Quote History Quoted:
@Mach,
That makes a lot more sense, one opportunity per season would make it awfully tough. As I said earlier, I was hoping that was the case. around here "hunters" will just kill the first thing they see, a lot of them, and then piss and moan about no big deer and decreased numbers.
View Quote
Wow I just saw this from 3 years ago.
Yeah I have yet to take a second shot during any season. Some seasons I have no clean shots. I only take shots that I have a high confidence of a clean quick kill in the kill zone. Years ago I let a 12 point monster buck walk at only 5 yards and then again at 12 yards because I didn't have a clean shot on him. The angles just never lined up for a clean vitals shot. Hard to believe at such a close range, but when you are on the ground and he is 5 yards away and looking directly at you there is no way to draw a bow.
I do see lots of deer but that are either too far for a bow shot through the briar or it is close enough but not too many vines for a clean shot.
The year before this one my only shot was on a small buck ( I thought it was a doe , he was mostly obscured by thick briar ) that was stuck on the other side of briar and some small downed trees that he would not step over. He came down a trail out of the salt marsh that I had not noticed and wandered back and forth looking for a comfortable way forward for 45 minutes. There was a an 18 inch by 12 inch horizontally oval opening in the thick briar that he kept walking past ( I measured it later ). Every time he approached that small hole of an opening I drew. I was on the ground 20 yards away. He walked past it over 20 times. I grunted each time and he never stopped. I thought I might be able to put an arrow through that small opening if he stopped in the right spot. Then he actually stopped in back of that small opening, I quickly judged that the opening was lined up with a double lung shot and let an arrow fly. Arrow went dead center through the oval opening in the briar, and made a clean pass through both lungs and liver. He jumped, broke through the briar went 30 feet and collapsed DRT.
An hour later when I approached I saw it was a young button buck and felt bad. I never saw any antler or much of his head when he was behind the briar and had 2 doe and 2 buck tags, so I let it rip. I continued hunting for the rest of the season and never had another clean shot. That is typical around here. Lots of deer, very thick brush, no natural choke points and acorns everywhere. Where they come out of the salt marsh is anybody's guess. I choose to hunt the marsh / woodland boundary because everybody else hunts the established woodland where the trees are big enough for stands. I prefer no other hunters close by, no stands close by so this is where I go. It is much more challenging and I do pattern the other hunters and have seen other hunters and creating choke points that the deer go around. These guys have the same stands in the same spots years after years and the deer know where they are and most avoid them creating choke points for me. It is a great way to hunt, although very challenging. No trees big enough for stands, means I am out there by myself with a bow, on the ground and when I connect it is rewarding.