Eric and Tommy came to the farm with two purposes - to drop off the RV and get in some archery hunts. Since we have some construction going on to expand the "Elk Room", Eric offered to leave his rig at the farm for some spare bedrooms during construction. They arrived on Friday evening.
Touring Timber Stand Work Area
We also did some touring.
And there might have been a few naps.
Eric wanted to check zero on his 44 mag before gun season.
Tommy got a chance to shoot that thumper and I confirmed zero on my 45-70.
Tommy also was shooting "lights out" with the 22.
The remnants of a hurricane were passing thru so we were expecting some rain.
The forecasts kept changing.
Work in progress on Monday on the room expansion.
Van, Donnie and crew weren't wasting any time.
The mice have reappeared in the cabin and we're deploying a new countermeasure.
Some of the mounts had to come down for the construction. Loss of bedroom capacity.
The seasons are just starting to change - these are ripe persimmons.
Some shed deer hair along the driveway.
Turkeys visiting us at the kitchen window during breakfast.
Tommy got ready for the hunt and was shooting the crossbow perfectly.
Friday night I hunted the driveway and Saturday I hunted the pond. Both nights I saw lots of does and young bucks. Saturday, Eric and Tommy went to the driveway and had does and young bucks but not the perfect shot opportunities.
Sunday morning, Eric was up and out early and had good action in the barn stand. Tommy and I had leisurely start and hit the pond stand. We saw some turkeys.
We had rain during the afternoon - a good drenching. As it was letting up, Tommy and I went to the driveway stand. We knew that Jeff was coming by to drop off a machine for work on Monday. When he went down the driveway, it caused some deer to move and they came into our field after he left.
We had a mature doe come into the field and pose perfectly at 34 yards. I got Tommy the crossbow and he got set up. He was patient and waited for exactly the right time and then he took the shot.
I watched the lumenok fly and the shot looked perfect. It disappeared into her chest and then I couldn't see it anymore. She reacted, turned and ran past us on our left. She stopped right at the tree line on the atv trail and seemed to wobble. Then she walked slowly out of sight.
That was at 6:35 and last light wasn't until 7:34. I told Tommy that we had to give her time. We would reload and just wait in case some other opportunity arose. It was a tradeoff to wait versus getting down to track with light. We were so confident of the hit that we had no problem waiting. I told Tommy that I was 95% sure she'd be laying just inside the trees. There was no sign of the lumenok in the field but I've had them bury in the thatch before.
Tommy took the shot and he was really confident about it. I wasn't as sure about this one. It looked low to me and maybe right at the brisket/leg intersection. The buck immediately turned and sprinted the opposite direction of the doe. He went uphill, across the driveway and into the 6' high grass in my prairie plot. He really demonstrated no evidence of being hit and once again the luminok wasn't visible at all.
While we were waiting, other deer came out in the field. We had does and a young fork horn that we called Dumbo out in the clover. Shortly after 7:00, a six point appeared and went to the head of the atv trail. He seemed to be scenting the doe. He turned and came out into the field and went to almost the same spot as the doe had been.
Tommy and I couldn't believe how lucky we were. This was a perfect first buck. I ranged him and got 39 yards. I told Tommy to use the 40 yard pin and he got set up. This photo (taken the night before) may be that buck .
We had good visibility of both animals after the shot and there were no arrows left in the animals. It was passthrough or miss. At this stand, the shot is almost horizontal due to the field slope and an arrow can bury completely under the clover.
We couldn't believe our luck. First doe and first buck on the same night. We sat for about 20 minutes and then used the last bit of light to go to the impact spots and look for arrows or blood. We didn't find either.
Tommy wanted to go after the buck but I knew he needed time (if he was hit). It had been an hour since the doe was shot so we started on the trail. We messaged Eric to get lights and come meet us. He was still in stand so it would be a little while.
Tommy and I went to the head of the atv trail and immediately picked up good blood. It was bright and looked like lung blood and there was a lot of it. We got out Iphones and used those lights. We had no trouble staying on the blood trail as she went down the atv trail and then turned off into the brush. We were probably 50 yards behind the stand when Eric showed up with more lights and tracking tape. It was pitch dark and getting misty/foggy.
We stayed on the trail and didn't have too much trouble tracking it. Occasionally when she turned, it took us a few minutes to pick it back up. We found spots with chunks that looked like lung.
She crossed back across the atv trail and headed downhill. It was a little slow and tedious but we had no trouble staying on the track. By now it was about 8:30 and misty/foggy/drippy. We got to a point where the blood trail was thin and I just beamed my light up to look ahead. I could make out an upended tree stump/roots where a large tree had gone over away from us and left a hole at the base. Laying in that hole in the fog, I picked up the reflection of two eyes and I eventually made out two ears above it. She was bedded 20 yards in front of us and her head was up. I told Eric and Tommy to stop, we watched for a minute, watched her ear move and decided to back out. She never stood up while we could see her. At that point, I called it and said we'd give her the night. Hopefully she'd be in that bed in the morning.
We went up to take a look for the buck. We found nothing in the field - no blood and no arrow. Tommy had marked where he entered the prairie plot to the left of a cedar. We searched for sign and found none. We drove around the perimeter of the prairie and flushed about 6 woodcocks. I got this shot before this one took off.
The prairie plot was ridiculously thick and there was nothing we could do at night. At about 9:00, we called it and went in to resume in the morning.
This photo of Dumbo is from the spot on the atv trail behind the driveway stand where the doe crossed and headed downhill.
Tommy was hugely disappointed. We went from what he thought was two "sure things" to uncertainty and a restless night.
We were up before light and out there as soon as it got light enough. We had taped the whole blood trail on the doe and had no trouble going right to the stump hole where she had been bedded. We couldn't believe it but she wasn't there and we couldn't find blood. Eventually in the cup of leaf we found pooled water with some blood residue in it. But I expected a major blood/clot deposit and there was nothing.
It was wet but not raining. I didn't think it had rained much overnight. It is unbelievable that if she was the wounded doe in that bed, that she didn't leave more sign. She had leaked a ton of blood getting to that spot and I don't know how she could have been bedded there and; 1.) got up from there after not moving with us talking within 20 yards and, 2.) not left any sign of having been bedded there or on the move from there.
The three of us did a search of the area from that bed down to drainages in all directions and found nothing. No doe. No blood. No sign.
It was hard but we gave up and turned to the buck. Tommy was crushed. On the way out, I followed our flagged trail and found almost zero blood along the trail we had marked. Did it rain more than we thought? Or was that fog/mist/condensation enough?
We started at the impact point again on the buck and we found nothing. We followed the assumed path out of the field, across the driveway, up the bank, past the cedar and into the prairie plot. Nothing. Eric flew the new drone. Looking straight down on the 6 foot tall grass was our only chance. If a buck went over in that, it had to mat down a sizeable area. We saw nothing by drone, on foot or by Ranger.
My conclusions are:
a.) The doe was a fatal hit. It is unbelievable that we didn't recover her. I measured the blood trail via map app and got 264 yards from impact to the bed. It was a continuous, substantial, bright blood trail. We saw her bedded 2 hours after the hit and she didn't stand or move with us moving and talking at 20 yards. I can't explain the absence of body or sign in daylight.
b.) The buck was a miss or possibly a minor clip to brisket or leg. Tommy was initially confident but later thought he might have been on the 30 yard pin instead of the 40. That makes sense for what I saw and how he reacted.
For a first hunt, we went from being ecstatic at the amazing opportunities to optimistic after the shots to extreme disappointment at the outcome. It was quite an experience. What would you have done differently?
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