Opening morning I found myself seated in my blind 1 hour before shooting light...... how did I end up here in this spot with high hopes and shaking with excitement?? rewind to March 2019... My friend and I (both long time archery blacktail hunters) decided that we would give archery mule deer hunting a try. We started to scout via google earth and decided on a spot! we ventured out in june 2019 and placed cameras and minerals with no idea of what we would see. We let the cameras sit for a month and headed over for our first camera check. We were stoked at what we found. Good deer activity and bucks like I've never seen. Mule bucks in velvet seemed giant compared to the blacktails we were used to seeing. We decided that our spot was good to go and made a plan on where to hang stands. Each camera check confirmed that we were in the right area and had multiple different bucks at each of our chosen locations. Camp was set and opening day was mere hours away. We each had so many good bucks in our spots that we started to have the conversation (i'm gonna pass on those medium size 4 points and wait for the big one!!!!) this was my first mistake. The amount of camera action in the daylight the day before the opener made me delusional with confidence. Opening morning I snuck into my stand quite as a mouse in the complete dark, every shrub was a massive bear to my poorly adjusted eyes. Nervous and excited i climbed up and settled in. I knew that the group of big bucks would come in an hour after daylight and again in the evening. This was as good as done in my eyes (over confident!!!!!) as light started to creep in I saw a doe making her way towards me, she made it within range and instantly looked right at me! I thought I had good concealment and was high enough/22 feet. But she had me pegged. I was frozen, she finally chilled out and fed for a bit before heading out. t-minus 30 minutes until the big boys show up! I glanced up and saw a very nice wide fork by three (bigger than any blacktail I have harvested) he was coming right in, I told myself that I was going to pass on him because the big bucks were on their way. I was so cocky that I took a selfie with the buck and let him walk. That buck was the last deer I saw on my entire hunt of 7 days. What the heck!!!! Camera check proved my worst fears, all bucks GONE. not even a night time pic. Was it the increased hunting pressure, bears in the area? ***... I learned my lesson last year. This year I came with a brand new attitude. I knew that these bucks summer in this spot but they are gone just about the same time archery season opens. 2020 is a new season and we have a new plan. This year ditch the stand and set up a blind. This year I will not pass a good buck in hopes of one of the "big ones"
Spring of 2020 was the same story, big bucks, lots of action and lots of anticipation. So there I was, opening day an hour before light, seated, quiet and ready. Dawn cracks over the trees and a deer moves in. Its a small fork, but I am stoked to see a buck and watch him feed. He sticks around for 30 minutes and then feeds off. I watch him slowly walk away with my binos and just try and appreciate the moment. I can see his little velvet antlers above the brush at about 60 yards. I continue to watch him when I notice that he snaps his head to the left and comes to full attention. I can see another set of velvet antlers over the brush right near the fork. He slowly walks in, step then stop-look around, step-stop-look, he is on edge. I can tell he is the 3x4 I have had on camera, not one of the giants, but a definite shooter for me. My heart is hitting like a jack hammer!!! He looks right at the blind from 21 yards, can he smell me??, can he hear my heart pounding??? Please, please let him settle and present a shot. He put his head down to feed and I draw back the prime, I have to lean just a bit to my right to clear the edge of the blind. I let it fly....right behind the shoulder, mid height, total pass through!!!!! My whole body shaking so violently I could not even hold up my binos to watch where he went. I know he ran out of sight, so at least 80 yards and I thought i heard a crash. I told myself to wait at least 30 minutes before looking for blood. I sent a text to my hunting partner and let him know the situation. I quietly got out of the blind and found my arrow. the first 10 or so inches of the arrow had great blood and the rest of the arrow GUTS??? fletch dripping with guts?? What the heck, I knew it was a great shot. I was devastated. walked back to the blind and sent out another text with the updated GUTS info. we decided to give it 2 hours before trying to track. We met up at my blind and started to track. A few small drops of blood right at the site of the shot and no other blood anywhere. We started to grid, no blood anywhere! I lifted my binos and started to scan and then BOOM there he is, 80 yards from the blind, straight away. Not at drop of blood on the way to where he lay. Such relief , such excitement, such confusion??? What had happened. On further inspection, the shot was right behind the should, must have deflected on bone. Arrow hit perfect, hit the right lung then took a hard turn and passed through the intestines. The initial crash I heard was him pilling up as he ran. high fives and pics. Also lucky to have a trail cam pic of him just after the shot as he bolted. I am so thankful for the opportunity to go on this hunt and to harvest my first mule deer. Opening day success. Thanks for reading this novel. Many lessons learned and memories made.