So I have been archery hunting mule deer for 8 yrs. I have had success but it always depended on how much effort I put into it. I work on a large farm so I have a good layout of private land to hunt. With that we have some pretty good bucks. So my goal this year was to get a nice 4 point buck. I scouted all the likely spits that I had seen good deer in the past and found 3 shooters before the season started. I was in Idaho visiting family while the season started and by the time I got back with work meetings ect, I only had 3 days to get a good buck down. The first day I drove around trying to find the bucks again, I did get a good stalk in but I didn’t find the one I wanted until just before dark. This was on Friday and I wasn’t going to be able to hunt again till Tuesday. So on Tuesday I head to the farm and start my scouting (checking deer herds). When I get a call that an employee got in an accident and needed to take him to the ER! Well I took care of my employee and luckily he only needed 4 stitches! So I’m back at it at 11:30am, kinda discouraged that I didn’t watch any bucks bed, heck I didn’t even get time to glass any bucks. So I went to the canyon where I had seen the target buck. So I started down into the canyon with the plan of taking a few steps and glassing with my binos every bush, sagebrush, and Koch is patch to see if I can see anything before it sees me. It was a slow process but I was happy to be out hunting. At one point I was classing and I hear the brush behind me explode and 80 yrds away a nice 4x4 buck runs out of the kochia weeds and runs out of my life! After a personal scolding I slowed down and vowed to be more careful. Fifteen min later I spotted a doe, I sat down by a sagebrush and started glassing to see if I could find something else. When all of a sudden I see horns looking at me! I was speechless, I was part way up the hill from the bottom of the canyon so I held still till he moved behind a sagebrush. Then I started moving down to the bottom of the canyon trying to get closer. He was in and out of sagebrush moving toward me, several times I thought I was busted but I just held still and he kept moving. It got to a point that I knew when he came out from behind the sage brush he would be close enough to shoot @40 yrds. I can shoot 40 and practice at that range all the time so I was feeling confident. When the moment of truth came I pulled back, he moved out of the sage and I settled on his vitals and shot. I did not see the impact but I did hear it. He ran out to 88 yrds, I do not feel comfortable at that distance but he’s already wounded (I can see the blood on his side) so I knock another arrow and send it. This one hits him in the back leg, he comes closer to 50 and I shoot him again. At this point he moves off into brush I can’t shoot through and I have 1 arrow left to finish him if needed. I start trailing him and find him bedded in a thick stand of phragmities (noxious weed). It’s so thick I could only see part of his horn with my binoculars(I was only 10 yards away from him). He died in that thicket and then the work started. I was sick my first arrow wasn’t perfect, looking back I could have practiced more, or tried to calm down. But I learned many valuable lessons that I will improve for next time.
Gear:
Bow- Hoyt Charger 2013, 29” draw, 70 lbs
Arrows- Black Eagle Outlaws 300, 27.5” long with 3 Aae Max Stealth vanes and a 42 gr brass insert up front, 463 gr total arrow weight
Broadhead- Grimm Reaper Micro Hades pro 125gr ( these heads performed great! In fact the one that went into his hind leg broke the offside leg bone. All 3 arrows were pass through)
Lessons learned
1- I need to be better at shooting my bow! My first 2 shots weren’t killing shots. Which I feel terrible about. I wasn’t expecting my adrenaline to be that bad.
2-Patience and a plan pays off
3- I need a new pack!!
Luckily I only had to pack it out 1/2 mile.
Gear:
Bow- Hoyt Charger 2013, 29” draw, 70 lbs
Arrows- Black Eagle Outlaws 300, 27.5” long with 3 Aae Max Stealth vanes and a 42 gr brass insert up front, 463 gr total arrow weight
Broadhead- Grimm Reaper Micro Hades pro 125gr ( these heads performed great! In fact the one that went into his hind leg broke the offside leg bone. All 3 arrows were pass through)
Lessons learned
1- I need to be better at shooting my bow! My first 2 shots weren’t killing shots. Which I feel terrible about. I wasn’t expecting my adrenaline to be that bad.
2-Patience and a plan pays off
3- I need a new pack!!
Luckily I only had to pack it out 1/2 mile.
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