Michigan Hunt Day 3- Nov. 5, 2004

[Anello]

The alarm clock came pretty early this day(4:45am). I awoke to Grady walking into the room and kicking the bed I was in. I sprung out ready for war. We got some chow rolling and slammed some coffee really quickly before beginning to gear up for the morning’s hunt. I was to be in the same stand while Grady would be in a stand about 400 yards to the west of me set against a cornfield.

Once we were all suited up we began the walk out to the stands. Upon arriving in the area we split up I slowly crept toward my stand in the pitch black. As Grady worked slowly toward the cornfield. I did my best to be absolutely silent, however, it was nearly impossible for me to be absolutely silent with all that gear on. I made my way through the last cut and into the bushes at the base of the stand when I heard a grunt directly in front of me. Thick brush and no light surrounded me. I froze and started slowly clipping my bow on to the strap. I heard what was undoubtedly a buck stand up no more than 10 yards away so I grabbed onto the ladder and began a slow ascent to the platform. As I climbed I could make out a shape in the darkness below me. It was definitely a buck.

I climbed on to the platform and grabbed the strap and began pulling my bow up as slowly and quietly as possible. The buck obviously winded me at this point and grunted again before bounding off into the darkness. As he ran he seemingly broke every fucking branch, and stomped every piece of brush possible. I am serious. It sounded like a tank rolling through the brush behind me. So much for those “silent” bucks that I had been reading so much about. Anyways, now with bow in hand I would wait for shooting light.

Just about 10 minutes after the buck took off I could hear 2 or 3 more animals moving into the area behind me. I would sit very quietly and listen to them walk about directly behind me without risking a peek. My heart was thumping, as I was almost certain that I would get a shot as soon as it was light. Judging by the amount of noise that these deer were making I was guessing that they were definitely does, and definitely unaware of my presence.

Finally the horizon began to light up and I could begin to see the field surrounding my position. The does were still working behind me and I turned to take a look. I could barely make out a figure about 25 yards from the base of the tree, however, the doe was behind some thick brush and nearly 10 yards from a viable shooting lane on either side. I would have to sit and wait. My rubbernecking became extremely uncomfortable so I slowly turned back to the bait pile in front of me only to see that another doe had come into the bait pile in the darkness and was feeding head down no more than 20 yards directly in front of me!!!

I slowly swung my bow in front of me and clipped the release on in one movement. The doe shot it’s head up and scanned the area briefly before again diving into the meal. My heart was pounding at this point but I needed to make a true shot as there was no way that I could stand another miss. I drew the bow slowly and slowed my breathing. Time seemed to stand still as I lined the 20-yard pin just underneath and behind the shoulder. I slipped my finger around the release trigger and slowly squeezed.

As the shot went off so too did a simultaneous “THWACK”. The doe toppled over backwards and started yelping and kicking on the ground in a circular pattern. It looked as though I had pinned her to the grass. The arrow had found it’s mark and the Muzzy 125 grain 4 blade had clearly done its job. Just as I was almost certain that I had dropped the doe where it stood she jumped up and did a drunken stumble off into the brush across the clearing. I was mystified. I had just fucking nailed that deer through the boiler room knocking both doors off and she got up and ran after that performance??

I was very certain that she would not make it far as the blood trail was heavy. I waited for an hour in the stand before descending and heading over to get Grady out of his stand. Once I got him we went back to the house for a couple minutes before returning to the scene of the crime to track the mortally wounded doe.

The trail went through he brush that I had seen her hit clear into the state land beyond that. We stuck on the trail for over 2 hours before finding her laying down at the entrance to a swampy area well over a quarter mile from where she was hit. She had lost more blood than any animal that I have ever seen and still pushed through the brush until the bitter end. Tough animal for sure.

The drag out of the area was interesting to say the least due to the fact that much of it was to be spent on our hands and knees pulling the carcass through some of the thickest brush imaginable. She would dress out at an estimated 140 lbs. I had filled one of my 3 tags (one buck, 2 does) and had finally taken my first whitetail and first animal with the bow.

We headed out to hunt again in the afternoon to no avail. I think that the deer in the area knew that it was time to hide…cause Happy learned how to put.

Attached are the pics that I had on my camera from the hunt. Grady had the actual pics of the doe and his camera is still jacked from getting wet in the stand the next morning.

[Anello]

this is where it was hit

[Johnny B]

damn.

nice.

[Vermonster]

Congrats Anello on your first Bow deer.....

[DDawg]

Congrats dude.......... now you've got the hard one out of the way, where's the rest of the story?
Dave

[how2fish]

Awesome pic's and great write up...I am ready to go out and get a bow!!!

[Ali]

Nice work my man!

I'm more of an AR15 type.

[Fresh One]

Deer are wierd. Sometimes you hit them solid and they amaze you with their strength. Elk are even worse. I've nver shot one myself but have read ballistics studies derived from controlled hunts and those fuckers are tough as nails.

Nice job on the first bow kill.

[how2fish]

Originally Posted by Gato Gordo

Nice work my man!

I'm more of an AR15 type.

Is that with or without the M203?

[SandShark]

Cool bro.
The thing about Whitetails is they're too fucking stupid to realize they're dead.

I've seen heart lung shots peel off over a quarter mile when they should have been dead where they stood.

Glad you nailed the bitch.

You mentioned it was a chest shot.
Did the arrow punch through?
What vitals hit?

[Anello]

Vitals were shot to shit. That bitch was running without her heart. crazy how tough they are.

[TheShark]

Damn Dano!

You are a killer

WTG