End of Season Race to the Finish.
This season has seen fewer days out on the chase than any other except for last year when i broke my leg early on. No medical excuses this year, just life getting in the way. I think i need to make some changes in my priorities going forward as getting too old to push this hard at the end of the season.
Finally managed a few afternoons free this week and took advantage by hunting a friends farm that historically has good late season numbers. His farm has a great hilly hardwood bush that backs onto a provincial park. The park he backs onto is a non-operating park that is a no-hunting zone so it always acts as a great reservoir full of deer that regularly spill out into his bush.
First day out last week was Wednesday after the big snow blow. I had gone out during the the storm a few days earlier and set some corn just off one of the main funnels that typically sees good traffic. That Wednesday donned my snow camo and with the climber went about 15 feet up a white pine on a West facing slope about 25 yards from the funnel and corn. My view from the climber:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...73761f43_k.jpg
At about 430 pm i spotted 2 does to the south making their way in and a spike coming in from the north. All three made it to about 40 yards when all hell broke loose as 8 coyotes appeared and the whole lot of them took off at light speed heading NW up the hill in the picture. I stayed in the climber until about 515 pm and than packed it in. On the way out i got my truck totally buried in a drift and spent 4 hours on my hands and knees digging it out. The spot it was in had a cross slope so every time i manged to get it free the dang thing would slide sideways and re-stick itself.
Was planning to head out again on the Thursday but as they say chit happens and didn't make it. That brings us to yesterday. Managed to get in place about 230 pm. Discovered i forgot both my leafy camo and my snow camo so went up the tree in black rain pants and a blaze orange parka. Not typical bow hunting attire but i have learned over the years camo is highly overrated and mostly just a marketing gimmick. I was in the same tree with the climber the difference being there was a lot less snow. Same view as Wednesday - but now mostly melted out:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...49356e4e_k.jpg
Just before 4 pm a buck and doe seemed to pop out of nowhere and caught me by surprise with my crossbow not any where close to being the right position. In hind sight i actually think the doe was probably a button buck as it was smallish and it seems weird for a buck and doe to be travelling together this time of year. With 2 sets of eyes and ears at 25 to 30 yards getting the crossbow up into position was tricky and was done incrementally over about 10 minutes. At one point the buck noticed something as his head snapped up and did the stare down - looking straight at me and stomping his right foot. I just held as still as possible and eventually he calmed and went back to the corn.
Finally got a broadside shot at 30 yards on the buck and let fly. He jumped, ran 30 yards than slow walked 10 yards and than stood still for 10 or fifteen minutes. He than walked 5 more yards and laid down. Clearly this was not a textbook hit so i decided to stay in the climber at least until full dark. Well at about 5 pm a loud siren sounded somewhere to the South of me and he jumped up and started running - i quickly lost sight of him. I got down at that point to look for the bolt and inspect the impact site.
The recovered bolt with good blood but missing the front insert and broadhead - clearly not textbook:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a24cb340_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1b5fc2eb_k.jpg
Also noted some blood at the impact site:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e4e2d43f_k.jpg
At this point i called my wife and told her not to expect me for a while and to put my youngest son (home for the holidays) on standby. She asked if i wanted the hound and i said no that would be tomorrow if i failed to find it tonight. Explained that i don't like to bring the dog in too early as if alive and the dog gets on it that deer is gonna run to the next county. I than called my friend who does my cutting and he said i could drop the deer anytime - late or early. I than popped open the one beer i had with me for just these situations when i have to hurry up and wait. I waited until 7pm and than slowly started looking from the last known position. I found this pretty quickly about 80 yards from where he first lay down:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fd7eb7b9_k.jpg
About 5 minutes after that i bumped him so pulled back to the truck and called my wife and told her to bring my son for 930 pm. At 930 pm we picked up the trail and slowly but surely figured out the trail. After bumping he headed NW into the park for about 1 km. He than started to head roughly NE and than SE more or less parallel to a river inside the park for another 1.2 km before finally piling up about 150 yards from a concession road that cuts through the park. Blood trail was at times easy and others almost non-existent. Snow was very patchy but when present very helpful. He was medium 8 pt and actually shed one side while we were dragging him out. My phone battery died somewhere along the line during the tracking job so i don't have any pictures of him as we dressed him on the spot and dropped him at the butchers on the way home.
Where he dropped close to the road was actually handy as that is the road my friend's driveway is on and not far from the truck. The tracking job actually ended much closer to my truck that where i was hunting. We found him about 120 am and were home just before 2 am. Also for those interested the shot ending up just nicking his heart but was actually mostly in the briskett. Still trying to understand what happened with the head and insert detaching from the bolt. Bolt was not cracked or split at all - just missing the the front insert and broad head.
