Pennsylvania Whitetail
Day 3
After a favorable wind shift, Jason and I decided to give the treestand from the first morning's hunt another try. Conditions were almost identical, except we felt the wind was now blowing in our faces enough to keep the scent from reaching any deer that chose the logging road as his trail up towards the bedding area. We were in the stand and settled well before good shooting light, waiting, watching, and enjoying the awakening of the morning. This has always been my favorite time of the day. There is so much anticipation and so many possibilities one never knows what to expect.
As our light increased we could see does and fawns out in front of us moving through the cutover area. They were feeding and slowly advancing up the hill towards where they would eventually bed, much the same as they had done the first morning.
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I spotted movement through the trees downhill from our location. A deer was moving up the logging road towards us but I could not tell whist it was. As he finally cleared the obstructions I could see he was a nice 2 year old ten point. Now as he got closer we would be able to test the wind direction to see if deer approaching up the logging road would spook. He continued up the road until he was only 35 or 40 yards away. With a slight swirling of the wind the buck became alert. He had caught a whiff of us, even though we had taken every precaution; bathing with scent elimination soaps, and full Scent blocker suits. I'm not saying these precautions don't help, but don't let anyone tell you can completely eliminate a deer's ability to smell you. Any animal that can smell on particle per million will detect even the slightest human odor.
Just as the buck reversed course I spotted a second buck coming up the road. It was the big nontypical from the morning before! I was certain we were going to have a repeat performance ending in both deer skirting our position. But, as the big buck began closing the distance on the younger buck, the younger deer moved off the logging trail. the big buck continued up the trail in a relaxed mood. As he got closer I felt the light breeze swing more in our favor. I had, by now, indicated to Jason that I would indeed take the shot and had my bow in hand with release attached to the string. There was on opportunity to stand as the deer's angle during his approach presented to great a risk that he might spot me. I pivoted in the seat as much as possible to get the best possible position from which to shoot. the giant, black antlered buck kept moving in, forty, then thirty yards. Screened by branches there was no shot opportunity as he now stood testing the breeze. I was confident he would continue up the trail as the wind still favored us.
For some unexplainable reason he exited the logging road and began making his way up a side trail leading into the thick cutover. This was not expected! I quickly found the only opening he might pass through and came to full draw. My only choice was to wait with my pin centered on this opening hoping he would step into it. If he did, I would release the arrow as I saw his shoulder pass in front of my pin. I concentrated on the opening trying to envision his progress as he moved in the direction of the small opening.
The first thing I saw was his rack as he approached the hole with his head down. My heart jumped as I saw he would pass right through the small hole that would allow me to take the shot. Within a split second his shoulder was in front of my pin And I touched of the release. I remember the flight of the arrow as it streaked to the target. As it contacted the deer he lurched forward and ran up the hill. I knew the shot was good and tried to follow the buck. He stopped about forty yards form where he had been hit and, almost immediately became wobbly. Within seconds he was down ... within sight of us!
Jason who had been as busy with the video camera as I had been with the bow, and who always gets as excited during one of these encounters as I do, was perfect in every aspect of the segment. Later review would show that he had captured not only the deer's approach and the impact of the arrow, but had pulled wide at the moment I drew the bow and had then gone back tight on the buck in time to capture a perfect "over the shoulder" kill on tape!
We "high fived" and relived the moment in quiet whispers as we each expressed everything we had been feeling from our different perspectives, each with our own set of worries about what could go wrong as the big buck approached.
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My first inclination was to climb down immediately to go see the buck. Then I realized the morning was young and it was now Jason's turn to hunt. It would be foolish to waste the best part of the day recovering a deer we knew was down, so we stayed in the tree for another hour and a half. Although we saw some other deer nothing older than two years old passed within eyesight of our stand. Finally I could take it no more, and we vacated the tree to go and view my buck.
This buck was all anyone could ask for, a dark antlered non typical with great balance on each antler. His typical points were well matched on both sides, as were his nontypical points, making for what I consider the most attractive of racks. I don't know what this buck had been rubbing on but his rack was stained about as dark as any rack I have seen. We again relived the final moments of the hunt before heading off for the truck, and to pick up Richie and Bryan Hawkins.