A Hole In One to Remember!

During bow season this year our good buddy Phil had this buck walk out just 20 yards or so from his blind. He waited patiently for a decent crossbow shot. The buck finally gave him a quartering away shot. Phil leaned in, aimed, & squeezed the trigger. Just when the bolt took flight, the buck turned slightly...HOLE IN ONE!

I'm not making this up. The poor thing didn't run that far ( I understand that!). When Ken came to pick Phil up he says that, "Phil had a sheepish look on his face". "Did you get anything" asked Ken. "A buck, come & see" replied Phil sheepishly. Ken said when he saw that deer, he just busted out laughing.

Right then, Ken hatched a plan to get a replica mount of Phil's "Hole in One" & give it to him for Chirstmas. I don't know if you can hear Ken on the video but he says, "We were going to get the front end mounted but we couldn't get the look off his face!"

The Hole in One now hangs proudly over Phil's desk in his office. Now when he's having a bad day, all he has to do is to look up & realize..."It could be a lot worse!"

Deer Deer Everywhere

Well, I took Anna & Becky (my niece) hunting the other night. A young buck walked out but it wasn't big enough to shoot in our hunting club. It meandered into the pines & about 10 minutes later, it came out right under the box stand. What a joy to watch that deer feed literally right under us. Then just at the end of shooting light, a doe walked out. My scope had fogged up as I shot...and I clean missed it.
Then I took my nephew Garrett a few days later for a very early morning hunt. A nice shooter buck walked out & we both shot at the same time...& we both missed. I need to go sight my scope in as I believe it may be a little low. We looked for blood & hair - but there was nothing. We got back in the stand & about 45 minutes later, it was time to leave. I was listening to my voice mail when I looked up & in the fog I saw a deer walk out into the logging road. I literally dropped my phone. I told Garrett to shoot. His safety was on so the hammer dropped & stopped short. The deer heard the click & was ready to bolt. I squeezed the trigger & she dropped down and faltered in the front. I knew I hit her. Garrett was so excited. We got down & when we got to the spot...NO BLOOD! I couldn't believe it! I got on my hands & knees & found some white hairs. Then I found a little piece of meat about the size of a pencil eraser with one white hair in it. I told Garrett that I hit that deer low & way to the front. I couldn't figure out why there was no blood though. We went into the pines and I figured the deer would circle down & away from the stand toward the creek. We searched in concentric erratic circles for about 20 minutes to no avail.
When we got back to the logging road, my son Jr. was walking our way. He is an excellent woodsman. He disagreed with my 'logic' & said the deer was just as likely to circle back towards the stand. He also looked at the evidence on the logging road and said with confidence that the deer was down in these pines. This time I went to the far right. The game trails in there are really something. I was trying to make circles but ended up following a well worn trail. I took me about 80 yards back in the direction of the stand and then took a sharp left...towards the creek. That made sense to me. I walked just a few yards on the down slope of the trail & there lying in the brambles was a nice big healthy doe. I hit her in the brisket & she eventually folded up. I was so thankful that we found her.
What a great experience for Garrett. I've never seen him so excited or energized. The shot was such that we didn't ruin any of the meat. Amazing! God is so good.

Ellie's First Deer

My three eldest children were off at a youth retreat this weekend & we had the three youngest at home. Elizabeth mentioned that it would be a good time to take Ellie hunting & spend some time with her. I had just convinced myself of not going hunting on Saturday when my wife mentioned that to me.
Ellie & I got a late start & stopped in the shooting range at the Beaverdam WMA at 3:30 pm. I had to sight in the new 243 youth model rifle that I picked up for a steal last month. It only took 3 shots to zero it in at 40 yards. I gave Ellie some instructions & then she loaded the rifle, aimed, & fired. About an inch to the left of the bull's eye. Next shot, an inch high. Third shot, an inch to the left...good enough.
We drove around & found what looked like a food plot on an aerial map I found of the place on the Internet. Sure enough, just a few hundred yards down a closed logging road was a beautiful food plot just full of deer tracks & sign. It was Walmart for deer. We set up our ground blind with some tangled bushes for a backdrop. Several hours of hushed conversation & reading went by. About 6:15 pm I saw a brown spot at the end of the field. My eyesight is failing (for real) so I asked Ellie to look. "Its a deer daddy!" she whispered with great excitement. She wasn't in the right spot for a shot so she slowly stood up & I moved her stool to give her a shot at the deer. It took her about 5 minutes to find the deer in the scope. By this time the deer had moved to about 75 yards & politely turned broadside for a clean shot. "I see it now" she whispered with an amazing calm. I told her to just squeeze the trigger - "Crack!" - before I finished my instruction.
The deer seemed to drop it's rear end by a couple of inches but it didn't move. I pulled up to take a shot. Just as I squeezed off my shot the deer disappeared from my scope & my shot went off into the woods. "Where did it go?" I asked Ellie. I thought it ran away. "I think it fell over" was her reply. Well, we went to see. Sure enough, there was the young buck (6 points) lying in the tall grass. Ellie is reserved & not really all that excitable but she was shaking with the thrill of all that just took place. We folded up the blind, chairs & hunting bag & together drug the deer to the truck. She assisted in cleaning the deer & our good friends, the Metcalfes, agreed to help skining & quarter the deer at 10 pm on a Saturday. My big boys were at camp & not available.
It was a picture perfect moment that I look forward to having with all my children. I was with Paul Jr. & Zack when they took their first deer. Now Anna is on fire to get her first deer. I hope that happens soon for her so we can all get some rest around here.
(I'll post pics as soon as I get them from Don)