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SEPTEMBER ARCHERY

By the time hunting season arrived on September 1, 2001, I had been spying on a number of whitetail bucks for nearly a month. In the evenings, I would set up my spotting scope to watch from a distance as the evening migration from bedding areas to favorite feeding locations commenced. Does and fawns were always the early ones, with small bucks and finally the older, more experienced ones lagging behind. In addition, I was often in position well before dawn to observe the reverse - routes taken to return to daytime rest areas.

The first two mornings of the season were fraught with excitement. Since I hadn't intruded into the travel areas beforehand but rather watched the hills from afar, I found my fixes on potential ambush sites needed some fine tuning. The first morning I ended up about 200 yards from a group of 3 nice bucks, including one real bruiser. I adjusted my location the next morning and still found myself 60 yards away as several good bucks strolled by. Afterwards, I investigated and found that they were following a very good trail. I would be able to set up in an excellent location just 25 yards from the trail on my next trip up the hill.

However, that climb never materialized. On the 2nd evening of season, I elected to stake out a path on which I had seen a nice 4-point travel several times. There was a good hawthorn bush behind which to hide and, if all went well, my shot would be no more than 20 yards.

As dusk approached, I began to get restless in my sitting position behind the bush. After taking a careful look around, I slowly came to a hunched standing posture, feeling that I could remain undetected that way for the remainder of the evening hunt. No sooner had I stood than a motion to the right caught my eye. A doe with her twin fawns was easing past me uncomfortably close. While watching them pass, I heard the tell-tale crunching of footsteps off to the left. Uh oh.

So, turning my head ever so slowly, my eyes caught up to the rear end of a deer passing at 10 yards. I couldn't see the front half as it's travel kept pace with my head rotation, until finally it stopped. Upon bringing my face around to see the remainder of the deer, the expected 4-point, I found his eyes locked on mine. "Drat, busted," I thought, "but I may as well try to draw and see what happens."

With my first motion, the buck kicked his hind feet in the air like a bucking horse and bounded 3 or 4 strides. Very unwhitetail-like, he then stopped - broadside - to have a second look at me. By that time I had my Mathews FX at full draw and took the 30 yard shot without hesitation. The Muzzy cut through both lungs and I later found the arrow embedded in the dirt, although broken, dagnab it!

For some reason, the buck only stumbled a few steps before going down, rather than running any considerable distance. But that was just fine with me, for it saved tracking in the dark later. Out of about 15 bucks I had observed in this region over the previous month, this buck was perhaps the 4th or 5th largest, making me substantially pleased. Of those which were larger, two were real bruisers and next year I'm going to use that trail up the hill to much greater advantage; just 363 days to go.

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WIFE IN OCTOBER

Since I failed to draw a moose tag this year for the first time in 6 years, my wife was distressed about not having enough jerky material. So she decided to take matters into her own hands and get a deer. She had completed the hunter safety course a few years earlier and done lots of shooting, but this was her first hunting season.

So, with my arm twisted, I took her out early one fine morning to a favorite spot of mine. It wasn't long after daylight that a fat spike buck approached. "Too small", says wife, and she declined to shoot him.

The next evening, we made our second sojourn together. The deer became very active well before dusk and a trio of bucks gradually worked their way toward our ambush site. When the time was right, our new trophy hunter chose the largest of the group - a very nice 5x5 - and administered a single effective shot.

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LATE ARCHERY - NOVEMBER

Having shot my only allowed buck back in September, I was required to wait nearly 3 months before I could take another deer. Late archery season opened November 25, at which time does became legal game.

Although I was unable to shoot anything between archery seasons, that didn't prevent me from continuing my scouting. By the time late November rolled around, I not only had a pretty good fix on the travel patterns of a number of does, I had differentiated between the larger, older ones and the less mature.

Naturally I was positioned in my chosen spot well before daybreak November 25. As the light gathered, I could discern several deer begin making their way up the surrounding hills. On cue, a big solitary doe slowly picked her way by. When she stopped broadside 30 yards from me and turned her head away, I drew and sent a 3-blade Muzzy on its way. Unlike my buck earlier, she ran flat out for 150 yards before piling up in mid stride.

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