A Dandy Dirty Doe

2015 started off with a trip to Deep South Texas for a hunting trip with some friends. We had hunted this part of Texas before but never this exact spot so we took 4 pop-up blinds to help keep us mobile for changing deer patterns. Most of the set-ups already there were for rifle hunting so we needed to be prepared. The forecast was for rain, rain, cold, and more rain.

On New Year’s Eve we made our way south nearing the Texas/Mexico border; the rain had made the roads extremely sloppy and our trip took a nasty turn when our truck and flatbed trailer with the Gator on it slid off the road into a small ditch. It was a mess. We had to unload the Gator to use it to pull the truck and trailer out of the hole, all while it was 36 degrees and raining. Needless to say after a lot of messy, muddy work we finally made it to deer camp, completely soaked and covered in mud, but still excited to hunt.

 

The next morning we headed out to scout a few spots for blinds and found a some senderos that looked promising. After a few hunts with no success we moved one of the blinds to a sendero with a feeder on it. The brush in South Texas is extremely thick leaving only small roads or senderos to hunt, therefore baiting is almost necessary. Regardless of hunting over bait, this wasn’t going to be an easy task. We set up the ground blind in the new spot and brushed it in completely. I knew these deer were going to notice this new “bush” in the road but had to take my chances; leaving only a tiny opening for a shooting window I had to be as concealed as possible knowing these deer would be on high alert. I was 30 yards from the feeder and we had thrown out more corn in the road to help.

As I watched birds scurry about it was 5:15pm when I saw a very large doe step out into the road 17 yards away. The brush is so thick you cannot see the deer walking toward you or if they are in your area unless you are elevated in a blind rifle hunting. The trees aren’t tall enough to put stands in to bow hunt out of but the brush is just high enough to cover the heads of deer. The windows of opportunity bow hunting here were slim. As she stepped out, she immediately looked at my brushed-in blind and walked back in the brush. My heart started racing because for the brief moment I saw the front legs and chest of this doe, I knew she was a big, mature doe and was ready. I steadied my bow and waited for her to calm down and hopefully make a return appearance.

 

As I tried to calm my breathing and nerves she came back out into the road and headed to the corn. I decided to give her a little time to get comfortable (animals are always more alert when eating) before I took the shot. She finally turned completely broadside as I drew and released. I saw my arrow fall out the other side of her as she darted into the thick brush. I was shaking and just knew I had made a good shot. As I went to nock another arrow my heart sank. A bobcat crossed the road and stopped for a brief second (not long enough to get my bow drawn again) and headed in the direction of my doe.

 

Just my luck. (I have mentioned before that I have never shot and recovered a deer while bow hunting during a morning hunt. All of my kills have been afternoon or evening hunts where tracking and recovery is usually after dark or at dusk). It was raining, foggy, only 45 minutes until dark, and a bobcat was traveling in the same direction as my doe. So I prayed. Then I text my husband and a few friends to pray for a quick expiration and hope that the bobcat didn’t run my doe into another county or start destroying her. I was torn between going to search for her and keep the bobcat off of her or wait the full 30 minutes. I compromised instead.

 

I exited the blind quietly to check the impact site and arrow for blood to determine my shot. There was blood where I had hit her and my arrow had bubbly blood on it. I had a feeling she probably ducked a little when I shot and hit lungs instead of heart but I was confident after seeing the arrow and blood at impact site as well as blood on the cactus right on the edge of the road. I sat back in the blind and prayed again that the rain wouldn’t wash away the blood and this would be a quick recovery. I waited about 25 minutes and decided to go look before I lost light.

 

I only took my pistol because the brush was so thick I was going to be crawling on hands and knees and didn’t want my string getting cut by cactus, mesquite thorns, and everything else that sticks and stabs. I knew I had to be ready to shoot a bobcat that might have started his dinner on my doe and possibly recruited others. The tracking process was about 15 minutes, mostly because getting through the brush was so thick and the blood was deceiving because of the rain. I was alone because my husband was still hunting and I didn’t want him to miss an opportunity but I knew I couldn’t wait for him.

There she was, about 50 yards from where I had shot her. I could see her, but couldn’t immediately get to her because of the brush. I looked around for a hungry kitty cat but was relieved when I was alone. My eyes began to fill with tears and I tried to jump up and down and do my victory dance but the brush was so thick I cut myself on some thorns and stuck myself with cactus instead (well worth it).

I finally made my way to her and realized since I had been crawling and finding ways through the brush tracking blood, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was anymore or how close to the road I was. I tried to drag her but without my game hauler I wasn’t going to get far. Light was fading fast and the rain was steady; I had 3 flashlights with me (red, white, and green) so I left the white light with the doe pointing upward for a marker and attempted to make my way back to the road. My husband and friend were now on their way to me and somehow I made a quick exit to the road, pushing through thick brush getting cut up more. When I saw them walking towards me I ran to my husband crying and laughing with excitement and we embraced for that amazing moment we live for.

 

As we walked the road we found my white light and realized she was only about 15 yards from the road! We recovered her and headed back to camp to weigh the big girl. She was 130 pounds of beautiful venison, although completely soaked and covered in mud. I know that may not seem like a big deer to my Northern friends but in the Texas Hill Country a big doe is 90 pounds making this southern girl a fatty! She was my biggest doe taken with a bow and I was ecstatic to share another hunting moment with my husband and great friends. We were so blessed to hunt on their ranch and leave with an ice chest full of meat! That was one dandy dirty doe!

I also stayed true to one of my New Year's Lifestyle changes (not resolutions) and documented the hunt in my Rite in the Rain Notebook!

 

Meet Colleen - Hate Love Relationship with Hunting

A short while ago I ‘met’ someone on Twitter and began a conversation with her. Her name was Colleen and she said something to me that I have never heard a hunter say. She said she HATED hunting. I have heard a lot of women say they disliked it, didn’t know much about it, or just say “it’s not for me” but from her Twitter profile she looked like a hunter in love with every aspect of it. Of course I wanted to know more because there had to be something behind such a strong HATE of hunting.

She sent me her story because I knew I had to get this out to everyone to read and possibly relate to, learn from, and most importantly support her. I’ve read over her words numerous times trying to figure out how to present this on my blog to everyone and realized this - it is not my story to tell, this is hers. I can put it in my own words, edit it or change it to a Q & A session but I think the true meaning and emotion would be removed from her words.

So instead of me writing about her and her story, I think it’s best to let her tell it for you. Please be kind to her words because this was her pouring her emotions and thoughts out and continue to support her the way you always support me.

 

 

Meet Colleen and her Hate & Love Relationship with hunting…

I grew up loving the woods, loving nature, always outdoors, but never ever having anyone in my family hunt. We were the family that would feed bambi & I never understood people that would hunt deer; it seemed inhumane to me. Fast forward to my freshman year in college 11 years ago when I was first introduced to hunting. I started dating this really cute football player who was fun, outgoing, made me laugh, but a hunter, & not just your typical hunter. This guy was into it, his family hunted, & all his friends hunted. We would go to parties and hunting was always a topic that would be brought up, there would be stories about deer camp, talks about who has shot the largest buck, etc. We started dating in the middle of hunting season so one of our first trips back to his house, his friend called and said he shot a monster & wanted us to come down & see it. We pulled up to his friends and out & hanging from a rope in his garage was this adorable buck. My facial expression must have said it all because my now husband looked at me and said, ‘bet you have never seen anything like this before.’ I looked at him and said ‘oh this is cool’, but in my head was like what is wrong with these people, what did this poor animal do to them?!

Needless to say that was just the beginning, as mid-summer came around Derek would always go out to take walks in the woods to look for sheds, put out trail cameras, set stands, & find that tree with rubs around it that looked like it would be a great place to hunt. He would spend hours upon hours doing this kind of stuff, which to me I was thinking ‘why don’t you want to spend time with me, all you have to do is go set up some stupid stand and wait for a deer to come by.’ He would be so excited to go back out & look at the pictures on his trail camera; again something I did not understand, basically none of it ever made sense. 

Fast forward to hunting season, the season I would proclaim I was basically single because all he did, talked about, dreamed about, and thought about was hunting. It was so annoying & bad to me one year that I made him dress up as a deer & me as a hunter for Halloween because I told him that was the only way I would ever get him to notice me. If we argued it was always about hunting, how he would spend Friday nights in so he could wake up early to hunt all day Saturday, how he would come back from hunting all day & then we would have to go to his cousins or friends to see what they shot.  We would walk into these garages, where a bunch of guys were gathered around this deer that was dead, high fiving one another, drinking beer, laughing, telling stories, & just having a good time. I would usually look at these people and think to myself you have got to be kidding me, they call this a sport, and this is a joke & a shame. I was even at a hunting show one time & had 2 men approach me asking if they could tape me hunting; my response was ‘um hunting is dumb, I am only here because my husband hunts, sorry.’ That’s a moment though I now regret more than ever.

Needless to say for NINE years this was my mentality when it came to anytime Derek spoke about it. In 2012 though that all changed. We were out one night & Derek said to me, “want to go hunting with me, I really think you would enjoy it, you can see what it is all about.” I quickly responded with my typical, “no, why would I want to do that?”  But then said you know what I will go with you, just to prove to you how dumb it really is. He got this big smile on his face & said ‘I am telling you, you are going to love it.’  We woke up that Saturday morning, it was 20 degrees out (I hate the cold with a passion), he gave me his hunting clothes, so of course nothing fit right, his hunting boots, which made my feet look like clown feet & was spraying me down with this stuff so deer couldn’t smell me.  I remember it being 5 am and thinking, oh my God why did you wake up for this, just go back to bed, but I went though.

It was the first Saturday of rifle for PA so we went into the woods in the pitch black & finally got to our ground blind.  I just remember how calm it was sitting there in the woods with the sun coming up & the woods coming alive around us & thinking hmmm this is pretty cool. Turkeys were walking by, squirrels everywhere, beautiful birds, & of course a few deer.  This was the day I started to understand what hunting was really all about. Even though Derek did not have any shots at any deer that day, his pap sure did! Derek got a call saying “pap got one, pap got one” from one of his cousins who was also out there with us that day.  We left the ground blind and started walking through the woods to meet up with all his cousins, uncles, dad & pap to go search for this buck. His pap was so excited he could barely catch his breath, it only took a few minutes to track & once we found it, it all clicked. Everyone started high fiving, hugging, congratulating his pap, & then his pap was sitting there taking pictures & telling the story on how he shot it; which from listening to his story I learned it was the first buck at age 78 that he ever shot with a rifle. To be a part of that moment and see a family come together like that & to have everyone be so happy for him was amazing. It showed a moment to me that so many families in this world now lack & that is being together & being happy. I even got to take a picture with this deer just because I was there that day, it was just so cool to have the opportunity to be a part of.

Throughout that year I would continue to go with my husband every Saturday to hunt, it was such an awesome experience & that’s when I decided maybe this is something I wanted to actually give a try too.  I started talking to a great friend of mine who is a hunter too who really encouraged me to start hunting as well; she gave me a push & support I would need to really give it a go.

I told my husband that I wanted to try archery hunting, so we went & got me a bow (with no pink, I hate that color) & got it all set up. When the man at the shop showed me how to shoot it I was like, oh wow what did I get myself in to? It was insane to me how much goes into archery hunting & how hard it really is; I thought you pull the bow back and shoot, but needless to say that is not the case.  Every day after work I would go outside with Derek & practice, practice, practice. I even practiced when he wasn’t there; it was such a challenge & being the first & only female hunter in a family where if you are a guy you literally start hunting the day after you are born, I had to make sure I was ready to go when I got the opportunity. 

2014 was my first year of archery hunting & without the support of my husband & my friend I wouldn’t of had a clue what to do. My husband helped with hanging tree stands, showing me how to do the little things like put a bow holder in the tree, making sure I actually had clothes that fit & kept me warm, because I get cold when it is 50 degrees out.  We went spotting and would walk in to check the trail cams, look for rubs & scraps, we definitely put our time in. I was so excited for the first Saturday of archery I could barely sleep the night before, I felt like a kid the night before Christmas. 

Now came the part that made me respect hunting, I spent 4 weekends in the woods & did not see one deer, no does, no bucks, no nothing. Very quickly it put it into a reality to me that this was not going to be some simple task where I climb up into a tree, & get the opportunity to shoot a deer.  I was really understanding at that point why it is such a sport; not only do you have to hope that you are in the right spot at the right time, but you have to hope that the deer don’t smell you, that they don’t see you, that you actually see them; basically it is not so much harder than any person who has never tried it could ever realize. 

 

It is mentally wearing at times, but so amazing & worth it when you see another hunter finally get their chance to kill a deer.  You know how much they went through, the time they put in, & how things finally worked out in their favor that they got that opportunity,  It is a sport that I have grown to love & respect more than I ever thought possible.   It is a sport that I feel everyone should at one point or another really try because I think a lot of people who feel like I used too would see it like I do now.  See it as a sport, that is time consuming, mentally & physically tough, but oh so rewarding in the end.  It is a sport that can help to bring families together & really help to give people direction. It something where kids can be kids & learn to follow their parents in their guidance in it, something that is not inside & gives them a chance to dedicate themselves too. I did not get a deer this archery season, I actually never even had a chance, but even though I didn’t I really took so much more from it then I could have ever imagined. I can honestly say I love hunting, I love to hear the stories, I love to wake up early to go in my tree stand, I now can’t wait to see trail cam pictures, & want to be the first one to high five whoever’s deer we are going to see. Remember this is all coming from the girl who made her husband dress up as a deer for Halloween & she dressed up as hunter, just so she could be noticed during hunting season for once!

 

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