1st Deer of the Year

WARNING: If seeing dead animals or blood makes you squeamish, you might not want to scroll down the page as there are a couple of pictures of my most recent harvest.

The setting? Last Tuesday evening on the Chapman Ranch about 20-25 feet up in a tree overlooking a small alfalfa/clover field. The past three times I’d been out in that stand (just a few days before) I’d seen a deer every time so I felt good about the spot and the timing. The only hitch was I’d been seeing them late in the evening, right around 6:30 o’clock with just a few minutes of shooting light left.

Sure enough, tonight wasn’t any different. At 6:30, I looked behind me and saw two does coming down the ravine just behind me and to the right. I thought they’d come along the fence line through a hole in the fence, but to my surprise, they jumped the fence and came in straight behind me RIGHT UNDER MY TREE! The trailing doe immediately looked up at me, I mean right at me. If you’ve never been in this situation before, it’s a pretty intense feeling of adrenaline and uncertainty. I thought I was busted, but she slowly worked her way around me into the field, all the while looking at me, so I couldn’t budge! When she rejoined the other doe, about ten minutes had passed and being in the woods, there was very little shooting life left, so I decided to draw back and try to sneak a shot in at 14 yards. Of course, they looked right at me and started to bound off. I quickly grunted at them twice, and they stopped 35 yards away quartering to me. I let my arrow go and it was a great shot in one side and lodging in the other shoulder blade making a loud POP!

She took off running North, then up a fenceline to the East where I saw her fall and expire! It was the first deer I had gotten with a bow since I was 12 years old! I was pretty flippin’ pumped and immediately gave thanks to the Lord for an awesome opportunity and blessing. I had been hunting hard several evenings a week and a few mornings here and there for approximately a month, and had already hit an 8-point buck that I never found a week before, so I felt really rewarded with this one. Hopefully, this is just ONE of many more, including that bull elk I’m gonna take down in less than 2 weeks out in Colorado!