I got started 10/06 in Ohio with a decent 7 point it was quite a bit smaller than what I thought (ground shrink) but hey a buck with a bow the 1st week of the season who can complain??? I headed north for a long weekend with the wife and kids without any expectations. Saturday was spent scouting, checking stands, and taking the kids to the creek to watch the salmon. It has been probably 25 years since I first saw the salmon run and I still am amazed every year. The kids really got a kick out of being so close to these huge fish. Sunday we had to go back to the fish as my wife wanted to see them. Sunday afternoon I flipped a coin to pick which stand to hunt tails won and I got set up to hunt the neighbors 80 acres agian without high hopes as the neighbors hunted opening weekend and did not see a single deer between the 3 of them. I jumped 2 out walking into my stand but around 7:00 I had one come in from downwind but seemed to be inside my scent "cone". It came straight at me so I had no shot. It was a decent spike, he turned broadside and I let him have it. He crashed off. I relaxed a few minutes to gather myself and climbed down to find my arrow covered with blood. I walked back to the cabin had a beer got the kids, my dad, and the trailer hooked up to the four-wheeler. We were ready to go !!!!! We got to my stand and found little blood, I tracked about 2 hours in the dark and only got about 60 yards from the stand, I was starting to question how good he was hit. We gave up the the trail until 8 am the next morning. (the nighttime temps we in the low 30s so no worries on spoilage but many worries about the coyotes I lost one to them about 3 years ago) My dad and I picked up the trail and it was'nt great but better in the daylight. I stayed on the faint trail and had my dad circle out about 50 yards ahead of me. By the way this was the first time my dad ever tracked a deer he gun hunted a little years ago but never with a bow and I don't think he ever got one. Anyway we followed for about 200 yards when he yelled I found it!!!!! I think he was more excited than I was !! Maybe this will get him into hunting since he retired this spring. I gutted him and we dragged it to the trailer rode back to the cabin and hung him up for photos. Now that I have 2 on the ground I can really try to focus on a monster, although I don't think my chances are that good up there as I have only seen about 5 really good bucks in 25 years of hunting and shinning the fields at night but you never know. I also have a doe tag to fill and this weekend all my buddies are coming up for a 4 day week-end (one all the way from North Carolina) for our annual hunt. My plan is to be camp cook, beer drinker, and guide to help them fill their tags.
