B.B.D - Big.Buck.Down

I know I just posted about hunting, but this past Saturday I got my first buck with a bow.  Hunting stories are long, so grab your coffee and buckle down!  Anyone who has been bow-hunting knows that the sport is much more meticulous and fussy than rifle hunting.  Why?  With a rifle, you can shoot up to 300 yards for a good accurate shot.  How far is 300 yards?  3 football fields!  With bow-hunting, an accurate shot for most is only between 20 and 30 yards.  This is only my second year bow-hunting and I spent close to 100 hours last season in the stand, ending the season empty handed.  I may have seen many big bucks, but none that presented themself with that perfect shot.  The shot must be perfect and clear.  A leaf, slight wind, or positioning of the deer can make or break the ability to squeeze off a shot.  I learned the particularness of the sport last season and expected the same for this one.  With anything else in life, sometimes you just get lucky, and that's exactly what happened (along with my awesome shooting skills).  Saturday evening, the first night out of the season I got my chance.  The evening started with a group of 3 does, followed by 2 more at 6:15.  At 6:35 the buck came out.  I looked to my left and was shocked to see those big horns.  Being a hunter who has spent 100+ hours in the stand and not seeing a buck closer than 50-75 yards, I was in awe.  Really?  The first night?  The first 2 hours?  The 10 point buck stood in the field, 20 yards in front of me and munched on the clover for a few minutes.  He had no clue I was there.  I had the luxury of having enough time to spot him with the range finder to see how far he was.  21 yards.  With shaking hands and bouncy legs and I sneakily grabbed my bow, placed it where it needed to be, and drew back on my target.  SMACK was the sound it made when I hit that beaut right where I needed to hit it.  He took off running and I could see that the arrow was only half way through his body.  Ugh Oh, what now?  Dad doesn't have his cell phone and Lou is wayyyyy down in another stand.  Before I had time to set down my bow another nice buck came walking down the trail right towards me.  SERIOUSLY?  What an experience!  I crawled down out of my trophy-killing stand and made the trek up to my Dad who was only about 300 yards up the hill from me.  He couldn't believe it when I told him I had just shot a 10 pt.  After answering about 1,000 questions, we made the trek back down to my stand and began looking for blood.  There was very little and I knew that wasn't a good sign.  Luke came with the 4 wheeler and flashlights.  By the time he got there it was pretty dark.  The field was made of tall grass, high above our heads.  The blood trail was ridiculousy horrible.  Tiny specks of blood the size of an M&M every 5 feet through an entire field of this thick, tall grass, in the pitch dark.  I kept thinking there is no way we are going to find this deer.  With what little blood there was, it didn't look good.  I was upset and hopeless that I wouldn't find my first bow buck.  After 2 hours in the tall grass, the blood trail lead to the end of the field.  And then there was forrest.   The tiny specks continued down into the woods.  My hope grew thinner and thinner the farther we went.  I told Luke to just hold the flashlight up and look through the woods for horns.  I was getting tired of the whole blood-trail thing.  Before I could finish my sentence, Dad came to the rescue and said 2 words that brought me to an estatic happiness.  "Dead deer".  SHUT UP was my reaction, followed by 800 ohhh myyy God's.  I did it!  My first buck with a bow!  I will never forget this hunt and the amount of work that it took to find my trophy.  I will likely never have an opportunity like this again on the opening day of the season.  That's just how hunting goes!  I was lucky enough to get my chance and have such a memorable story to tell.  Until rifle season...     

Thanks to my Helpers!