Favorite Hunt if all time (Antlerless only)

[bushwhacker1975]

Share a story that doesn't include antlers just a good ol hunting story where it meant more then horns

 

[Jpsmith1]

OK, I'll play.

2011. I had just picked my early 90s bow back up the year prior since I was off a couple weeks in October for a hernia surgery.

Prior to the season, I actually had done a little scouting (SHOCKER!) and set a stand along a travel route.

Opening morning was cold, a little drizzly and I dang near fell out of the stand because I think I had nodded off a bit before MommaDoe gave her warning snort right under me. MommaDoe and DaughterDoe did not mess around. They bounded off into the brush behind me, never to be seen again. ButtonBoy, did not have as the good sense of his female relatives and hung out directly behind me about 25 yards.

No rangefinder, no nothing but XX78 arrows and a prayer, I let one fly with my 20 pin.

I didn't see the impact, I didn't have the presence of mind to take note of all the little things that you need to watch and listen for during and immediately following a shot with a bow. Neither did I wait patiently and allow the animal the time needed to expire. I nearly ran to the area where the deer was standing, found bright red splashes of blood and began tracking through the damp greenery.

A couple minutes later, I found ButtonBoy, dead as a stump with a 3 blade hole as cleanly through his heart as if I'd intentionally placed it there. The picture clearly shows just how small he is compared to the 28" arrows and old Martin Black Panther bow (I am about 98.7% sure)

 

[bushwhacker1975]

awesome every harvest is great!! bet he tasted amazing !!!

 

[BoogerCounty]

When my wife and I first started dating, she immediately took an interest in hunting, fishing and spending time outdoors with me. What started off as her tagging along when she could so that we could spend more time together, quickly turned into her showing a deep interest into starting to be able to do it all her self. I have always been appreciative of her willingness to learn and improve to the point that she can hunt alongside me, and be involved in every step of the hunting process.

This particular hunt was a culmination of all of her years of making herself into a hunter. She had spent years building up the confidence in her archery, climbing, scouting, hiking, etc skills to be able to have her own out of state whitetail tag. We headed to our neighboring state to hunt public land white tails for 10 days. She scouted, picked her spots, prepared and hung her hunting set ups. For the better part of the week, we dealt with the hunting pressure, changing weather conditions, low deer density that make chasing these creatures so challenging.

On the next to last morning, she had a doe come down the trail she was hunting over. She patiently waited for a good shot, and was able to get an arrow through the doe! Our excitement through our shared text messages was short lived, as when she went to retrieve her arrow, it was covered in dark blood, and had the distinct smell of a shot that was too far back. She quickly was able to lean on all of the questions she had asked over the years, and knew to immediately back out and not risk pushing a wounded animal.

We spent the next 8 hours waiting, replaying, doubting and dealing with the sinking feeling that most bowhunters experience if they have been hunting very long. After 8 hours, we went back to her area, and she immediately picked up the blood trail. She tracked blood for 200 yards, and pretty quickly found her harvest, dead in her first bed!

I never even drew my own bow back on this trip. But that one public land doe will forever be a favorite memory of mine, and a reflection of countless hours spent with my bride in the great outdoors, doing something that we both love!

 

[BigMiss]

This will be a long one, but I love this memory so much I figured I'd share in full detail for those interested.

We hunt a spot during gun season that requires a 5 mile rip upriver in the boat. It was an afternoon sit, and we got there a bit late due to the Vikes/Bills 2022 OT game. I was with a buddy (Brother in law) who is a late-onset hunter. He'd had limited shooting experience at this point, and had never shot a big game animal.

We park the boat, creep into our spots, and set up. It's a small public piece, but it holds a lot of does due to bedding cover and forest floor browse. It's a gamble with how far you want to push in to avoid bumping deer, so we always end up within sight of the boat. After clearing the thick browse closer to the river, it opens up into some large pines and oaks. There's a little rolling elevation to it, so if you choose a good spot, you have good visibility from the ground. With the rifles, we don't bother bringing the saddles.

I'm about 200 yards from the river, buddy is about 80 yards past me, both sitting in lawn chairs. Things always seem to happen fast there, and I soon hear some very angry does blowing at us. I scan over to my buddy, who is frantically stuffing his phone back in his pocket, but it was too late. We were in overtime at that point and the game was crazy, and he can't scan the woods while glancing down for each play. This was minutes before Josh Allen fumbled in the end zone, so I don't fault him too much, but I did send a WTF text.

About 15 minutes later, another group of 5 or so does/fawns came through at a good pace. The deer here for whatever reason always come in hot. I am not sure why that is - bumped by bucks in the rut, river carries scent in odd ways? Every year they come trotting in, and I can't figure it out.

He was ready this time, and when they were about 40 yards from each of us, he shot the lead doe. She and one of the others ran right to me and stopped. I could see that she was gut shot, maybe liver too, but she was about 5 yards from me, and confused as all get out, so I stepped a good step to the right to make sure he was clear and shot her frontal from max 15 feet. She flopped, and the other doe just stared at me, standing about 5 yards further to my left. I rechambered the old .270, and set a 150 fusion into her lungs too. After buddy had figured out I dropped both, he turned around to engage the final snorting deer that was about 60 yards behind us. He shot that one, and it ran a short ways and hit the ground, trying to keep going but wasn't getting anywhere.

We quickly met in the middle, exchanged "holy shits" and went to his 3rd deer, which was still moving around, also gut shot. I instructed him to go finish it off, not really realizing that I should have said to either slit its throat, or shoot it in the neck/head. I wasn't thinking in the moment that 40 yards is one thing, but shooting point blank or bleeding one out isn't really the most 'stomachable' way to finish your first deer. Well he walked up to that button buck and put a .308 round right into the front shoulders of that damn 80 pound deer. We didn't get much grind from those shoulders at all.

I gave him some shit about that, but at the end of the day, we got 3 deer in about as many minutes, and no tracking was needed. We drug them to the bank and hopped in the boat. It was just past dark, and he'd left his wife at home with a toddler and a 2 week old, so we were getting some texts I'm sure most of us have gotten. No worries wife (my sister,) we're 30 minutes from home. Due to our delay, we planned to gut the deer at his place, just a few minutes from the landing.

Boat fires right up but we cannot get the damn thing in gear. WTH! We start trolling down river while I take apart the throttle with the tip of my knife. I don't know shit about boats, and can't figure it out. Nothing appears to be wrong, it'll rev in neutral, but when you pull the switch to throttle into gear, the throttle jams up and won't move. We both look at things and cannot find the issue. We troll as fast as we can, and the current is with us (thank god because trolling into the current we barely clear 1mph) but it's taking forever to make progress.

We crack open a Busch Apple (best post hunt fall beverage) and reminisce on the hunt while coasting back to the landing. We did figure out that if we start the motor and throttle up a little, the jet propulsion throws enough water that we were able to hit about 5mph with the current. It took us about 2.5 hours to get back to the landing, and by now his wife was pretty pissed (rightfully, as I'd convinced her to let us go on a "quick" evening hunt and we'd leave for the landing at sundown.)

I gutted and skinned all three deer in his shop that night while he did damage control. He came out to help once the storm had passed.

After the next summer of flawless use from the boat, we assumed the cable had gotten iced up in the below-freezing temps. That next year, we went to go up the river again and couldn't get it into gear trying to leave the landing. We were confused and attributed it to cold temps playing havoc with something to do with the throttle cable. I dug into it that day and found the aluminum cable housing/shroud where it connects to the motor had broken, so it was just kinked up and needed to be straightened out with a pair of pliers to let the cable slide. I have no idea why it only happened in below-freezing temps, but it's been flawless since.