FIrst Real Buck with a Bow - Deer Hunting - Deer Hunting

Well after sucking it up and buying a Fort McCoy permit, my efforts have paid off. After many nights early season trying different places on the Fort, I finally started seeing deer last week. Last Sunday, I made a couple of mock scrapes by a small creek that the deer were crossing on a regular basis. I went out Monday and Wednesday to check and see if the scrapes were being hit. To my suprise, not only were they being hit, others were showing up around the area. The mock scrape I made is now a hole down to the roots of the small tree. I sat Wednesday night till dark in a tree right by the creek. Nothing but squirrels until about six o’clock. I watched two does drink about 60 yards north of me. My heart was pounding out of my chest since I am deerless the last three years. Unfortunatly the does stayed at a safe distance. So, I thought it will not hurt to get out the grunt tube and try to get them to come back. They didn’t. By this time everthing in the woods was still and quiet. I grunted about ten times in a row. I hear a stampede coming from the other side of the creek. A fork and a spike come running into the opening by the creek. By this time, it started getting dark. I see an outline of another deer coming into the opening. The fork and spike take off into the brush. All I could see was his outline. He freshened the scrapes and the mock scrape right in front of me. I grunted, he grunted back. It was the coolest experience I have had in the woods so far. He walked down wind of me and disappeared. I didn’t take a shot, but thought about it the whole ride home. Did I miss my opportunity? I called Pat Howard and he told me to keep tweaking. It will happen eventually. Fast-forward to Friday night. After a long day of teaching eighth graders, I was ready to hit the woods. Only one more problem, how do I get permission from my wife? She was more than happy to get me out of the house. I was in my tree by 5:00. The wind was blowing in the worst direction possible, right into the bedding area. I sprayed some dominant buck urine from my stand to mask my scent. I grunted, I canned, I rattled nothing. I was ready to get down and go home. Not even a squirrel chattered in the leaves. Once again, 6 o’clock came I started grunting like crazy. It worked last time. I hear something running on the other side of the creek. It was him. He took his sweet time getting to me too. He marked every tree and bush for 30 yards. His nose was in the air all the time. I thought I was busted, but he just kept on coming sniffing, marking sniffing and marking. I was having a heart attack. He was directly down wind of me. It didn’t matter. I seen the horns. I think that was the worst thing I could do. I needed to turn around in my stand. He was 25 yards away. I slowly turned to get a shot. His head comes up and our eyes meet. He stared for what felt like an hour. I closed my eyes andcollected my thoughts. When I opened them, he was still looking at me. He knew something was not right. He turned and started walking away. I finished turning and drew my bow. I can’t even remember looking through my peep. I shot, away went the Luminoc. I connected. I see him walk away with the red light coming from his butt. I was shaking so bad when I took the shot, I thought I hit him in the ham. I had to leave him alone. Climbing down, I thought about the doe I lost opening day. I was bumming walking out of the woods. I made some phone calls. I was going to look in the morning even though I thought the shot didn’t kill him. After a night of not sleeping, I woke up to rain in Sparta. I went to the scene anyway. Checking for blood, I found nothing. My heart began to sink. I didn’t find the arrow either. So, I began to start walking. I knew which direction he was headed and went that way. Still no blood anywhere. I was ready to pack it in and hope the deer made it, when out of the corner of my eye I see a little red light bright as the sun. I walk closer and it is still attached to the deer. I let out a scream. It was like Christmas morning. There he was dead at the base of a small oak tree. My first bow buck that I meant to shoot. A three and a half year old on Fort McCoy is a great deer. I was calling everyone. Who was going to help me get him out? The same person that has helped me with every deer I’ve killed, Pat Howard. I dragged him across the first creek and decided to go to the truck to wait for Pat. He was there before I even made it out with my gear. A true friend that has taught me so much about killing deer. We headed back into the woods and began the long track back to the truck. It took an hour at least. We registered it and the deer drew a crowd. This was one of my proudest moments. Now that it is all over, it’s time to get a couple of my friends their deer. Thank you Pat for all the help and support.