2007 Opening Weekend Archery Season

Ray (Firewalker) & I were the only one's able to make it out this weekend. Both of us saw more wildlife this weekend than we did all season last year. The bucks were in rut & the hogs were back in the area. Unfortunately ray shot a monster buck (10pt) and after tracking it for over 4 hours we came to the swamp with deep water and lost the blood trail and all evidence of the deer. We come back to camp and re-group to head back out for the afternoon hunt. I decided to hunt in my dads stand where I had non-stop action. I had 6-8 hogs within 30 yards of me for over an hour, when finally one broke away from the herd and started down the trail and into the opening towards me. I calmed myself down as I pulled my bow back & once I finally get my sights on him I release the arrow only to see it fly right over his back. Unfortunately when I first drew back on the hog he was about 20 yards away, but when I shot he was less than 10. As you can imagine I am frustrated and disappointed on the miss but still excited to know that the rest of the hogs are still feeding in the palmettos in front of me. 20 minutes later as the hogs are still feeding I see 3-deer slowly approaching the area. I think they realized that the hogs were already there & decided to go feed somewhere else so they turned around and slowly walked out of sight. As it starts to get dark I quietly climb down the tree only to see a black bear about 60 yards away staring at me and trying to figure out what I am doing in his area. Well let's just say I hit the ground running and luckily for me he did not follow and I make it back to camp only to find out that ray had shot and missed a hog as well. Ironically he had the same scenario where
he drew back on the hog at 20 yards but did not shoot until 10 yards & you guessed it shot right over his back. Back at camp we are both kicking ourselves in the ass knowing that we should have both had something hanging. After a rough night of sleep due to the lightning we both get up with our self esteem & moral low. After a cup of coffee and talking about what to do we decide not to hunt in the same stands & go to another area that has been good to us in the past. As we leave camp and walk through the dark, moral picks up with the anticipation of what the hunt will bring. As I settle into my comfort zone and wait for light to appear I reflect back on what I did wrong the night before so I do not make the same mistake again. As it slowly starts to get light & you can see the fog & dew start to lift out of the grass I hear ray in the distance grunting. I answer his grunt call in a real aggressive manor with 6-8 grunts back at him. Within 5 minutes I see the silhouette of a deer walking through the fog with his chest popped out & front hooves stomping on the ground. At this point, I can't believe that this is happening and start to get the classic buck fever shakes. The deer is about 80 yards away and turns to walk away from me when I hit the grunt call 3 more times exciting this deer to the point he is ready to fight. Mind you, I thought this only happens on the TV shows)Next thing I know the deer comes out of the cypress with his head high & is less than 30 yards in front of me looking to kick my ass. With the deer looking in my direction I can only sit there in my stand trying not to move. Luckily I sprayed myself with a good doe cover scent before getting to my stand which the buck detects & starts following. Now the deer is 10 yards away from the base of my tree where he finally realizes something is wrong. His tail starts flickering & his front hooves start pounding the ground. All I am saying in my stand is turn around, please turn around & just like that the buck turns around & takes 2 leaps allowing me to pick my bow up and draw it. At this point I am trying to figure out how far he is as he steadily walks towards the cypress trees. I realize my window of opportunity is closing, make an instant decision to use my 30 yard pin & release an arrow which makes contact and drops the deer in his tracks. Not believing my eyes that the
deer is down, I start high fiving the mosquitoes, the tree, the leaves & everything in site. It is 7:am and I can't believe I got one. I decide that I will wait to 8am before going to get ray. At 7:20 I can't take it anymore and get out of the stand walk over to the deer to check him out. It is a 5 point which is my biggest with a bow. I go and get ray and do some more high fiving before we go and drag the deer back to camp and celebrate! What an exciting weekend, and a great start to the 2007 hunting season!!

P.S. Keith thank you for allowing us to use the camp!!!

Steven Barreto
BET Roofing Inc.