It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming…
Theodore Roosevelt
A New Mindset for the 2021 Season
When I started the 2021 season, I chose to take a different tactic than years past. Historically, I would aim to devote a few three-day weekends during November/December, and hunt full-day sits, mostly at a single location. As anyone with young kids knows, giving up a whole weekend for hunting can be a tough sell.
This year I was taking a different strategy: rather than long weekends the plan was to have multiple day trips or single day trips. This would allow me to not only maximize time with the family, but also allow me to see multiple different periods of the season.
My Approach
In addition to getting more short sits, I also planned to have multiple locations and only hunt them under optimal conditions.
- More frequent, shorter trips over less frequent, longer trips
- Expanding stand-location options over limiting location options
- Hunting transitions over hunting food plots
- Changing plans based on new information over staying the course in spite of information
Punching My Tag
On November 2nd, I planned to move from hunting a transition in the morning to hunting a small, hidey-hole foodplot in the evening. I made my way down from my spot around 11:30am, grabbed a quick bite to eat and started hunting my way into my evening spot around 1:30pm.
About 50 yards from reaching my stand, I spied a group of three does known to frequent the food plot walking a trail in. I froze, squatted down and shielded my face with my bow as 2 of the 3 crossed by without noticing me. The third, the matriarch, wasn’t fooled by my tricks, gave me a few head bobs and then trotted off blowing. I was a bit deflated.
I continued hunting into my stand, climbed up and got settled. Not fifteen minutes after I settled in a small button buck sauntered in, none the wiser to my presence. I watched him for 15min in the field and he was on his way. I didn’t see anything else until nearly sundown.
With thirty minutes left of legal shooting light, another group of does moved into the field. It was the last game of the World Series and I immediately decided against taking a doe that night (I wanted to see the Braves pull it off!), but I noticed that the 3 does were on edge, constantly looking back towards the woods from which they came.
I had my bow ready and heard a loud grunt as an East Texas shooter ran into the field lip curled and grunting, scattering the does. I ranged him at 34 yards, settled between my 30 and 40 yard pin and released.
The arrow struck the deer further back than I wanted and the deer started walking away slowly as if hit in the gut. I quickly knocked another arrow as he was walking closer towards my stand. I could see he was bleeding and he was stumbling as if he was going to go down.
He eased himself to the ground not 10 yards from the stand, but with a small branch obstructing a follow-up shot. As he tried to stumble to his feet, he gave me a small window to drive another arrow through both lungs. He took off and I sat down to survey the scene.
The does never left the field…I waited 30min for them to clear and got down from my stand. Starting at the first impact, I examined the first arrow. It had decent blood and no sign or smell of guts and decent blood at impact. My first thought was liver hit given the reaction.
I followed a mediocre blood trail to where he lay down near my stand. There was a pool of dark blood on the ground. I recovered the second arrow which was coated in good lung blood.
My confidence increased that the 2nd hit would make for a quicker recovery. I backed out to give it another 45min before attempting a recovery.
After sharing the story with a buddy and my father, I ventured back out and recovered the deer 50yards from my stand. He had run off and J-hooked back towards the food plot.
Upon inspecting, the first shot penetrated the liver and cut through the paunch on exit. It was a fatal shot, but would have taken some time. The second shot was double-lung and downed the deer quickly.
I’m thankful for the follow-up opportunity to save me a night of short sleep.
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