedding down back in the thick brush and deep woods. I stopped at a main crossing and waited to see if any deer would come by. I soon started hearing deer feeding in the brush around me. I got a view of a pair of yearling does and was watching them when I heard a different deer feeding. After some maneuvering I saw that it was a small spike. I thought about shooting it but figured with it only being the first morning of a three day hunt I would try to hold out for a bigger buck. I watched them for a while and eventually they fed deeper into the woods and disappeared. About 11:30 or so, the sun came out and it got fairly warm. Immediately the deer disappeared. I knew where they had gone but it was back in a 10 or so acre patch of head high thick brush. Brush so thick it is nearly impossible to walk through much less walk through quietly enough to get close to deer. Even if I heard or saw one there is little chance I would have a shot because it is so thick. I figured it was a good time to go eat lunch. I headed back to my Jeep then headed over to my friends house. I ate a leisurely lunch then spent an hour or so just chatting with them. Around 2:00pm I jumped in my Jeep and headed back out. After getting to my spot I hiked back towards the huge patch of thick brush. I walked around the edges of it hoping to spot some deer. I saw a few but none that I was interesting in shooting. After a few unproductive hours of walking around I headed to a field that I heard they had been coming into at night. I found a well concealed place to sit and settled in to hunt until dark in hopes that a decent deer would come within range. About 6:30 pm I started seeing deer a ways out heading for the field. I soon had three deer feeding within 60 yards of me but they were all small does. It was getting close to dark and I was starting to lose hope. Finally about 7:15 pm a decent looking doe came in. She wasn't a full adult but was bigger then most of the ones I was seeing and I figured I would take her. Since I had two tags it was time to put on on the ground so I at least had meat in the freezer. Then I could worry about hunting hard for a good buck. Besides, because she was a bit younger the meat would be really nice and tender. She fed to twenty yards and I came to full draw. She turned broadside and I released. Right as I released she turned and instead of catching the arrow right behind the shoulder, she caught it right in front of her left hip. Thankfully she had turned at such an angle that while it entered back by her hip, it exited in front of her right shoulder which took it right through her liver, and right lung. It was not the ideal double lung shot I would have liked but all things considered it turned out well. She ran across the field then stopped. It was obvious that she would die quickly but not wanting her to suffer any more then she had to, and because she gave me the opportunity, I put another arrow in her and she went down immediately. Right about that time I spotted a good buck out a good ways. Since I had a second tag I figured I would try to sneak up on him with the last few minutes of light I had. I got to about 40 yards with him not knowing I was there. He was broadside to me and I just needed to take one step forward to get around a tree and have a clear shot. I took that step and landed on a stick that made a resounding CRACK and he was out of there. Oh well. Stuff like that is bound to happen. I went back to my doe and dressed her out. I then put her in my Jeep and headed back to my friends house where we hung it and skinned it. We had a nice evening of good food and conversation then headed to bed in anticipation of an early morning the next day.
The only pics I have for now are cell phone pix but they should suffice
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The next morning, Tuesday, I got up about 6:00 am in order to be hunting by first light. Based on what I had seen the deer do the day before, I had my plan for where I wanted to be at each part of the day. I first headed to the pond where I had seen so many deer the morning before. I saw a few but nothing close to the numbers I had seen the day before. I did of course have several shot opportunities on big adult does..........after I had already filled my doe tag with a smaller doe! That is the way it always works though. Once again all you can do is laugh. After slowly and quietly walking around the pond I headed back to the low brush where I had seen the small spike feeding the day before. I moved along slowly trying to listen for deer feeding in the brush and soon heard one. I got as close as possible and soon saw that it was a good buck. I was hoping to get a clear shot but never could. I could see the tops of his antlers as he fed but his body was covered by brush. I hunkered down and waited hoping that he would eventually feed my way. Unfortunately a doe got between me and him, then smelled me and spooked. As she raced away she took the buck with her. I hunted for the rest of the morning but really didn't see much at all. I decided to head in for lunch and started hiking down a trail towards my Jeep. I wasn't walking slowly or quietly I was just hiking fairly quickly down this trail. All of a sudden a fawn came around the corner of the trail running straight at me! I don't know if it was scared of something or what but it came barreling past me at high speed just a few feet away and didn't seem to notice that I was there at all. I soon got to my Jeep and headed in for lunch. I ate a nice lunch and then decided that I would butcher my doe since the weather was warm and there weren't many deer around. It took me an hour or two to take it from being a whole hanging deer to being a pile of nicely wrapped packages in the freezer. After that I had a cup of coffee and decided I would probably head back out and see if I could find anything. I didn't expect much since it was the middle of the day and pretty warm. I decided I would start hunting near my favorite pond and drove my Jeep to the head of a trail that heads back around this pond. I got out and got my gear ready and started my agonizingly slow walk around the pond. I had gone about 30 yards from my Jeep when I heard a noise off to the left of me next to the pond. I stopped and could soon tell from the sounds that it was a deer feeding. I could quite distinctly hear the sound of it ripping up grass and plants and chewing them. I couldn't really see it though because I had a stand of trees in the way. I verrrrrry slooooooowwly started creeping down towards the sounds. The ground was littered with sticks and branches and dry leaves because of the stand of trees. This made it quite difficult to move quietly. I was taking a step then waiting a few minutes, taking another step then waiting a few more minutes, etc. It took a long time to get through the trees to where I could see. I came to the edge of the trees and saw that I was looking at a field of chest high grass that was bordering the pond. After a minute or two I saw antler tips moving in the tall grass and realized that this was a good buck! I continued my one-step-couple-of-minute-wait routine towards the deer staying as low as possible to stay out of sight. He had no idea I was there but was feeding away from me and was moving faster then I was. The temptation to speed up was huge but I resisted knowing that there was no way I could make it to him quietly if I sped up. I figured if I sped up I would almost surely spook him but if I stayed slow, it might take a while to get close, but at least I would have a chance. Pretty soon a doe came walking between me and him and I was out in the open where she could see me. I had a sinking feeling that she would see me and spook and take him with her. I froze in a fairly uncomfortable crouch and waited. Thankfully she fed in front of me and just kept going without spooking. I don't think she had any idea that I was there. As soon as she fed out of sight I kept going. I was getting worried because I hadn't heard any sounds from my buck in a while and wondered if he might have gotten away. I kept my sloooooow steady pace towards where I had last seen him and hoped for the best. As I got closer and closer to the pond the ground got softer and softer and soon got to the point where if I took another step I would be ankle deep in water. I decided I could care less about getting wet. I wanted this deer! I kept slowly stalking him but now my challenge wasn't being quiet walking over sticks, it was being quiet walking through a mixture of water, mud, and tall grass! Pretty soon I was knee deep in water but just kept going and soon began to hear my deer again. I knew I was getting close but couldn't see him. Pretty soon I came to the edge of a deep channel. It looked to be over my head and was too wide to jump across. Jumping across probably would have scared the deer away anyways. I stood there pondering what to do. I started to wonder if I had worked this hard and come this far just to be stopped at this point and not be able to get a shot. After standing there for a few more minutes I heard the deer moving again on a long narrow island (about 6 feet wide and 100 feet long) on the other side of the channel. Soon I could see its antler tips above the grass and could see that it was feeding in my direction. I could also see that if it kept on its current path it would walk into an area where the grass is not quite as high about 20 yards from me. I stood completely still and waited until its head went behind the last clump of really tall grass. As it did I came to full draw. Its head soon popped out and it had no idea I was there. It took a few more steps which brought the rest of its body out from behind the clump of tall grass and completely broadside to me. It puts its head down to feed and I took a quick look around and realized that this was the most open area the deer would be in and it was my best shot opportunity. It had some thin grass between me and its body but not enough that it would affect the arrow in flight. When it brought its head back up I calculated where I needed to shoot based on where its head was. I couldn't see the body but could tell where to shoot based on where its head was. I picked my spot, focused on it, took a deep breath, let half of it out, and released my arrow. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the arrow arc towards the deer, heard a resounding smack, and saw my deer disappear. It had dropped on the spot which was quite unusual. Normally with a bow they will run a ways. This led me to believe that I had hit in in the spine which is not very ideal and bothered me. A spine shot with paralyze it and drop it on the spot but it won't kill it. At least not quickly. I couldn't see how at 20 yards I had hit that high when I was aiming right behind he shoulder. Pretty soon it hit me that I had a deer down on the other side of a deep channel on an island. I wondered if I was going to have to swim to go get it. I knew the deer was down but didn't know if it was just stunned and would jump up and run away or if it was indeed down for the count. Because of this I was trying to be quiet in getting across the channel just in case it wasn't mortally wounded. The last thing I wanted to do was spook it up! I found a log across the channel that was fairly rotten and smaller then would probably be safe to cross. I didn't have much choice though. It was either that or swim. I was already standing in knee deep water but figured if I swam I would be completely soaked. If I tried the log at least I would have some chance of making it across the channel staying wet only to my knees. I wanted to bring my bow with me though because I didn't know if I would have to finish off. At this point I still didn't know where I had hit it. This made crossing the log even more complicated. I was careful and managed to make it across safely. I then slowly worked my way to where my deer was down. As I snuck up and it came into view I was relieved to see that my shot had indeed gone where I wanted. I hit it in the center of the right shoulder which is what paralyzed it. It went through the right shoulder, through the right lung, through the left lung, and didn't quite make it out the other side. There was a bulge in the skin on the other side where I could feel my arrow head. When he fell, he fell off the far side of the island and his head fell into another channel. As it did, his left antler got lodged in the weeds and mud under the bank and made it so basically he only had one nostril above the water. The rest of his head was underwater. The death investigation revealed his death to be a combination of drowning and the puncture of both lungs! After making sure he was dead I worked to get his antler loose from the weeds and under bank and eventually was successful. He had three points on his right antler and two on his left. There was a third point starting to grow on his left antler but it is pretty small. I dragged him up onto the island and then realized that now I was stuck in the middle of and island with a dead deer and my bow and had the same deep channel separating me from the mainland. I thought about just swimming it across but trying to do that with both a large deer and a bow didn't seem all that feasible. I soon formulated a plan. I drug it to the other side of the island so it was visible from the edge of the pond where the stalk began. I got it in position then carefully went back across my less-than-ideal log and waded across the area where I had stalked my deer back to the trail where it had all started. I paused there for a phone call to emphatically tell my dad, "Buck Down!" After telling him my plight with the deer being on the island and the plan I had to retrieve it, I got in my Jeep and headed to my friends house. There I retrieved a long rope and when I explained what I was doing, two of my friends came with me to help. I made sure they grabbed a camera so we could document all of this. We drove back over to the pond and waded to the edge of the channel. There I had them hold on to one end of the rope and I coiled up the rest and threw it across. I then climbed back across my long and went over to the deer. I grabbed the rope and tied it around the buck's antlers. I then climbed back across the log, grabbed the end of the rope, and pulled it across the channel. It worked quite well. We then drug the deer out onto the trail then loaded it up in my Jeep and off we went. We were all quite soaked but had such a fun time! It is not often that you get to fish a deer out of a pond! I am still waiting to get the pictures from my friends but I will post them as soon as I do so you can not only hear about but also see the recovery effort!
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There is a lot to congratulate you upon.
First off awesome deer.
Second thing, good writing you should keep at it and look for help in honing your skills.
Third thing, its great you wrote this for your Grandfather.
Your obviously a good guy, keep it up. :tup:
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Echo everything BurleyDog wrote.
Great story and great buck. That is an especially nice buck for being an island deer. Good job. Oh, and nice shooting.
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Nice work on the deer and the story.
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Great job :tup:
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Congrats on the deer and "WOW" you put some time in that write-up.
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Fantastic write up and congratulations on your buck, he will be very tender and tasty! :drool:
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Congrats on a nice deer.
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Great Write up and Buck!!!!!
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Thanks for sharing your experience.
