TOO MUCH FOCUS

[jamie]

went into the woods early yesterday. was a good day too . saw lots of deer on my way down the dirt road. first i did some scouting and stalked to within 20 yards of a small doe that turned out to be a button. didnt take the shot and backed out. checked the scrapes for sign and didnt see much rut sign at all. decided id actually sit in the stand for a while and watch what was moving , especially now that the leaves are down. after 45 minutes in the stand i started getting ansy and had to make myself stay. not much later i heard scratching on my left. out walks a 140 8 pointer.  beautiful animal. around 3 1/2 years old , huge shoulders. walking right toward me . im standing but im in the open and couldnt draw an arrow from the quiver. i waited till it went behind a large beech tree at 25 yards. problem with beech trees is there are always a lot of little beech trees around them and i had to look hard for an opening because once it passed the little trees  it would be in my wind. now i also forgot to mention why i named this post. once i had identified it as an eight, i made the horns dissapear. i was burning a hole through this deers chest. 20 yards , no shot....18, no shot......15, yeah right there i could get the shot. i bleat the best i can the buck stops i burn a hole in its heart , raise my bow draw to anchor and loose. arrow flies true to the mark.............................and bounces right off the deers chest. i was so focused on the deer, i had drawn a wooden blunt from my quiver. good thing was the deer didnt run far  and im sure ill see him again. best thing was i needed a good belly laugh and i got down sat on the ground and laughed my ass off. 

[Pappy]

I never shot one but have pulled a judo out and had it on the bow and when the shot time came I realized what I had done,just glad it wasn't a 140 class I done it own,I probably wouldn't have laughed.Great story. 
   Pappy

[Justin Snyder]

That is a good story Jamie.  That is the real reason why I hold an extra arrow in my hand.  I cannot be trusted to pull the right arrow.  I hope you see him again.  Justin

[Pat B]

Good story Jamie. Our rut sign is slim around here also.
  Once I am on stand I have the arrow I am hunting with on the string and my bow in my lap...ready!     Pat

[Ryano]

I'm with Pat. I always have a arrow nocked when I'm stationary. That sucks, glad you got a laugh out of it. Think I'd of been pretty pissed. 

[GregB]

I'm with Pat and Ryan, arrow on and bow in my lap. I've had to many deer sneak up on me before I spotted them. Great story, funny but I'm not sure that much so when you first saw the arrow bounce off his chest. Hope you get another opportunity at him.

[stickbender]

     I am with Pappy, and the others, you should have already had an arrow nocked.  Why wait till you see a deer, to pull an arrow out of your quiver.  That is just more movement you have to do.  When you start into the woods, you should be ready, with an arrow nocked and ready to go.  You never know what you are going to see, or run into on the way to your stand.  You should be hunting all the way to the stand.  At the very least carry the arrow in your hand.  But at least you had the experience, and were able to laugh about it.  Now you just have to tell people that you only shoot deer in 250 class or better, otherwise, you just shoot them with blunt arrows, to shoo them away, and let them know that if you had wanted to, you could have taken them.  Hopefully, you will get a second chance, and be ready.  Good luck with him. 

                                                                             Wayne

[jamie]

ive never had to worry about the arra. the quiver design i use makes it easier than hell to get it to the bow. i just usually dont have blunts in there to worry about. plus if i sit in a stand i usually fall asleep and drop everything stalkings a different story, its always nocked.

[cowboy]

Yup, I woulda been depressed for a week if it had happened to me Jamie. I'm glad you got a light moment out of it .

[mullet]

  That's funny as hell,, kinda I always have one knocked or sitting in a stand you can use an orthodontis rubber band and a tack at the back of the handle. then you can sleep without dropping it.

[ricktrojanowski]

 Jamie At least you know you're shooting is on.  And it wasn't a grizzly

[Postman]

cool story  - catch and release deer hunting....

get'em next time.

[Keenan]

 Jamie,,,,,     That was good   Made me feel better about my last hunt   been there

[JackCrafty]

Sounds like you were successful as far as I'm concerned.  Who says you got to kill 'em?  Great story.

[jamie]

my stomache says i gotta kill em