Florida Bow Hunting Report #6
Monday, Oct. 7, 2011
I needed to change things up a little after hunting the kill zone stand and walking in on some deer in the dark. After climbing into the stand the wind switched and a deer ran off blowing evey breath for as far as I could hear. I thought to myself, the cat is out of the bag now. I know I had been putting a little to much pressure on this stand.
I decided to make my next hunt at the pond stand. I was in the tree before shooting light and ready for action. There was some large cloud formations to the east that held daylight off just a bit but it finally got light enough to shoot.
The morning was going pretty slow but from the stand I could see the deer had been on the corn and a good bit of it was gone.
I was just about ready to put my gear together and climb down when I caught a little movement in the edge of the chop off to my left. I put the glasses on it and surprise! A deer. Slowly a young doe and two yearlings emerged from the gallberry and palmettos.
The doe, like most with yearlings, approached the corn very cautiously. I decided I would take a shot at the doe when she got right.
I was videoing the hunt and trying to keep the camera on the deer while preparing for the shot.
As the doe reached the 5th row that adjoined the corn she suddenly got real nervous and stopped and stomped her foot. She turned and started walking away. At 33 yds she turned broadside, I put the 30yd pin on her and launched a shaft. I did not have time to make sure the camera was on her, I may have missed the footage, I don’t know yet.
Well. The shot felt pretty good but it all went bad in an instant. The impact was low and back. The doe bolted off to the north and I sank into the seat…..How did that just happen? I just managed the dreaded paunch shot.
I really had my work cut out for me now. The bad part was the 60% rain chance that was forecasted for the day. I needed time to let the deer layup before taking up the trail. Really, 8 hours minimum but I was not going to get it.
I looked at the arrow sticking in the ground and there was no sign of blood, only stomach content. That pretty much ruled out any liver involvement.
I went to the house and picked up Lacy so we would be ready to hit the trail if the weather threatened. About the time we got to town it started to rain. It appeared to be isolated and there was no way the doe would be dead at this point so we had to bide out time.
At 1:30 I felt we could not hold off any longer and we headed to take up the trail. Lacy was ready to go. I leashed her up and away we went. Without a word spoken and with it already having rained once, Lacy pulled me straight to the arrow sticking in the ground. Incredible! She was on it. We pushed thru some palmettos to the edge of the chop and turned east. From there we moved along the edge of the timber to an old atv trail. The dog turned North and tracked down the road maybe a hundred yards, made a loose, turned back and found where the deer had gone in the bushes to the east. I feel the doe would have gone down the road like this but you have to believe the dog. That is the biggest mistake most inexperienced dog handlers make.
Lacy pulled me into some pretty thick cover and eventually up under some mature palmettos to a spot where a deer had bedded. I did not see any blood or stomach content on the ground. Lacy smelled around it and found where the deer had left there and in short distance she opened on the lead which is not a good sign. That indicates the deer is up and moving.
We kept going but all of the sudden the bottom dropped out of the clouds and the rain started to pour. The trail was starting to break down and we had to give it up. We tried to make a new start but it was useless. We headed for the truck with our heads hung low.
I am still torn as to whether we were on the right deer. We could have been on one of the yearlings, I guess we’ll never know. I convinced that the bed Lacy took me two was what she tracked away from the stand site. She never indicated she had lost the track.
Once this weather breaks I will try to see if the buzzards have found her. I would like to know what happened.
I wish I had better news but for a bow hunter, it is just a matter of time before you run into this same situation. It generally does not go well. I will try to shake this off and get back in the saddle but I have to say my confidence has been shaken after two clean misses and a cripple. I sure need to make a couple good clean kills before heading for the big Illinois bow hunt the first of November.
If there is some video to see on this I will post it when I can.
Larry
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