Saturday morning found my 11 year-old son and I climbing into the stand for his first achery opener. He’s rifle hunted with me for 2 years, and he’s sat with me in the bow stand before – but this was his first archery hunt. After increasing his draw weight throughout the summer, he’s pulling 36 pounds and shooting solid groups at 20 yards.
The stand we were sitting in (a spruce tree with two hang-on stands in it) is situated just walking distance from our yard and has a couple of trails that offer 15-yard shots.
As we settled into our stands and knocking our arrows, we heard “crunch, crunch, crunch”…a deer was approaching. No way. We had just walked in across dry leaves. Climbed the tree. My boy had dropped his flashlight out of the tree 30 seconds ago. But here it comes.
The deer was walking straight-on to my boy and was going to pop out of the brush at 15 yards. When it was at about 20, I whispered, “draw”. As he drew his bow, he STOOD UP. The deer froze. He was busted. After holding at draw for about 20 seconds, the deer trotted through the opening and froze. It was a little buck…I dunno – either a 6 or small 8…And there it stood, in another little opening. I estimated it at 20 yards and whispered “shoot 20”. He released and shot right over the deer’s back. The buck casually walked away. I ranged the arrow – 15 yards. Drat.
15 minutes later, we had a doe and two fawns come by at about 35 yards. They had been spooked by something, as they came in fast and left fast. The wind was right, so I’m not sure what happened there. Oh, well. It was exciting to see more deer.
With about 5 minutes to go before we had to end our hunt and make it to my boy’s football game, we hear “crunch, crunch, crunch” again. A yearling doe was approaching to his right. He quietly pivoted in his seat and drew just before she stepped out at 15 yards. I whispered “shoot 15”. He released and my heart sank as we watched his second arrow of the morning pin the ground just about the deer’s back. She didn’t alarm. She turned and stood – still at 15 yards – while she watched him nock another arrow. He drew and shot again. This time, she jumped the string and his arrow (again) missed high. She causually walked away, then circled back and came by at 20 yards. The brush prevented a shot.
Oh, well. He was beyond excited. And he spend the rest of the weekend practicing shooting. From elevation, from sitting. We took to the stand last night – sat from 5 to dark and didn’t see a thing. That’s okay, there’s a lot of season left!
. Nice job getting him out there and on some deer!