Waiting and wondering

[Yogie]

Rick's off to Pa. for a week of stick bow hunting and I'm half sick and chilling this weekend from being out in the rain Thursday night dragging mine in. This all seemed to be worth it when I was younger but now I wonder...
I'm starting to see why there's so many road hunters out there now.

Looking forward to a good story when he returns at the end of the week.
Remember Rick, I said a good story, I didn't say it had to be true.

[Joe Malinowski]

Well Yogie, I got to a point where I am a fair weather hunter, still really enjoy getting out and love venison. Last deer was the best yet, was able to drive the truck right up no dragging.

[ricky racer]

Sorry to keep you waiting Yogie, but I just got home a little before dark this evening. I’m pleased to report that the new bow worked perfectly. I had 5 days to connect with a legal buck. The area that we hunt is a 3 point (on one side) area. Grumpy didn’t tell me that they had the worst winter in about 20 years and had a tremendous winter kill in his back yard. I was hunting about 20 miles from Bedford where Grumpy resides. Beautiful area.

When we arrived, Kenny, the owner of the farm said that the deer population was down and they hadn’t been seeing many deer out in the fields, however it seemed that there was a better buck doe ratio than they have had in the past. He did mention that there was a 4 x spike (half of a 8 pt. rack on one side and a spike on the other side) that he had seen on the farm and said that if we had a chance to take it, he'd like to get it out of the gene pool. When he said that the deer numbers were low, I thought oh great, there won’t be any deer here either. The deer population back home were real low due to Blue Tongue disease.

I have a spot that I found several years ago that has been pretty productive for me in the past and started out by placing my stand there. The first morning I saw 4 bucks all small and too far away anyhow. That evening I saw a couple of does but that’s it. Day two was better. About 7:00 AM I had a doe walk past me at about 8 yards. A small 7 point buck followed about 40 yards behind her. He followed her and stopped in front of my stand at 8 yards. I elected not to shoot him and let him walk. As he walked out of sight, I kicked myself for passing him up but that is half the fun of bow hunting.

About 1 hour after passing on the 7 pt. a better 6 point came into view. Kenny prefers us to only shoot 8 point of better and when I looked at the 6 point, I looked at one side (the side with 4 points) and only had a couple of seconds to get ready. When the 7 pt. came by, I had time to count his points and that is why I didn’t shoot it. I was sure that the 6 pt. was a 8 pt. and as it passed by my stand I drew my Robertson recurve and drilled him with a shot about 2 inches further forward than I had hoped but the arrow penetrated the shoulder blade taking out both lungs and creating a exit wound in the opposite arm pit. I watched him run about 70 yards and go down.

I was the only bowhunter in camp, the others used crossbows. I can’t believe anyone would choose to use one of those over a bow. I have shot their crossbows and helped carry those things through the woods for them from time to time. Oh well, to each his own. One of the others got a shot and missed (he said he thinks the arrow, or bolt as they‘re called, came out of the track as he maneuvered the crossbow into position) while the others failed to get a shot opportunity. Anyway, it was a great trip spent with great friends and resulted with meat in the freezer.

[grumpy]

Ya look good in the PA woods. Nice deer too. We should have gotten togeather while you were in. Maybe next year. My sister lives about 5 minutes from Shanksville. Grump

[Yogie]

Glad things worked out Rick and you had a great time. That's a super nice bow and the buck is a dandy also.
Thanks for the pictures and the story, gets me all excited just like being there.

[ricky racer]

Rick's off to Pa. for a week of stick bow hunting and I'm half sick and chilling this weekend from being out in the rain Thursday night dragging mine in. This all seemed to be worth it when I was younger but now I wonder...
I'm starting to see why there's so many road hunters out there now.

Looking forward to a good story when he returns at the end of the week.
Remember Rick, I said a good story, I didn't say it had to be true.

You got another one?? You dog!!
Congrats!!

[ToddW]

Good job RIcky! Nice bow and buck as well!

[Yogie]

Rick's off to Pa. for a week of stick bow hunting and I'm half sick and chilling this weekend from being out in the rain Thursday night dragging mine in. This all seemed to be worth it when I was younger but now I wonder...
I'm starting to see why there's so many road hunters out there now.

Looking forward to a good story when he returns at the end of the week.
Remember Rick, I said a good story, I didn't say it had to be true.

You got another one?? You dog!!
Congrats!!

Yea, but you got yours with a stick and a string and that's a whole other ballgame.
You the stick bow man....

[BigBill]

You poked a nice one congrats......

Ever notice how the deers fur changes color withy the seasons? I see then here go from a brown to a light gray so they will blend into the woods better. The deer are on my land every evening to feed on my apples that i throw up in the back. Its time to put out the larger Tractor supply deer apple blocks too and run my crack corn feeder 24/7 till spring. Since i'm not hunting here yet there free to roam, eat and get larger racks. I have spotted one 10pt + 250lb buck so far. He walks around like he's the king till he ends up on my wall.

We had to drag a 220 lb buck 8pt about 150yds in 12" of snow. The four of us aren't light weights too but we did it. That deer hugged evey divet and low section in the ground as we dragged it out. The bear we shot one year was about 25yds from the road up hill and that was no picnic too. My point is to next time kick 'em in the @ss and shoot them at the car when they chase you.