Pre-Thanksgiving Buck - My First Buck with a Bow!

Well I have been bow hunting for 12 or 13 years. Growing up I always duck hunted with my dad, but it wasn't until I was 12 that my uncle Barry took me deer hunting for the first time. Since then I have taken numerous does with the bow and plenty of bucks and does during the gun seasons. Over the past few seasons I have gun hunted less and less and focused more on my quest to take a buck with a bow. I have had many close calls, passed on many young bucks, missed one nice one and also hit and never found a nice 6 point a couple of years ago.

On the last day of the November shotgun season here in Delaware I woke up to my alarm at 4:00am and sat on the edge of the bed thinking if I should even go bow hunting that am. My wife and I didn't get our 4 month baby boy to sleep until close to midnight, and I was already run down from a long work week. I checked my phone and saw the temperature was only 18 degrees outside and the warm bed felt more and more like a better option.

I decided to go being this was the last day I would be free to bow hunt for a few weeks and I needed to take advantage of the rut activity that was in full swing. Looking at my clothes I set aside the night before I decided to put on an extra long sleeve shirt because of the cold temperatures outside. When I finished getting packed up I hopped in the car and started the short drive to my hunting spot in Northern DE. This is a great little spot tucked back in a group of houses. I only bow hunt this spot because of the close proximity to the neighbors, but there are gun hunters in the surrounding areas who tend to push deer to this patch of woods during the gun season. I figured this would be a good spot on the last day of shotgun season.

My friend and I hung one permanent ladder stand in this spot earlier in the season, but typically we hunt out of our climbers. When I pulled in and grabbed my gear I decided to leave the climber in the back of my truck and head to the permanent stand. I was glad I did as the cold, dry conditions made getting in quietly impossible. I had over an hour until legal light so I walked slow and deliberately to the stand hoping any deer in the area would think I am another deer walking around. When I sat down in the treestand and looked at my phone I saw there was still an hour until legal time. About 20 minutes later I started to wish I would have stayed in bed or atleast put more layers on. I was shivering in the cold temps and being so tired made it feel even worse. With 30 minutes left until legal light I heard the sound of a deer walking close by (or so I thought). This deer bedded down and I patiently waited for light to see what it was.

First light finally arrived and I looked all around where I heard the deer and could not see anything. Further back in the woods I heard more deer walking and used the bleat call I had with me. Right after that I heard the deer that bedded down near me get up. This deer was around 100 yards away, the loud leaves made him seem a lot closer in the dark. At first I just caught bits and pieces of him as he moved through a thick section of brush. I caught a glimpse of antlers and as he came closer and stepped out into a trail I saw it was a nice buck. I turned to grab my bow and he kept coming on a string right to me. When he got behind a tree 30 yards away I drew back, but he kept coming. At 20 yards I thought about a straight on shot but decided to wait. Finally at 10 yards he turned broadside and I let the arrow fly.

When I saw the arrow hit and go through I was instantly worried. My shot looked way too high. I quickly grabbed another arrow and knocked it. While doing this the buck ran off and stopped after only 20 yards. I didn't have a shot with him behind some brush. After 4 or 5 seconds he fell over, kicked a couple of times and was done. I couldn't believe it, my first buck with a bow was dead just 30 yards away. I sat in the tree and waited for another 20 minutes just to be sure. Then I got packed up lowered everything down and went to look at my deer. From the time I saw the deer get up to when I shot was maybe 30 seconds, and I didn't bother counting points while he was walking to me. Walking up on my deer I saw it was a nice 7 pointer with a broken tine from fighting. I then looked at my shot that I thought was high and saw it actually was a perfect shot. Right behind the front shoulder. I don't know if it was nerves or what happened that I thought I shot him high, but I was thrilled to see a good shot.

After field dressing the deer I got him loaded up and in the truck before 7am! That was not only my first buck, but the fastest and shortest deer hunt I've ever had. When I got home my wife and baby were both still asleep and when I walked in the bedroom my wife asked if I decided to stay home instead of going hunting!