I found this story interesting enough to share,still have hope with great folks like these two old timer's that lend a hand to a young hunter.
Story;
Starts with a young high school boy named Logan from north dakota,who had the desire to learn to hunt,both archery deer and bird hunting but family and friends didn't hunt so Logan reached out on a north dakota outdoor site much like our MNO.
first a land owner responded with a place to hunt once he deemed young man was for real,interview on the phone followed,this land owner has always encourage young hunter's to come hunt his property loaded with white tail deer that have not sucumbed to the EHD virus and his county is still open for white tail deer hunts.
So Logan squrrield away enough money to purchase a compound bow,no arrows.hunting cloths and now has a place to hunt.
Then another local well known archery hunter chimed in,a complete stranger offered to mentor Logan,mentor has a archery range and plenty of archery knowledge to get Logan started,mentor gave Logan 5 arrows 125gr arrows to practice with to start,practice,set pins at 20,30 and max 50yds has draw weight was only 50lbs.I (snow)got so excited as this hunt unfolded I felt like it was my hunt.
Next meeting the land owner,a complete stranger who had blinds.stands all setup and numorus deer on trail cams.
Logan and his Dad (dad was observing the hunt)arrived at Fort KDM (land owner) at around 5:30am. I (KDM) of course, had been up for over 2 hours by then as I was so excited and nervous for this hunt I couldn't hardly stand myself. We discussed the hunt and how the blind was set up. What to expect and a few pointers on hunting in general. We headed to the stand at around 6:35am and I got them situated and ready. I was hoping for a call right at daybreak.
Then the phone call~
From the other end I heard those MAGIC word I had been longing to hear. "I Took A Shot!" My heart jumped. I told Logan to stay put, quiet, and enjoy the moment. I would be up there in 30 minutes or so. got ready, and headed up to the stand. I found Logan and his Dad still in the stand and proceeded to ask a bunch of questions about the shot. Things like "Did the deer jump and the shot?" "Which way did he run?" "How did he run?" "What did you hear after the shot?" "Was the arrow still in the deer?" Logan was having difficulty remembering all these details and we talked about how important these details are to figuring out what happened. He got the picture and said "I was so excited that I didn't pay attention to those things." I smiled and totally understood.
It was during these questions that Logan mentioned the word "HE". I realized he had shot a BUCK!!! I was ecstatic! I was hoping he would be able to get a shot at horns. I told Logan and his Dad that I would look for blood and that they should be looking ahead of me for the deer. We discussed the why's and what for's about the importance of looking ahead and being quiet during a tracking job. We started at the impact point where I looked for the arrow more so than blood. I didn't find the arrow, which I took for a good sign. Logan described pretty well where the deer had run, which was great for a young hunter. I didn't find any blood for about 20 yards at which point I found the arrow. Here's where things went south a bit. I looked at the arrow and there was NO BLOOD on the broad head or the first 6-8 inches of the shaft. HMMMMM.... There was however, good blood on the last half of the shaft and all over the fletching. Here is where I found WHITE HAIRS on the fletching. NOT GOOD. White hairs means belly or low brisket. Logan, his Dad, and I discussed what the arrow was telling me and why. Logans face kind of dropped when I started quizzing him on his shot a bit more. NOW we went into "Stalking Mode". Very quiet and very slow. I was finding drops of blood the size of marbles and I found where the buck had stood for a time. There was a puddle of blood the size of a softball,
The blood trail really got sparce after that and I could only find one BB sized drop after that. It was a this point we decided to back out. I was thinking low brisket hit with a slight chance he cut into the chest cavity. We decided we would give this deer ALL DAY to lay up. We discussed why that was a good idea and what a deer will do when it's hit, but not hit really good. We marked the last blood with Logans arrow, let the deer lay for 7 hours, and headed back in at 4pm. We picked up the blood trail and it was DISMAL, DISMAL, DISMAL!!! I was on my hands and knees following flecks of blood on grass and disturbed leaves. It took us an hour or so to go 15 yards further on the blood trail and I LOST BLOOD. I was SICK to my stomach. I thought NO, WE CAN'T LOSE THIS DEER, NOT ON HIS FIRST BUCK!!
I told them that deer tend to keep going in the same direction when they are hit, so I laid out a plan for us to fan out and QUIETLY proceed down the trees, looking for a deer bed or a body. I was hoping we would run across his bed and at least give me a chance to evaluate the hit. I sent Logans Dad on the inside, Logan was to be in the middle, and I took the outside path along the tall grass, hoping I could find some smears on the grass. Logan and his Dad started out and I headed to the outside. I hadn't gone 10 steps when I saw a lump in the grass off to my left. It was shiny on top in the sun. I crept over a couple of steps and realized it was Logans buck. RIGHT THERE at 10 yards,I just stood there watching for a second or two as with the blood trail I thought we might need another arrow. BOY was I glad I did that. I was just about to take another step and I saw his ear move. OH CRAP!!
I (KDM)found a SMALL SMALL opening in the pines about 8 inches tall and a foot wide without any branches and asked Logan if he thought he could slip an arrow through that opening and into the bucks chest. He looked at me and said "I can try." He drew back, squatted down an bit and leaned over. It looked like a new yoga stance to me, took aim, and let fly. THWACK!!!! I heard the hit and the buck literally launched out of his bed and took off. It was a TREMENDOUS s HIT.Piled up 20yds away.
Turns out Logan had not realized the buck wasn't perfectly broadside and had taken a quartering towards shot. He hit about 3 inches from where he was aiming, but with the angle of the deer he had hit one lung and a bunch of yucky. The arrow came out in the belly just in front of the offside leg. That's where the white hairs came from. I was EXTREMELY happy we had let this deer lay up all day. If we had not, I suspect he would have gotten up at our approach and we would have never found him. WHAT A HUNT!! CONGRATULATIONS LOGAN ON YOUR FIRST BUCK!
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Topic: Story of a young hunter~ (Read 2728 times)
