Well let's see...once upon a time in the deep woods of Tennessee, there lived a great bowhunter by the name of...
I had been hunting on Don's property,a good friend of mine, and had been seeing a couple of bucks traveling both a bottom and the side of a ridge. Don was hunting this morning as well, he was using a muzzle loader. I was using my snake selfbow and tonkin cane arrows with 160 grain magna points (combined weight of around 600 grains). Several times hunting where my lock-on was, I was seeing these bucks traveling that same area. I carried my climbing stand in and set up first one evening for covering the bottom. For you folks out there that may not be up on our Tn. lingo, a "bottom" is basically a hollow or the low trough area between two parallel ridges. There is a small creek running through this bottom. That evening's hunt I once again saw the nice 8-point, but he was 50 yards or so from me traveling the side of the ridge. The next morning (Saturday) I elected to shift up to the ridge and hunt.
It was a beautiful morning, with a temperature in the high 30's, and a heavy mist seeming to rise up from the ground for the first hour or so of daylight. Walking to the stand I heard a deer running off from the area I planned to hunt. I found a likely located tree and climbed it, got everything situated and settled in for the morning hunt. Within a few minutes of my getting still, I heard two deer walking and coming from behind me. They passed on either side of my tree within 10 yards, and although I could make out their form, I couldn't tell enough in the darkness to know if they were bucks or does, and for sure not enough light to try a shot.
I was enjoying the solitude that all of you have experienced of sitting waiting for daylight and listening to the world wake up. This particular morning the turkeys started their morning calls which increased in volume and frequency even with an occasional gobbler chiming in usually followed immediately by several of his buddies in support.
It was getting light enough where I could see a deer about 50 yards or so in front of me feeding on red oak acorns. I could even hear him popping the shells of the acorns from that distance. I said "him", because it was the 8-point buck I'd been seeing. He looked like he had between a 14" and 16" inside spread. A few minutes later I saw a deer approaching from in front of me and passing to my right. It was a small buck, maybe a three or four point. He passed about 25 yards to my right, a little further then I personally felt comfortable taking a shot. The rest of the morning was so eventful in deer sightings that I can't recall exactly what I saw in the right sequence...so in a nut shell, the 8-point, and a couple of different smaller bucks came and left a couple of different times during the morning. Even saw the 8-point come running down the adjoining hollow, and a spike buck chasing a doe. I doubt I saw more then eight different deer, but some of them would leave and come back to entertain me I guess.
About 8:45 am a large doe and a couple of smaller ones were walking with a definite purpose and destination in mind, and were on a track that led just left of my stand. They were coming from in front of me, and I had plenty of time to get positioned and tighten my string pressure waiting for the moment of fulll draw. The does head went behind a tree when she was passing broadside about 12 yards from my stand. I drew and focused on her shoulder knowing that with her walking even at that distance I needed to lead her a little. I relaxed my hold on the string and watched the arrowed strike just a couple of inches behind her left shoulder. Just the fletching remained on that side indicating a pass-through shot. I immediately saw crimson appear as she broke into her last run. I waited about 30 minutes before taking up the trail, which I had to be careful walking to make sure I didn't slip on the blood...there was so much! She ran about 80 yards. She field dressed 105 lbs., a big doe for our part of the country. I had a double-lung pass through shot. Don had seen a nice buck that morning but couldn't get a clear shot. He was proud of my successful hunt. I carried the doe to the cabin and received congrats from Pappy and Beau and Terry and Case.
I elected not to hunt that afternoon, but instead spent it working on knifes and shooting the breeze with Pappy. Life was/is good for sure!
