“Up Close and Personal”
Longbow Buck
It was the morning of November 10th and I decided to head out for a morning of ambush hunting with my new ACS longbow. I took a bottle of HTS or Hoosier Trapper Supply “Doe and Heat” along with me. I had the opportunity to scout my new hunting spot the day before and found a lot of scrapes in the area so I decided to make a mock scrape near an existing scrape line and soaked it with HTS doe in heat. I even went to the extreme of pressing in doe prints with a dried doe hoof that I had made just for that purpose. I entered the woods a good half hour before legal shooting hours and laid a line of doe in heat straight out of the bottle and led it right to the mock scrape. I then freshened it up with a good dose of doe in heat lure. Once I was positioned in my natural ground blind and things began to settle down, I began to hear the all too common “Rustling of the Leaves” and it was getting closer and closer. I glanced to my left at my mock scrape and there stood a huge widespread, heavy beamed buck with his nose in the scrape. I was unable to shoot him due to the lack of available sunlight for my camera and I was determined to get this one on tape. Shortly after good light I found myself surrounded by five different bucks all looking around for a hot doe. Suddenly the silence broke as an unsuspecting doe ventured into the area with her yearling still by her side. All the bucks immediately began to chase her all through the woods. After a good half hour of chasing they realized it was a false alarm and the bucks began to make their way back to the thickets one by one. I positioned my camera where the bucks were crossing, right into my set up! I reached back to press the record button on the camera and when I glanced back I saw the broadside of this nice buck at only eight to ten yards from me in plain sight. Although it was not the bruiser I was after I decided it was too good to pass up. My heart began to pound with excitement and my mind released “The Rush,” thus giving me the green light on a quality experience. I drew back my ACS longbow and let the wood shaft tipped with a Zwickey “No Mercy” series broad head fly, and fly it did as the white tipped arrow disappeared behind the front left shoulder. After waiting a few minutes the arrow was found still in tact and coated pink, a great sign! I began the tracking process that lasted for only a short time as I saw the buck down. Apparently he had expired in full flight. A true trophy was taken, “The Old Way,” on the ground “Up Close and Personal”.
Again I give thanks to the good Lord who made it all possible and look forward to continuing to help others live out their dreams in the outdoors. Look me up at presnellplantation.org.
God Bless.
