My hunt started Friday at Land Between the Lakes, but just barely. The US government shutdown caused all the campgrounds to close and we contemplated not even going at all. After finding out more info, we decided to try it. We set up camp in the early afternoon and hit the woods. I was hunting with my latest Osage bow. It is a 55ish number that I had built from a less than desirable stave a couple of months ago. My arrows, sad to say, were store bought. Three Rivers Hunter arrows tipped with 130 grain Zwickeys (I know, I know). I saw three deer that first evening, but all were 35-40 yds away. Saturday the weather turned nasty and prevented us from hunting until Sunday evening. I moved to a different location and again, saw several deer, but nothing came in range. Some of the other compound hunters in camp started bringing in their kills and started hacking on me for hunting "with that wood bow." I hunted morning and evening and time after time had deer come so close that I would start to tighten up on the string, only to have them turn off the trail or smell me and bolt, but never get in range. I was in contact with Clint (Osage Outlaw) and he offered encouragement, as he could tell I was starting to get flustered.
Tuesday morning I awoke to a stout breeze. My stand location on top of a ridge was not ideal for that amount of wind. I sat in my tree, rocking to and fro, and pondered my decision to give up modern achery. I could have killed several deer and ducked a lot of criticism at camp if I had just stuck to hunting with a whiz bang wheelie bow. Nah, it will all be worth it if and when I got my first kill. Then, it happened. Out of nowhere, there stood a doe, just looking at me in the tree. I drew slowly, conscious of the fact that the deer was probably a little further than my 20 yd maximum. I held just a fuzz high and let 'er rip. The deer tore out and from the sound of the impact and the way the deer ran, I knew I had a good hit. She was out of sight in an instant, and I heard no crash, so I immediately started second guessing myself. I climbed down and walked to where she stood. There was my arrow, soaked in blood and in two pieces. The blood was easy to follow and 40 yards away lay my prize. My first ever self bow kill. I have never felt such a sense of accomplishment hunting before. The shot hit her a little back (in between the last two ribs) but was plenty deadly.
Back at camp, the other guys went from looking sideways at me and my self bow, to high fiving and asking if I would make them one. It was like I had one-upped them somehow by taking a step back in time and doing it the hard way. I just continued smiling and wondered why some people see hunting as a competition.
I know it was only a doe and some guys on here kill with regularity, but it will be hard for me to top this. I packed up and made the long drive (5 hours) back home and got more great news. Clint had just arrowed his big 8 point!! Man, what a week! Me and one of my buds both getting a self bow kill the same week (though his was a tad bit bigger and more impressive, but just a tad). Awesome, just awesome.
