Clipper
Senior Member
To say we have a deer problem on the farm would be an understatement. Two years ago they destroyed the green beans in my garden and nearly killed a young apple tree using it for a rub. They also nipped off my corn plants shortly after they came up and ate tomato vines. Last year I spent several hundred dollars and several days of hard work erecting an 8’ electric fence around two sides of my garden. In addition to growing a large garden every year I also grow and sell domestic blackberries. I put the blackberry money in an account for my grandchildren to help pay for the missions I hope they will serve for our church after graduating from high school. The deer also like to nip the ends of the blackberry canes which causes them to be stunted and bear less fruit. This spring they ate almost all of my brother-in-law’s garden. I decided last year it was time to thin the herd but only got one shot which I missed.
This year a neighbor fenced his property which caused the deer to come across a corner of our property to get around his fence. I verified this with trail camera photos and put up a lock-on and climbing stick where I could get a shot when they came by. My son killed a doe there several weeks ago but I had yet to hunt the spot until this morning. I set my clock last night (by mistake) for 6:00 pm and didn’t wake until 7:15 this morning. I got up anyway and dressed in a hurry and when I walked out the basement door the wind was out of the northwest. I needed an easterly wind to hunt this stand. I finally made myself go anyway because there was a chance the deer would come from either direction. I knew I was taking a chance at spooking them, but they smell humans all the time around here. When I got to the stand the wind was blowing out of the east – maybe luck would be with me.
About 8:30 I saw a buck come out of the kudzu on the adjacent property. He stopped at about 15 yards just before stepping behind some thick brush and I took my shot. I was about 15’ high and he was downhill from me. I couldn’t see the white patch behind his front leg but I aimed for where it should have been and watched my arrow hit him right at the back of his front shoulder about halfway up his body. I heard a loud crack when the arrow hit and he turned and ran down the hill. I waited about 15 minutes to let myself calm down, got out of the stand, went to the house and ate breakfast.
I waited an hour and a half before starting to track him. There was no blood or hair where I shot him and I found no blood for the first 20 yards. At that point I found the back half of my arrow with blood stains on the front 10” of the shaft. Ten yards on down the hill I found a short section of my arrow without the broadhead. I was still tracking the buck by the leaves and sticks he disturbed as he ran down the hill and only finding an occasional drop of blood. At about 50 yards I found my first good blood and then found a little blood about every 10 yards until he turned off the road into an overgrown clear cut about 100 yards from where I shot him.
Once he entered the clear cut the blood trail improved. I was beginning to doubt I would find him because of the scanty blood trail he was leaving. About 20 yards into the clear cut I saw several horned trees and knew he was close to his bedding area. A few more steps and I found a circle of blood but lost the trail momentarily. I then looked to my right and saw him lying on the ground. That is a great feeling that I haven’t had lately as it has been several years since I killed a deer with a trad bow. When I saw his horns the name Crazy Horn immediately popped into my head, so that is what I called him. He had two points and a ½” bump on his right side and a 7” spike on the left. He certainly wasn’t going to win any fights with that headgear.
I went to the house, got my 4-wheeler, wagon, and a swing blade to cut a path through the clear cut to the road. I had to gut him where he lay because he was too heavy to drag by myself. My arrow hit him just behind the front shoulder about halfway up his body and came out 4” above the bottom of his chest on the other side. I finally managed to get him home for photos. He is now aging in my outside refrigerator. A lot of hunters wouldn’t get excited about a 3 point buck, but when I can kill any deer with 45# recurve made sometime before 1985 I feel like I have done something worth celebrating. Thanks for listening to my story.
45# Browning Recurve – 56”, dacron string I made myself
GT 1535 carbon arrow
Grizzly Broadhead that Al Chapman helped me sharpen.
This year a neighbor fenced his property which caused the deer to come across a corner of our property to get around his fence. I verified this with trail camera photos and put up a lock-on and climbing stick where I could get a shot when they came by. My son killed a doe there several weeks ago but I had yet to hunt the spot until this morning. I set my clock last night (by mistake) for 6:00 pm and didn’t wake until 7:15 this morning. I got up anyway and dressed in a hurry and when I walked out the basement door the wind was out of the northwest. I needed an easterly wind to hunt this stand. I finally made myself go anyway because there was a chance the deer would come from either direction. I knew I was taking a chance at spooking them, but they smell humans all the time around here. When I got to the stand the wind was blowing out of the east – maybe luck would be with me.
About 8:30 I saw a buck come out of the kudzu on the adjacent property. He stopped at about 15 yards just before stepping behind some thick brush and I took my shot. I was about 15’ high and he was downhill from me. I couldn’t see the white patch behind his front leg but I aimed for where it should have been and watched my arrow hit him right at the back of his front shoulder about halfway up his body. I heard a loud crack when the arrow hit and he turned and ran down the hill. I waited about 15 minutes to let myself calm down, got out of the stand, went to the house and ate breakfast.
I waited an hour and a half before starting to track him. There was no blood or hair where I shot him and I found no blood for the first 20 yards. At that point I found the back half of my arrow with blood stains on the front 10” of the shaft. Ten yards on down the hill I found a short section of my arrow without the broadhead. I was still tracking the buck by the leaves and sticks he disturbed as he ran down the hill and only finding an occasional drop of blood. At about 50 yards I found my first good blood and then found a little blood about every 10 yards until he turned off the road into an overgrown clear cut about 100 yards from where I shot him.
Once he entered the clear cut the blood trail improved. I was beginning to doubt I would find him because of the scanty blood trail he was leaving. About 20 yards into the clear cut I saw several horned trees and knew he was close to his bedding area. A few more steps and I found a circle of blood but lost the trail momentarily. I then looked to my right and saw him lying on the ground. That is a great feeling that I haven’t had lately as it has been several years since I killed a deer with a trad bow. When I saw his horns the name Crazy Horn immediately popped into my head, so that is what I called him. He had two points and a ½” bump on his right side and a 7” spike on the left. He certainly wasn’t going to win any fights with that headgear.
I went to the house, got my 4-wheeler, wagon, and a swing blade to cut a path through the clear cut to the road. I had to gut him where he lay because he was too heavy to drag by myself. My arrow hit him just behind the front shoulder about halfway up his body and came out 4” above the bottom of his chest on the other side. I finally managed to get him home for photos. He is now aging in my outside refrigerator. A lot of hunters wouldn’t get excited about a 3 point buck, but when I can kill any deer with 45# recurve made sometime before 1985 I feel like I have done something worth celebrating. Thanks for listening to my story.
45# Browning Recurve – 56”, dacron string I made myself
GT 1535 carbon arrow
Grizzly Broadhead that Al Chapman helped me sharpen.
