| PA Archery Season 2007 |
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| Thursday, 25 October 2007 06:31 |
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The warm weather has made this an archery season different from other seasons in recent memory. Usually by October 1st things are starting to cool down nicely and we enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Not this year! We have seen very little deer movement in comparison to past seasons. Hopefully, things will turn around and we get to enjoy fall and things pick up hunting-wise. We have had a few encounters but we had no idea things would play out like they have!
Opening morning of buck season was one of the more interesting days. I passed on a 2 1/2 year old nine pointer at first light on opening morning thinking surely I could do better. My partner passed on a six pointer and a small eight pointer as well as numerous does. It was too early to end the season and we were hoping to do better. For days after the opener, sightings were sparse. We were hunting our normal stands up in the hardwoods that had always produced for us in the past. However, not much was going on during daylight hours. Our landowner friend kept telling us he was seeing deer every evening in his front yard and one of those was a big buck. He knows what he is talking about regarding big bucks as he has taken several whoppers in his career. He described this buck as "big and heavy." We have several stands around the house but prefer the solitude and hunting feel of the hardwoods. However, it was time to make a switch! On October 15th, I was late getting there due to problems at work. I wasn't able to get in the stand until after 4:45PM and didn't really expect to see much. At 6PM, I was glassing the cover and there was the big buck. He was standing there surveying the yard. He came out and came across the yard into the piece of cover I was in. He kicked out a couple of does that I hadn't seen. He decided to check out one of the does who was standing in one of my shooting lanes. My heart started pounding as I knew the shot was coming! I drew the bow and waited until he turned broadside. Just as I released the arrow, he took two steps backward and turned to leave. The arrow just cleanly grazed across his chest. I couldn't believe it! I missed! How could I miss that shot? He jumped straight up in the air and ran over towards me and was 5 yards from the base of my tree. I got a real good look at him and judged him to be a 145"-150" eight pointer. He was truly "big and heavy." He was frantically trying to locate where the disturbance came from. I couldn't move because he was right there. He started to move away a little so I popped another arrow out of the quiver and got it on the string. By that time he was downwind from me, got my scent and bolted away into the thick cover. I was so shocked that I didn't get him but the experince was fantastic. My heart rate must have been off the chart. When I was younger, I wouldn't have handled this very well. I would have brooded for months and been hard to live with for weeks. Anymore, I just take it as part of the game and truly enjoy the experience. Hopefully I'll see him again sometime! Well, it's off to Illinois for a bow hunt with Dale Carter. Hopefully I got the misses out of my system! |
