Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Elkslayer on December 16, 2011, 12:44:28 AM

Title: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: Elkslayer on December 16, 2011, 12:44:28 AM: Well my 2011 deer season has came to an end. I ended up missing a full week of the season after a trip to the ER, 6hrs later I was in surgery getting my Appendix taken out. With my big 5x5 I was trying to get this year being completely nocturnal I decided to try for a smaller mid 140's class 5x5 that was coming in during shooting hours. The first night in the stand he came in with about 20 minutes of shooting light left. The problem is he stood facing me the entire 20 minutes and would not offer me a broadside shot. Normally I probably would have punched him in the chest at 20yds, but after making a bad shot on my elk this year my confidence was a little low so after watching him feed and not offer me a shot I spooked them off and climbed out of the stand. The next three days in the stand only produced a smaller 3 1/2yr old 4x4. So with it being the last day I decided to sit in a stand that I had not sat in all year. Pre scouting had'nt produced any sign of shooter bucks in this stand either. But since it had been a week since the trail cam was pulled and with this stand producing a 154" buck and a 178" buck last year I had high hopes that maybe a shooter had just showed up late. I had already decided that if a shooter buck didn't show by 4pm that I would take a doe since it was the last day if one was available. Well right at 4 I had a spike and a doe show up. I waited about 5 minutes and it didn't appear that anything else was going to come in so I shot the doe at about 15yds. She ran about 25yds into some brush and I heard her go down. After about 15 minutes I climbed out of the stand and went and found my arrow.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi6.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy204%2FElkslayer%2F2011-12-15_16-43-52_973.jpg&hash=23b25ee8ad41181b4c40f0cbf1ca21e1add2c43c)
A short while later I walk up to my doe and see that it is a buck that had already shed his antlers! I hadn't seen any sign of them shedding yet this year, but now I know there starting!
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi6.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy204%2FElkslayer%2F2011-12-15_18-38-08_240.jpg&hash=e50ba0ff17b33227626c33372f6f99b3ba0ee6aa)
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: buglebuster on December 16, 2011, 01:28:20 AM: Tough luck Rodney! How old of a buck do you suppose he was?
I ended up finding myself in a similar situation on the last day after seeing no decent bucks I ran out of time and decided to shoot a doe. Got to 40yds and made a perfect shot she went about 25 yards and died. But it was still a big muley doe :tup: first doe I shot since I was 12.
Congrats on the good season anyways, full freezer!
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: grunt11B on December 16, 2011, 05:27:31 AM: Congrats...meat in the freezer for you.... :tup:
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: Elkslayer on December 17, 2011, 11:46:56 AM: Quote from: buglebuster on December 16, 2011, 01:28:20 AM
Tough luck Rodney! How old of a buck do you suppose he was?
I ended up finding myself in a similar situation on the last day after seeing no decent bucks I ran out of time and decided to shoot a doe. Got to 40yds and made a perfect shot she went about 25 yards and died. But it was still a big muley doe :tup: first doe I shot since I was 12.
Congrats on the good season anyways, full freezer!

Thanks Michael, it was a young buck probably only a 2 1/2yr old. There was about 6-7 different spikes and forkys coming in to this stand,I'm sure it was one of them.
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: steen on December 17, 2011, 11:51:43 AM: Good thing Dec is for bow hunters. for a rifle hunter with a doe tag it would have bee a sad day for the hunter. Congrats on filling your freezer, bummer for not having the antlers to show for it. Good story for the kids and grandkids around the camp fire.
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: 400out on December 17, 2011, 11:52:09 AM: That's to bad! glad you filled the freezer but tough way to do it :bash:
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: patton1 on December 18, 2011, 09:57:45 PM: Happened to my dad 5 or 6 years ago back in MI, probably around this time of year. We had seen a beautiful 4x5 a couple times. My dad has always been a "If it's brown, it's down" sort of a guy. He ended up shooting the "biggest doe he had ever seen" that night. We tracked the deer and sure enough, a buck that had dropped it's antlers. Never saw that 4x5 again. Oh well, meat in the freezer. Congrats on filling your tag.
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: C-Money on December 18, 2011, 10:29:54 PM: Congrats!
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: DBHAWTHORNE on December 19, 2011, 12:33:06 AM: It happened to me last year brother. I looked with binoculars and I still couldn't tell. The scabs blended in perfectly. Sucks but it happens.
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: NWBREW on December 19, 2011, 02:14:19 AM: Whitetail?
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: blindpig on December 19, 2011, 04:22:33 PM: Doh! (as homer simpson would say) Got some meat for the deep freeze though. Good shootin anyway
Title: Re: Late archery doe.......or so I thought!!
Post by: TopOfTheFoodChain on December 20, 2011, 02:38:14 PM: That's pretty cool! Never heard of somebody shooting a "doe" only find it's not really.... :tup: Meat in the freezer.