Florida Bow Hunting Report #5 - Oct. 7, 2011

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Florida Bow Hunting Report #5


Monday, Oct. 3, 2011

I hunted the pond stand this morning but it was a bust. The trail cam had pitiful few pictures on it. The deer activity has really gotten slow there.



I am expecting big things this week as the moon is coming around to putting the feed times at dawn and dusk. I have always found the best hunting to be on the quarter moon phase.



I headed for Cabbage Creek this afternoon to hunt my Kill zone stand. As usual, work made my arrival later than I wanted. The conditions were right but There was no deer activity for my effort.

Tuesday, Oct. 4
Lacy, my bluetick and I had cold camped so we could make the hunt this morning before heading for work. Again we saw no deer activity.

The deer activity on the trail cam at the Kill Zone stand has been good so that was the plan for the afternoons hunt. If I could keep hunting this spot undetected It would be just a matter of time before I crossed up one of the bucks using here.

Little did I know today would be the day. However, the outcome was not to be the one I was wishing for.

I had arrived late due to having to stop for gas, ice, food, corn, etc. all at different locations. I parked the truck, told the dog to stay, grabbed my gear and took off. I must have looked like a guy that just crawled out of another mans wife’s window. I was hustling down the road trying to don all my cloths.

When I got to the stand I tied off my bow and climbed into the stand. As I was pulling my bow up I started to hear a deer pushing thru the thick palmetto flat behind me. I hurried and knocked an arrow. The deer was making so much noise I knew it had to be a buck. I’ve noticed bucks seem to make a lot more noise than does and yearlings.

Well, after 6-8 minutes the buck finally hopped over some high palmettos with a crash into the back of an old cutover about 75 yds to the west of me. It was the little 5 pt I had missed the first weekend.

He walked over to a clump of small bay trees and started whooping up on them. He had them swaying back and fourth with a fever. It looked a little funny as there was no wind and at that distance, without the binoculars you could not see the deer, only the bushes moving. He would stop periodically and smell the limbs, even nip a bite or two off some edible plant besides. Finally, he started heading my way. He turned to start down a trail and I decided I would try to let him stop on his own if possible but he walked thru the first two spots without a pause. When he reached the exact spot I had missed him before I made a low bleat that got his attention and he stopped. I was at full draw, put the 30 yd pin on him and loosed an arrow.

When the arrow arrived and the deer bolted I heard a small ping and remember thinking I did not like the sound of that. The second bad sign was the way the deer was pitching high and slow through the thick. A fatally hit deer plows, he don’t pitch or high hop. When he reached the back of the chop he stopped and looked around, twitched his tail and slowly walked back into the thick palmetto flat. I had just missed the same buck for the second time, standing in the same exact spot! What the heck is going on here!! I can’t remember the last time I clean missed two deer in one season.

I later ranged the spot again and realized it was further than I had thought. It ranged 41yds and I thought it was 39. I figured the deer was a couple yards closer than the 39 as that was to the far side. I deducted 4 yds for the 20’ stand hgt. And put the 30yd pin mid hgt…..shot right under him and apparently the ping was his foot or knee hitting the shaft when he ran. Damn the luck!

Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011

I saw zero deer in the morning and the afternoon would prove to be only slightly more eventful.

The highlight for the afternoon was a rat in the palmettos below my stand. I was pretty convinced there for a minute that it might be an approaching deer. Being straight below the stand I could not course where the sound was coming from. Finally, I figured it out….just a rat.

Well, There was one other pretty interesting event. I had let Lacy out of the truck to smell around and relieve herself. I have to keep a close eye on her as you can imagine. I was getting my cloths on when I started missing her. I called…no Lacy, I called her again….no Lacy….crap! Now I’m yelling for her….no Lacy. I ran down the road towards the stand to track a sandy spot but could not make anything out. Back at the truck I cranked up and ran down the road to the high fence to glass down the straight a way…no Lacy.
I was already late before all this started and I could not waste any more time. I would have to catch the dog later. I parked the truck again and jumped out to grab my gear to leave. To my surprise, here comes Lacy down the road from the direction of my stand! My first thought was, she just tracked me to my stand looking for a blood trail. She has learned when I let her out that she can back track me to the stand and the head of a bloody deer trail. I have seen her do this countless times. Without a word said, she will pull me right to the stand without missing a step.

Lacy's butt on my trail cam!

Well, I scolded her for running off and loaded her up. The hunt was a bust. The next morning I hunted the stand again and when I was done I pulled the camera card. Guess who was on the camera in front of my stand…..Lacy! It had been over 10 hours since I left the stand, in about 12 minutes, Lacy had tracked me over a quarter mile right to the stand and the trail camera, got her picture taken, found there was no blood trail and came back to the truck! Pretty incredible. I learned a few things there. First, I had no idea I was leaving such an obvious sent trail. Second, what an incredible nose a dog (and deer) really have. You cannot over estimate it.

The smaller 7pt I've been hunting showed up about an hour after both Lacy and I had been there and it did not seem to bother him. He picked up corn for about 20 minutes before leaving. He didn't seem to be bothered by our stink. I've probably hunted it so much he thinks I belong there.

Wednesday’s hunt was not a great deal better. I saw half a deer in the morning cross the fire break up ahead of me 75 yds or so and in the afternoon I saw zip.

Thursday morning was a bust also and I did not hunt the afternoon hunt.

The season is about to slip away without me taking a deer. I did not think it was possible.

Larry

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-1

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Bow Report 2010: Florida

Sept. 18,19, 2010

Archery season opened this Saturday. Built arrows until 9:00 pm Friday night, got everything loaded in the truck and got in bed about 11:30pm. I drove over to hunt at the cabbage creek club Saturday morning. Hunted the kill zone stand. Nice morning, birds were active and singing and feeding well into the morning. About 9:30 I heard something pushing thru the bushes over my left shoulder. The ty-tys' are real tall there and all I could see was a top shaking. Turned out to be a 6-7" spike buck headed back to lay up for the day. He came right into the wheel house, 5 yds., picked up some corn and kept moving, off into the thick he went. I let him go thinking he was not a shooter but later that day I found out the club had changed the rule this year to 5" spikes min. from 3 pts min.

Well, I went back to the same stand that afternoon and had a nubbin buck come in. I shot a little footage of him and finally had to run him off to get down. About half way down the tree I heard a deer blow behind me that was headed my way. This stand is a buck magnet! It’s a lay-up stand and I see very few doe deer here. This spot is good for at least a buck or two every year. I’ll try to get around to some writing on what makes this particular spot so special in another post.

When I got back to camp Saturday afternoon, my ole buddy Steve had shot a real nice, tight horned 7pt at Keslemyers fence and already had him at the camp hanging by his hock. He made a great shoot and the deer fell right there and expired. It was a little strange though, the deer must have reacted to the shot and rolled over a little as the arrow had caught him mid height in the rib cage but ended up stuck thru the bottom of the spine so he got a lung and the spine. No tracking required and no follow up shot required. The deer had some decent fat on him also. Steve was sure proud of him.

We finished with the deer cleaning chore at about 10:15 pm and got ready to hit the rack. I decided I'd call my wife Tammie real quick and check in. When I looked at the phone there was a pile of missed calls from home. Huston we have a problem! I’ve been here before so when Tammie answered I immediately asked what’s wrong..... "Jessica's horse came down with colic and the vet had to put her down, I need you home in the morning as soon as your done hunting". If a dead horse in the front yard is not bad enough all the girls were a wreck! I guess this trumps hunting. I promised I’d get home early to take care of things and went to bed.

Problem 2; The tractor’s radiator is blown (and I have a dead horse to deal with)

I decided I had to go back to the “kill zone stand” come daylight. I’d hunt until 9:00 and head home to fix the tractor and bury the horse. Problem #3: I failed to factor in a poorly placed shot into the plan.

Steve and I loaded all our gear on the 4wheelers and headed out in the dark. It was actually a pretty chilly ride for bow season. The coolness gave me the feeling of a promising hunt. I climbed up to my perch and quickly got settled in. It was 6:30am and 30 minutes before decent light. I don’t usually get there quite that early so I need to thank Steve for that. As I was getting everything ready I heard a deer moving around in the old cut over bay, off to the South West. I could just make the sound out and it was to early for the birds to start so I was pretty confident it was a deer. About 6:45 I caught a little movement coming down a chop trail. I put the binoculars on him and immediately knew he was a racked buck! I really like these glasses. They are Nikon’s Monarch in 10x36. Excellent little glasses, very sharp and ideal in size. I have hunted with them for probably 4 years without issue and almost can’t stand to hunt without them.

Anyway, I was already standing and waiting on him when he showed. At 15 yds he stepped behind a short pine I had strategically left in the little clearing and I instinctively drew on him but he hung up behind the tree and I had to back down. Finally, he eased out. When he got sideways I eased the bow up and put a pin on him. Looked good, pin was lit and I could see the deer. I pulled the string and tried to line him up thru the peep. In the dim light I thought I was on the crease behind the shoulder but apparently I was mistaken. My brain was screaming shoot, shoot! I loosed the shaft and heard the arrow impact the deer. The buck lunged forward headed right at me and crashed off into the thick over my left shoulder. He plowed thru everything in his way for 45 yds and stopped. All of the sudden the thought came to me that the arrow impact had an odd sound that I had never heard before and I knew I did not like it. Except for that little issue everything was going exactly according to plan. Little did I know and this is truly what happened, I admit it…..apparently I shot the wrong end of the deer! It sounds pretty stupid as I’m writing it but that’s the truth of the matter, plain and simple. At this point I was not yet aware of this!

After about 10 minutes I decided I just had to find my arrow. Here’s where I become aware of problem #3. As soon as my eye spotted my fletching in the bushes I knew I had shot him back in the paunch. A bow hunters worst nightmare. My god I couldn’t believe it! How is that even possible I thought? How could I have blown a 14 yd shot so badly? I slipped over to where he went into the thick….nothing. You would never know a deer had ever passed there. I’ve been here before and it usually does not end good.

I pulled my boot out of my butt and climbed back into the tree to access the situation and make a plan.

Knowing this deer was going to require some time I decided the best thing to do was to leave him and go home and take care of the horse in the yard and return later with my tracking machine Lacy, my bluetick hound. I had to fight the urge to track this deer but with no blood and gut on the arrow that was just not an option. If you jump a deer in this situation and he is still strong, he will rocket out of there and chances of recovery are all but lost. If he gets to lay there a bit and his blood clots, when he's jumped and leaves there running there will be no visible sign to follow.

About 25 minutes after the shot I was still sitting quietly in the stand when I heard some noise in the bushes from where the crashing deer had stopped. I couldn’t be sure exactly what it was but I felt it was him lying down. I gathered my gear and slipped out of there as quietly as possible

Steve was in the next block about a third of a mile from me but I knew as soon as he heard my 4 wheeler crank that early, he'd know what was going on. I left him a short note at the camp, loaded up and headed for home.

I had a job with the tractor. The solder joints on the upper tank and failed and I had a heck of a time trying to get them soldered back together. Once I got it back in the tractor and got everything back in place the starter wouldn’t work. Finally, I got it going, loaded it on the flat bed and headed to the farm to get the loader bucket and finally got the horse buried.

I loaded Lacy in the truck and away we went, cautiously optimistic.

I had hyped Lacy up on the drive over so she was ready to find daddy’s deer when we got there. I put her on a long lead, packed the necessary equipment and down the trail we went. We had to cross the deer track on the way to the stand and you would have thought Lacy hit a brick wall! She immediately turned and started in the bushes where the deer had gone and I had to pull her off as I always want her to start at the head of the trail. I let her smell the arrow shaft and showed her where he was standing. It was obvious she could smell him and she started right in on the track. Down my walk trail and then a 90 to the left into the thick ty-tys’, palmettos and gallberry. In short order I was crawling on hands and knees. After a short distance there he was! Right where it sounded like he stopped. It was not a long track but it was an old one and Lacy never missed a step. Man was I proud of her. Honestly, I would have probably easily recovered him but it was another successful track and one of her oldest non-training tracks.

The deer was in a cool shady place and I believe we were able to salvage most of the meat. I took a few quick pictures and got him loaded and back to the truck. To get him on ice as soon as possible I skinned him on the ground right there and the deed was done.

I’ll post a little more on this technique later as this is something every hunter should know. Many times I have used this method along with a rubber back pack to pack a deer out and it’s the slickest thing you have ever seen. I was done and the deer was in the cooler in 15 minutes!

It was one of the best opening weekends and I couldn’t remember when Steve and I both harvested racked bucks in one weekend, pretty awesome!

If I could give anyone some advice after reflecting on this hunt, I’d say don’t rush a shot unless you really have to. Some times to be successful you have to make things happen but in this case the deer was feeding and in reality, I probably had time to wait on it to get a little lighter. The deer was fatally shot but surely not the death blow I was striving to deliver.

Funny how things work out.

Best of hunts,

Larry S.

Here's the glasses I use if you want to find out a little about them.
As I get a chance I'll put a gear list together of all the items and gadgets I use and recommend.