Dec 1& 2
First day of bow Season! So happy that the rifles are away until predators and that most people are out of the bush. We decided to go out for an afternoon /evening hunt with the kids. The bush was alive with deer, we seen over 30, but we also didn't realize that the weather was taking a turn that night.
While we were driving out we noticed a doe bedded down only 15 yards off the bush road. So We stopped and backed up to get a better Look at her. As we were backing Up She got up, and when we stopped she ran...taking her boyfriend (that we hadn't seen) with her. And he was big! Kyle tried following them but The snow Was horrible for stalking. Frozen, thin lcy snow. So we continued On. We found lots of does and fawns through out the day and even some spike and 2 point bucks. We came upon a doe that had no concerns or worries About us, I hummed and hawed whether I wanted to shoot another doe. Finally I decided. I Walked back to where She was and ranged her at 20 yards, pulled back and let my arrow fly. Missed. She had taken one step side ways and my arrow just missed her, scared her though. She jumped straight up in the air and walked off. I went down and found my arrow, not a spec of blood. I Walked back up to the jeep and we Continued On to where we had plans on going. We got to the clearings and parked. We sat and glassed for a little while. We soon found a group of about 5 or more does And fawns. The clearing has a lot of high brush and clusters of Christmas trees so we thought we Would walk down the road thru the clearing. We made it almost to the end of the Clearing when I seen movement out of the Corner of my eye, A buck. He was on the trail of a hot doe and didn't take notice to us. When l finally got Kyles attention he had moved into a patch of Christmas trees. I motioned to Kyle where he Was heading. He tried as quietly as he could to get ahead of the buck. The buck beat him out of the trees and stopped at 60 yards, he now noticed he wasn't alone. Kyle pulled back and let an arrow fly. I heard the smack and he was down within 30 yards. Kyle was ecstatic. It was his biggest buck with a bow. I ran back to get the jeep and brought it down, then helped him drag the deer over.
The next morning Pheonix had school, so we decided to go out after we dropped her off. Well, we woke up to a blizzard. We drove all the bush roads trying to find some sign of life in the woods. Nothing. I was getting pretty frustrated and even more so after receiving 2 phone calls(one from city bylaw) that our one dog was barking non stop. So i was annoyed, frustrated and feeling defeated for the day. As we were heading out to go home, we turned down one of the side roads off the bush road just as a detour. Off in the distance Kyle sees a buck. The only living thing we had seen all day, and it was a buck. He was heading away from us so I jumped out and tried to cut him off. He was heading towards another spur road so I headed down that, thankfully the snow was soft and deep from the snow storm, cushioning my footsteps. I managed to catch up to him just after he crossed the spur and he stopped broadside 45 yards from me. I quickly pulled back and let my arrow go. I hit him perfect height but he took a small step forward so my arrow hit him a little further back then I wanted. I followed him a little bit and seen he was bleeding so I backed off and went to the jeep. It was getting close to having to pick up Pheonix do we decided to let him have a couple hours to die. Kyle took me home so I could get Easton some lunch and pick up Pheonix and he headed out to find my deer. It didn't take him long to find him, but he did go quite a distance. He was a tough one. By the time I got back to the house with the kids he was on his way home with him. We loaded the kids up and went out so we could get pictures and clean him out. I was pretty happy, my day definitely turned around. He is my first archery buck and my biggest overall.
