horst Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Kind of a long story but I just had one if the best hunting experiences Ive had in years tonight.It turned cold this week, the rut pretty well stopped about 1 1/2 weeks ago and the deer became very difficult to find, theyre not where they were before and I havent had one close in the last two days.Tommorrows the last day of bow season before shotgun starts and I was really hoping to fill my tag.I decided to drive around, locate a deer and try to sneak in close enough for a shot since I havent been seeing any where I usually hunt. The first deer I seen was a herd with about 20 does in it, theyre in a property I can no longer hunt but I knew about dark theyd sneak acrossed the road into a place I have permission for.With about two hours before they would come out I decided to check one other spot then I came back, there wasnt a deer in sight I couldnt figure it out at first as I drove past but soon I noticed a large string of does already in the property I had permission for, theyd came out early tonight.I drove about 1/4 mile down the road and pulled into the building site that sits there and could see them moving diagnolly across the field, then I noticed one harrassing the rear doe.Put my binocs on him and it was a real nice 10 pointer, about an 18 inch spread and tall tines.I sat and watched and soon it dawned on me I knew exactly where they were heading.Theres a bunch of public ground 1/2 mile into the section and theres a big standing corn foodplot in it, it was straight down the fence from me.I grabbed my bow and headed for it at a trot hoping to get there ahead of the deer and stay downwind of them. I got to foodplot and came over the top of the hill just as the deer reached the corner of the fenceline about 80 yrds in front of me, I tried to get into the corn but the deer had all the stocks busted off in that corner about 3 ft high, I couldnt move any further with that many eyers out there so I sat down and waited hoping a lone doe would wander up close to me.The buck was the last one over the fence and he was a real dandy up close, bigger then I had originally thought anyway. Then a problem came up, the deer continued down the fenceline untill they were all past e, then turned and headed for the foodplot about 30 yrds down from me, I couldnt do anything but watch from where I was in the short stalks and I wasnt far enough forward to get a shot. After the last deer cae into the standing corn I knew I had to move or they would be downwind of me in a couple minutes so I stood up and ran back to the south about 50 yrds and stopped.Nothing ran away, they still didnt know I was there.I started a slow crawl across the rows hoping to get into better postion to catch one of them off guard in the corn.Soon I could hear them pulling corn off the stalks and I headed towards that noise, it kept getting closer and louder and it was like a popcorn popper going off at times.Then I heard a new sound and stopped, I couldnt figure out what it was.Soon I realized the buck was grunting as he walked.I used that as a gauge to follow, he would grunt a couple times, Id crawl forward a few rows and stop, I proceeded like this for quite a ways and knew he was getting very close. I panicked a little, i couldnt shoot across the rowns and I knew it, I was much closer then Id ever really hoped to get, almost to close to do anything at that point.Then I saw the answer to my problems, there was a washout in the corn where it flooded a lowspot out this spring, it was a nice 30 yrd wide circle where the corn was stunted enough to shoot over.I headed away from the buck and towards the low spot, i could now hear him crunching the dried stalks as he walked.I got to the edge of the washout, and hung back in the tall stalks about 5 rows in, I could see a shooting lane through them and hoped he would come through it. I seen a ear twitch about 10 rows over then an antler move, it was him and he was only about 15 ft away.He had his down and was heading right into the washout slowly, I watched him and when he had about 3 more steps to go I slowly lifted my bow up and got ready to draw.The head was inb the lane but no soulder was visible, I decided to draw back.Thats when things turned bad, I bumped a cornstalk with my arrow and he froze, turned his head and looked right at me.About two senonds later he just dissapeared, one second he was there the next he was gone He left quietly and didnt bother the does, after a few seconds to pull myself together I decided a doe would do just fine at this point and continued to crawl forward.The popping got louder and soon I could see bits and pieces of deer, a ear here a tail there, scattered out all around me.There wasnt a good way to shoot and soon I started bumping deer.They really didnt know what I was crawling around though and none of them blew at me or raised much of a fuss.Theyd run out but only one or two at a time without the rest even knowing theyd left.I noticed they kept running out of the corn and cutting down the edge of it back past me.It was getting dark fast by this point and I decided there wasnt time to proceed with the crawling.I snuck down to the edge of the field and then ran across the rows, towards the remaiaing deer untill I heard one start running then ducked back into corn and knelt down.It actually worked fairly well, they ran out the end and cut back straight at me, I drew the bow and let them come.Unfortunately none of them even slowed down, they ran past about 10 yrds away and there was no shooting at them running at that speed. As the last deer got out of sight I stood up, two more that were in the corn still stepped out, then another one a little bigger came out of the grass from behind the hill.They didnt know what had just took place and walked back down the far edge of the corn to the south of me. I waited till all three were out of sight then walked down to the corner of the field, there they stood about 25 yrdfs down the row, I drew back and dropped to one knee, they seen me and went out the side of the corn, the first one went over the hill, the second one stopped behind some weeds 30 yrds out, and finally the third one stopped broadside 25 yrds away.I put the pin on her shoulder and let the arrow fly, I heard it hit as she was starting to turn to run .She dissapeared behind the hill before I could see where it hit so I ran up to the hilltop, she went 100 yrds and fell, got up, ran another 50 yrds to the fenceline and laid down.I watched till it was to dark to see and never seen her get back up, still unsure of the shot Im going to wait till morning to retrieve her. It was one of the most memorable hunts Ive had in a long time, I literally spent an 1/12 hrs crawling around in the middle of a herd of deer, had a P&Y class buck mere feet from me and ended the night with a shot from ground level connecting with a doe.Gonna be hard to beat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joebobhunter4 Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night great story. too bad you didnt get the buck but at least you got a big doe. congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night Too bad you didn't get a shot at the buck, but it sure sounds like you had an exciting night. Congrats on the doe too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night Awesome story! Way to go on the doe wish you would have gotten the buck. Can you still tag a buck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horst Posted December 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night I can get a buck late muzzlerloader season et but this was my only bow tag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_lou Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night That was a great story. Sounds like an awesome hunt even if you wouldn't have gotten a shot. Hope you get that doe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puffy Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night Awesome story Horst and great ending. Congrats on the doe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhunter91 Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night Cool beans!! Congrats on the doe!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night way to go horst! what a rush huh!!!!!!!!! How long did it take for the heart rate to get back to normal!!LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horst Posted December 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: What a night Went back out this morning, couldnt find any blood at first.Then I noticed something red lying in the grass, I was off my mark by about 15 ft, things look different in the dark Anyway it was half my arrow, after that I still didnt find blood for about 80 yrds, then I seen a spot, followed it 20 yrds and there she was.Turned out I hit the shoulder blade, the broadhead and about 10 inches of arrow went in but when she went to run the arrow busted off and musta plugged the hole up.Found her anyway and thats the important thing.For the last night Im gonna take my uncle out tonight and try to get him on a doe, almost as much fun as hunting yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Re: What a night Wow.. great story, i was with you the whole way. congrats on the doe. isnt it funny how them bucks are so lucky? Shoot Strong Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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