Deer season opened Saturday, September 1st. I had been looking forward to this day for a considerable amount of time. Riley asked earlier in the week if she could go and I was glad to have her along.
We arrived at Joy's (Orville's sister) at 4:30 am. We normally stop there on our way to deer hunt because the house is abandoned and it gives us a good place to change into our event free hunting clothes. Anyway, we waited about 45 minutes for Don and Neal to show up. When they arrived, we promptly left. Riley and I finally got to the deer stand about 5:50 am, which was five minutes after shooting hours began and about an hour after I like to get there. I don't like getting to the stand at the last possible minute...or after legal shooting time has began.
We settled in and were finally ready for whatever action was to come our way. At 6:08 am, it began. To our right we heard twigs breaking and a familiar rustle of the brush. A doe popped out about 5 yards to the right of our treestand. However, the odd angle would prevent me from taking the easy shot. We waited silently for another two minutes while the doe worked her way out from our stand. It was go time.She turned broad side, I pulled back on the string, centered the 30 yard pin right on the sweet spot and let the arrow fly. Bingo! My arrow flew right to where I aimed (which is a major feat in itself these days). She was hit just in back of her shoulder joint. She jumped in the air and took off like a shot. Riley and I sat motionless as we watched her disappear into the thickets. After what seemed like an eternity, we climbed out of the stand to begin the search. I found my arrow, which was covered in deep red blood. As we followed the blood trail (which was composed of very small droplets of blood) we weaved around and under massive rose bushes until we hit the the edge of the wheatfield. The blood trail dried up. Nothing. We checked everywhere for another sign. Nothing. We went back to the stand to wait it out. I didn't want to push too hard since we were getting close to Neal's stand. 10:00 rolled around and we climbed back out of the stand to look for the doe again with Neal's help. Another try yielded the same results. No deer. I began wondering how such a perfect shot could shed so little blood.
After heading back to the "cabin" behind Orville's daughter's (Joy) house, we all grabbed some lunch and sat around for a little while. At 3:30, we headed back to the treestand. That afternoon, Riley and I watched two whitetail fawns and one mulie fawn play in front of our stand. Hust as the sun was beginning to set, we saw two buck in the distance. They were fairly large boys...one 5x5 and one 4x4. Neither came close enough to let an arrown fly. After the sun set, Riley and I made our way out of the stand and back to the truck. On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds. While I didn't get the deer, I did get one great day with my daughter. Those are the memories that I will always hold onto.
The next day (Sunday) I headed back up to Orville's again. I met Don and Neal in Walla Walla. They had drove back into twon to make a couple of calls. They had slept in that morning, wanting to give the deer a chance to settle back down. That afternoon I planned to hunt some public land where Neal had spotted several deer.
I got the the parking spot around 2:30 pm and began setting up my pop-up blind. After it was set up, I got settled in. I did not see one deer that afternoon. Frankly, I didn't see ANYTHING that afternoon. I picked up and was out of the woods by 8:00.
Again Monday morning, we didn't roll out to the stands until almost shooting light. This time, I went to the stand that I had shot a doe from a couple of years ago. I had high hopes for shooting another deer from it this morning. What a joke. I saw ONE doe. Even though she never presented a perfect shot I took one anyway and totally missed. That was all I saw from the stand that morning. I did see four more does bedded down on my way out of the stand later that morning. Just my luck.
With so much time to just sit and think, I realized a couple things. First, I think I might have solved the mystery of why my perfect shot didn't yield much blood (and hadn't in years past either). The 9mm handgun round is not effective because it is a light projectile travelling at a high rate of speed. This is the same way my arrow set-up is. I shoot 100 grain broadheads with a very fast bow. I think I need to slow the arrown down a little and make it like a 45 caliber bullet. That bullet is not as fast, but has much more power because it weighs more and travelling slower. In light of this epipheny, I am going to try a 125 grain broadhead and see what happens.
The other thing I realized this weekend was why I am getting so frustrated while I deer hunt here. I used to enjoy deer hunting as a time to relax and surround myself with nature. Since I have moved to Washignton, I have not enjoyed it as much as I had in the past. I think I feel more pressure to shoot a deer here. Washington only has a three week deer season, as compared to the season in the midwest that lasts over three months. I'll let that one soak in the brain for a little while. Maybe that's what is going on.
We arrived at Joy's (Orville's sister) at 4:30 am. We normally stop there on our way to deer hunt because the house is abandoned and it gives us a good place to change into our event free hunting clothes. Anyway, we waited about 45 minutes for Don and Neal to show up. When they arrived, we promptly left. Riley and I finally got to the deer stand about 5:50 am, which was five minutes after shooting hours began and about an hour after I like to get there. I don't like getting to the stand at the last possible minute...or after legal shooting time has began.
We settled in and were finally ready for whatever action was to come our way. At 6:08 am, it began. To our right we heard twigs breaking and a familiar rustle of the brush. A doe popped out about 5 yards to the right of our treestand. However, the odd angle would prevent me from taking the easy shot. We waited silently for another two minutes while the doe worked her way out from our stand. It was go time.She turned broad side, I pulled back on the string, centered the 30 yard pin right on the sweet spot and let the arrow fly. Bingo! My arrow flew right to where I aimed (which is a major feat in itself these days). She was hit just in back of her shoulder joint. She jumped in the air and took off like a shot. Riley and I sat motionless as we watched her disappear into the thickets. After what seemed like an eternity, we climbed out of the stand to begin the search. I found my arrow, which was covered in deep red blood. As we followed the blood trail (which was composed of very small droplets of blood) we weaved around and under massive rose bushes until we hit the the edge of the wheatfield. The blood trail dried up. Nothing. We checked everywhere for another sign. Nothing. We went back to the stand to wait it out. I didn't want to push too hard since we were getting close to Neal's stand. 10:00 rolled around and we climbed back out of the stand to look for the doe again with Neal's help. Another try yielded the same results. No deer. I began wondering how such a perfect shot could shed so little blood.
After heading back to the "cabin" behind Orville's daughter's (Joy) house, we all grabbed some lunch and sat around for a little while. At 3:30, we headed back to the treestand. That afternoon, Riley and I watched two whitetail fawns and one mulie fawn play in front of our stand. Hust as the sun was beginning to set, we saw two buck in the distance. They were fairly large boys...one 5x5 and one 4x4. Neither came close enough to let an arrown fly. After the sun set, Riley and I made our way out of the stand and back to the truck. On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds. While I didn't get the deer, I did get one great day with my daughter. Those are the memories that I will always hold onto.
The next day (Sunday) I headed back up to Orville's again. I met Don and Neal in Walla Walla. They had drove back into twon to make a couple of calls. They had slept in that morning, wanting to give the deer a chance to settle back down. That afternoon I planned to hunt some public land where Neal had spotted several deer.
I got the the parking spot around 2:30 pm and began setting up my pop-up blind. After it was set up, I got settled in. I did not see one deer that afternoon. Frankly, I didn't see ANYTHING that afternoon. I picked up and was out of the woods by 8:00.
Again Monday morning, we didn't roll out to the stands until almost shooting light. This time, I went to the stand that I had shot a doe from a couple of years ago. I had high hopes for shooting another deer from it this morning. What a joke. I saw ONE doe. Even though she never presented a perfect shot I took one anyway and totally missed. That was all I saw from the stand that morning. I did see four more does bedded down on my way out of the stand later that morning. Just my luck.
With so much time to just sit and think, I realized a couple things. First, I think I might have solved the mystery of why my perfect shot didn't yield much blood (and hadn't in years past either). The 9mm handgun round is not effective because it is a light projectile travelling at a high rate of speed. This is the same way my arrow set-up is. I shoot 100 grain broadheads with a very fast bow. I think I need to slow the arrown down a little and make it like a 45 caliber bullet. That bullet is not as fast, but has much more power because it weighs more and travelling slower. In light of this epipheny, I am going to try a 125 grain broadhead and see what happens.
The other thing I realized this weekend was why I am getting so frustrated while I deer hunt here. I used to enjoy deer hunting as a time to relax and surround myself with nature. Since I have moved to Washignton, I have not enjoyed it as much as I had in the past. I think I feel more pressure to shoot a deer here. Washington only has a three week deer season, as compared to the season in the midwest that lasts over three months. I'll let that one soak in the brain for a little while. Maybe that's what is going on.
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