iccyman001
New member
- Apr 30, 2014
- 5,489
This could be a long post, so for the people who like cliff notes.... 1 doe down, no bucks..... YET (passed on a lot)
This trip has been such a learning experience for me both with bow hunting and learning about myself.
These numbers are approx, but I saw at least 40 deer in my 10 days out there. I passed on 15 bucks :shock:
The bucks I passed on ranged from 1-4.5 years old and anywhere from 30\" to...... 125\"
roblem: I\'ll get into the 4.5 125\" buck here in a few..... my butt is red from how many times I\'ve been kicking it....
This trips had many great encounters where I learned a lot and many NOT so good encounters where I learned a whole lot more.
Im going to type out some encounters to the best of me knowledge. That way when I read this again and again I will always be reminded!
My first encounter was actually the one I killed my doe on, but she was not initially the intended target.
My buddy and I spotted 6 mule deer on a foot plot. We did a super sneak up to them from about 400 yards out. The deer breakdown was 1 buck with 5 does.... and this buck was LARGE!!!! I am not an expert scorer with mule deer, so take this with a grain of salt, but I figured he was a 150\" 5x5 with deep forks and splits on every one of his Gs, minus G1. I got up to the plot and ran out of cover. I ranged a doe next to him one last time.... 35yards.
I drew and popped up. GREAT!!!!!! The big bow has his behind to me. He sees me and walks straight off the plot, never giving me a shot, the does spook and follow. After they all left I walked a few more steps towards where they were and froze..... there was a doe standing to my left....
I drew back and with no time to range, hit her. She went about 80 yards and played down! Doe 1 down. It was a very cool encounter because my friend got to see me shoot a doe. I also learned a lot from this encounter, some things I do not wish to share because I let excitement get the best of me.
The one thing I will share...... mule deer ears make them look way bigger than they really are
When I shot it and when my friend saw it, we both though it was a nice sized doe....
When we got up to it, the story was not the same....
I figure she was a yearling. That is my lack of experience with mule deer coming through, but I am still happy with it. I am giving some of the meat to my buddy who needs it for his family and the other part will be summer sausage
One of my goals for this year was to shoot a doe. I never have and I semi fulfilled it. I killed a mule doe, but I think I am cursed with whitetail doe......
5 encounters with them.... some solo does and other were in groups.... all bagged me!!!!!
I\'ll talk about a few.
One evening I was sitting on a food plot that I knew does bedded near. 8 minutes before the end of legal shooting hours, a doe hits my plot. COOL!
I range her and she is 30 yards away. COOL! She is quartering away! COOL!!!!!
I draw, stand up...... \"oh hey, there are 3 does looking at me 6 yards away to my right....\" BAGGED!!!!!! Before I could think to myself \"crap\" mama started snorting and they all ran around like crazy, No arrow released, no whitetail doe.
Solo doe: I was walking to my stand and saw a doe about 100 yards out feeding towards me. Wind was in my favor so I got in her path and set up behind a cedar tree. I had a 50 50 shot of her coming right or left of the tree and I couldn\'t see through it that well. I heard her and knew she was close. I drew, picked a side, and she came around the other at 3 yards..... YIKES! She didn\'t know what I was, but she was not about to find out!!!!
Group of does with my buddies: We were walking to check a camera and my buddy spotted some does 40 yards off a path just looking at us. So he started running back and forth trying to find a shooting lane. I moved a little to my left and had a vital shot at a doe 32 yards away. I didn\'t draw because I wanted him to get a shot. When he didn\'t find one he gave me the nod. I drew, picked my spot, and killed a branch.......LEARNING POINT, DONT GET TUNNEL VISION...... OBSERVATION IS KEY.
Last night...... this one makes me grrrrr: I am sitting on a plot that I know does bed near and I am waiting, quiet, patient, 15 minutes left of sunlight and a doe shows up..... I tried something new and brushed in a ground blind, so I see her and she is 22 yards away, no shot due to window location. She moves up to 19 yards and she is now in a little shoot through mesh window that I have. I didn\'t want to shoot through it because it was darker and hard to pick my spot. I am not worried about shooting through it because I\'ve practiced out to 40 yard with the mesh and it worked. So in a few more steps she would hit my open window at 15 yards. Step, step, step, draw....... GONE! :shock:
So here is what happened.... I am tall and lanky, so in this ground blind its very.... awkward.
Instead of being able to point out straight and draw back like normal, I had to draw pointing towards the ground and pull up towards my chest. It wasn\'t until after this encounter after multiple draws that I realized when I pull towards my chest, my release scraps across my chest, making a small noise..... YOU WIN THIS TIME WHITETAIL DOES.
Failure leads to success, and I had plenty of failure with those does, but I learned a lot.....
Now on to the bucks.....
I am sure you all saw the pee but video, but if not, I messed up with a real good buck that would probably score in the high 120s or low 130s. It was in my honey hole, around 745 and because of my morning coffee and ? gallon of water, I HAD TO PEE!!!!! I quickly scan, stand up, and hear a noise..... it sounded like something big moving, but I didn\'t see anything. So I started peeing, right towards the end of it, I look up and this mature 9 point is walking by my lane at 40 yards broadside. He then went behind a cedar tree and walk off.....
When I got up, my chair made a TINY noise and that is what got to him. He didn\'t spook, but he changed his course due to the noise..... lesson learned? Adult diapers.... JK!!!!! New chair and not drink so much before my morning sit.
I had many other encounters with good bucks, but I want to talk to you about the mature 4.5 year old that would have scored 125\", why I passed on him, and then tie this all up on the biggest lesson I learned.
It was a very windy day, 25 mph winds with gusts to 40, so I decided to get down low in some low creek beds and still hunt.....yes, still hunt with a bow.
The wind canceled my noise out and offered great cover. I put the wind in my face and walked, stopped, scanned, waited, then moved.
About 25 minutes into this, I crossed a little funnel creek crossing and pop up to dry land...... hey a buck.....hey, look at the belly on that buck, he is big......hey... this buck is quartering away just feeding.....10.... FEET....away.... not yards... FEET.....
I draw, but I remember to be observant..... hmmmm main frame 10, but wait.... broken g4 on one side and broken 3 and 4 on the other, he\'s probably 125\" as is, but would be a 140\" full tines...... hmmmmm
I let off and do some thinking. \"Freezer is full, he\'s kind of a rough looking buck, and I probably wouldn\'t put him on the wall.\" Then something comes over me and I draw again....... nope, I let back off. I then watched him for another 20 seconds as he continued eating and went off on his merry way.
It took me 1 minute after he walked away to begin mental breakdown.... WHAT IN THE WORLD DID I JUST DO.......
It was at that point of the trip I had to do some self reflection. I as a newbie bow hunter, just snuck up on a whitetail, a mature one, and passed it.... on land that people hunt for years and never even kill anything on. Wait, now that I think about it I have passed on a lot of good deer that anyone would be happy to shoot, that ID be happy to shoot...... WHY?????
So I had to remove myself from the woods for a few hours, went to subway for a sandwich and a coke and did some deep thinking.
I am new and I am trying to become a proficient bow hunter. Well, that takes time, practice, and learning the basic fundamentals. I need to be more realistic with what I should be taking right now to learn as much as I can. I would have been happy taking the smallest fork horn buck all the way up to a monster. So why am I here setting my minimum high. Yes there are very big bucks out there, but it\'s hard enough to just kill out there. On this trip I met 6 different hunters who have hunted this location for years. Guess what, they never have killed anything.... and i\'ve passed 16 deer. MUY LOCO!!!!!
So after I finished my coke I decided. I need to continue to grow as a hunter and learn the basic of bow hunting even more before I shoot for the stars.
With that being said, when I go back out there Thursday night, I will have a whole new mentality. I am not going to lie, I passed on 2 more fork horns and a small basket 6 point after my reflection. I am ok with that though, they were young deer and inside I don\'t mind passing young deer. However, those 3 year old 90-113\" bucks that I passed are in trouble now. The decided factor will be \"will I be happy shooting this?\" Not \"how many points and what does it score\"
Sorry for the long winded story and post.Cant wait to get back out there
This trip has been such a learning experience for me both with bow hunting and learning about myself.
These numbers are approx, but I saw at least 40 deer in my 10 days out there. I passed on 15 bucks :shock:
The bucks I passed on ranged from 1-4.5 years old and anywhere from 30\" to...... 125\"
roblem: I\'ll get into the 4.5 125\" buck here in a few..... my butt is red from how many times I\'ve been kicking it....This trips had many great encounters where I learned a lot and many NOT so good encounters where I learned a whole lot more.
Im going to type out some encounters to the best of me knowledge. That way when I read this again and again I will always be reminded!
My first encounter was actually the one I killed my doe on, but she was not initially the intended target.
My buddy and I spotted 6 mule deer on a foot plot. We did a super sneak up to them from about 400 yards out. The deer breakdown was 1 buck with 5 does.... and this buck was LARGE!!!! I am not an expert scorer with mule deer, so take this with a grain of salt, but I figured he was a 150\" 5x5 with deep forks and splits on every one of his Gs, minus G1. I got up to the plot and ran out of cover. I ranged a doe next to him one last time.... 35yards.
I drew and popped up. GREAT!!!!!! The big bow has his behind to me. He sees me and walks straight off the plot, never giving me a shot, the does spook and follow. After they all left I walked a few more steps towards where they were and froze..... there was a doe standing to my left....
I drew back and with no time to range, hit her. She went about 80 yards and played down! Doe 1 down. It was a very cool encounter because my friend got to see me shoot a doe. I also learned a lot from this encounter, some things I do not wish to share because I let excitement get the best of me.
The one thing I will share...... mule deer ears make them look way bigger than they really are
When I shot it and when my friend saw it, we both though it was a nice sized doe....
When we got up to it, the story was not the same....
I figure she was a yearling. That is my lack of experience with mule deer coming through, but I am still happy with it. I am giving some of the meat to my buddy who needs it for his family and the other part will be summer sausage
One of my goals for this year was to shoot a doe. I never have and I semi fulfilled it. I killed a mule doe, but I think I am cursed with whitetail doe......
5 encounters with them.... some solo does and other were in groups.... all bagged me!!!!!
I\'ll talk about a few.
One evening I was sitting on a food plot that I knew does bedded near. 8 minutes before the end of legal shooting hours, a doe hits my plot. COOL!
I range her and she is 30 yards away. COOL! She is quartering away! COOL!!!!!
I draw, stand up...... \"oh hey, there are 3 does looking at me 6 yards away to my right....\" BAGGED!!!!!! Before I could think to myself \"crap\" mama started snorting and they all ran around like crazy, No arrow released, no whitetail doe.
Solo doe: I was walking to my stand and saw a doe about 100 yards out feeding towards me. Wind was in my favor so I got in her path and set up behind a cedar tree. I had a 50 50 shot of her coming right or left of the tree and I couldn\'t see through it that well. I heard her and knew she was close. I drew, picked a side, and she came around the other at 3 yards..... YIKES! She didn\'t know what I was, but she was not about to find out!!!!
Group of does with my buddies: We were walking to check a camera and my buddy spotted some does 40 yards off a path just looking at us. So he started running back and forth trying to find a shooting lane. I moved a little to my left and had a vital shot at a doe 32 yards away. I didn\'t draw because I wanted him to get a shot. When he didn\'t find one he gave me the nod. I drew, picked my spot, and killed a branch.......LEARNING POINT, DONT GET TUNNEL VISION...... OBSERVATION IS KEY.
Last night...... this one makes me grrrrr: I am sitting on a plot that I know does bed near and I am waiting, quiet, patient, 15 minutes left of sunlight and a doe shows up..... I tried something new and brushed in a ground blind, so I see her and she is 22 yards away, no shot due to window location. She moves up to 19 yards and she is now in a little shoot through mesh window that I have. I didn\'t want to shoot through it because it was darker and hard to pick my spot. I am not worried about shooting through it because I\'ve practiced out to 40 yard with the mesh and it worked. So in a few more steps she would hit my open window at 15 yards. Step, step, step, draw....... GONE! :shock:
So here is what happened.... I am tall and lanky, so in this ground blind its very.... awkward.
Instead of being able to point out straight and draw back like normal, I had to draw pointing towards the ground and pull up towards my chest. It wasn\'t until after this encounter after multiple draws that I realized when I pull towards my chest, my release scraps across my chest, making a small noise..... YOU WIN THIS TIME WHITETAIL DOES.
Failure leads to success, and I had plenty of failure with those does, but I learned a lot.....
Now on to the bucks.....
I am sure you all saw the pee but video, but if not, I messed up with a real good buck that would probably score in the high 120s or low 130s. It was in my honey hole, around 745 and because of my morning coffee and ? gallon of water, I HAD TO PEE!!!!! I quickly scan, stand up, and hear a noise..... it sounded like something big moving, but I didn\'t see anything. So I started peeing, right towards the end of it, I look up and this mature 9 point is walking by my lane at 40 yards broadside. He then went behind a cedar tree and walk off.....
When I got up, my chair made a TINY noise and that is what got to him. He didn\'t spook, but he changed his course due to the noise..... lesson learned? Adult diapers.... JK!!!!! New chair and not drink so much before my morning sit.
I had many other encounters with good bucks, but I want to talk to you about the mature 4.5 year old that would have scored 125\", why I passed on him, and then tie this all up on the biggest lesson I learned.
It was a very windy day, 25 mph winds with gusts to 40, so I decided to get down low in some low creek beds and still hunt.....yes, still hunt with a bow.
The wind canceled my noise out and offered great cover. I put the wind in my face and walked, stopped, scanned, waited, then moved.
About 25 minutes into this, I crossed a little funnel creek crossing and pop up to dry land...... hey a buck.....hey, look at the belly on that buck, he is big......hey... this buck is quartering away just feeding.....10.... FEET....away.... not yards... FEET.....
I draw, but I remember to be observant..... hmmmm main frame 10, but wait.... broken g4 on one side and broken 3 and 4 on the other, he\'s probably 125\" as is, but would be a 140\" full tines...... hmmmmm
I let off and do some thinking. \"Freezer is full, he\'s kind of a rough looking buck, and I probably wouldn\'t put him on the wall.\" Then something comes over me and I draw again....... nope, I let back off. I then watched him for another 20 seconds as he continued eating and went off on his merry way.
It took me 1 minute after he walked away to begin mental breakdown.... WHAT IN THE WORLD DID I JUST DO.......
It was at that point of the trip I had to do some self reflection. I as a newbie bow hunter, just snuck up on a whitetail, a mature one, and passed it.... on land that people hunt for years and never even kill anything on. Wait, now that I think about it I have passed on a lot of good deer that anyone would be happy to shoot, that ID be happy to shoot...... WHY?????
So I had to remove myself from the woods for a few hours, went to subway for a sandwich and a coke and did some deep thinking.
I am new and I am trying to become a proficient bow hunter. Well, that takes time, practice, and learning the basic fundamentals. I need to be more realistic with what I should be taking right now to learn as much as I can. I would have been happy taking the smallest fork horn buck all the way up to a monster. So why am I here setting my minimum high. Yes there are very big bucks out there, but it\'s hard enough to just kill out there. On this trip I met 6 different hunters who have hunted this location for years. Guess what, they never have killed anything.... and i\'ve passed 16 deer. MUY LOCO!!!!!
So after I finished my coke I decided. I need to continue to grow as a hunter and learn the basic of bow hunting even more before I shoot for the stars.
With that being said, when I go back out there Thursday night, I will have a whole new mentality. I am not going to lie, I passed on 2 more fork horns and a small basket 6 point after my reflection. I am ok with that though, they were young deer and inside I don\'t mind passing young deer. However, those 3 year old 90-113\" bucks that I passed are in trouble now. The decided factor will be \"will I be happy shooting this?\" Not \"how many points and what does it score\"
Sorry for the long winded story and post.Cant wait to get back out there
