1st Day of the Archery Hunt...

Right off the bat, Clay sat at the bottom of a steep slope watching a couple bucks chase does around on the bald mountain above.  Clay was traditionally a rifle hunter, but had held out for a big buck that never gave him a shot during the general hunt, so he practiced up with his bow and started to scout for a spot to shoot his first archery buck. Now, day one of the archery hunt, the deer above him were a few of the deer he had seen during those scouting trips, the only trick now was to get within bow range.

Clay backed off and headed back to the truck, from there he drove to the backside of the mountain from the deer and began his ascent on foot.  When he left the deer, they were close to the only scattered trees located on the hillside, and he hoped they would still be there, as the rest of the country gave little cover.  Clay neared the location the deer should be in, and he slowed his pace to a crawl watching for anything, expecting at any moment to see deer watching him through the tall grass, blowing his stalk.  Finally Clay caught movement directly ahead as a buck chased a doe toward him.  The deer veered uphill and eventually turn back the way they had come, still too far for a shot.  Clay slowly worked his way toward where the deer were, occasionally a buck would chase deer back over the horizon then disappear again.  When Clay finally worked to a position where he could see the deer he was still about 90 yards away.  The two bucks wouldn’t stay still, they were taking turns chasing each other off, then pestering a doe as she tried to feed in some of the tall grass and low shrub.  At times it looked like a buck would chase a doe within range before they would zig or zag and head back to the main herd.

Finally one of the bucks chased a doe toward Clay again, this time when the doe cut and headed back toward the rest of the does, the buck stopped broadside, looking directly away from Clay toward the rest of the deer.  Clay ranged the buck at 45 yards and drew his bow.  The buck never knew Clay was there and when Clay released his arrow, the buck exploded downhill toward the location Clay had first glassed the deer up.  The buck only made it about 80 yards before he piled up behind some low scrub oak.

The remaining deer had a hunch that something had just happened as they stood surveying the area as Clay sat quietly watching the spot his buck had disappeared into.  Eventually, the remaining deer filed out one at a time not sure what was going on.  Clay sat on the hillside for about 20 minutes never seeing his buck get back to his feet.  He finally got up and began working his way to the shot buck.

Clay had his first archery buck!  Great start to an archery hunting career with his first archery buck ever showing 4 points per side.  Congratulation Clay.