I've been on a pretty good run of killing mature animals with OTC and easy to draw tags. It has gotten to point where I would get butterflies only with the largest animals. I was/am sort of a hunting junkie that needed bigger and bigger animals to get my fix. Then after the first couple of hunting weekends in December and passing up several bucks from the lack of butterflies in my stomach, I had an epiphany.
I would leave my trusted Monster compound at home and only hunt with my 15 dollar swap meet recurve, Walmart aluminum arrows, and nothing but the best Fred Eichler 150 grain broadheads. I would leave all technology behind and just hunt the old way. No sitting water, no blinds, no rangefinders, limited glassing and spotting and stalking. Just still hunting, coues and muleys at it finest. Lets just say I increased the degree of difficulty to incredible levels. Needless to say I had several close encounters that would have ended in 50-75 yard shots with modern equipment.
The last weekend of the year rolls around and I am in my favorite stretch of country hunting like my predecessors did before me, hoping to have some of their hunting luck.
The next day rolls around and my brother is heading to the flats for Muleys and I decided to go to a basin with mostly coues. I get about three quarters of the way to my destination when I start spotting deer. I see a small buck chasing a doe and nearly breaking his neck getting through a fence across a small canyon from me. A fork horn muley is sixty yards from me watching for my next move. The coues go up the basin chasing the doe and muley canters in the opposite direction into the ravine never to be seen again. I go in the direction of the coues. When I get a few hundred yards into the basin I start the first round of a three round Mexican Standoff with a 90-95 inch buck. It last so long I text both my brothers that I have 90" coues at seventy five yards. The brother not hunting with us is yelling SHOOT over text. I simply reply "recurve"
Look above the bush in the center of the screen you can see the rack of the buck.
After ten minutes the buck walks off and a small buck follows. Thinking they were relaxed I drop my pack and start planning my strategy to close the distance. I take two steps to the right of a small mesquite(still slightly behind) when I see a doe walking in my direction. I freeze, thinking use your camo and be cool. She is twenty three paces away and I'm pinned in the open. She gets closer and walks off to the left. Then the full size buck follows her trail before I can readjust my location. He gets to an opening thirty yards away, stops and stares at me. Same thoughts are going through my head. Use your camo and be cool. Thinking wow this would be over if I had my real bow. Round two ends after what feels like an eternity but was likely only a minute or two. (I won on points)
The buck now is in that clump of mesquites in the above picture on the right hand side. Round 3 begins, except I did not know it was round 3 and I flinch(buck knocks me out). He is less than 30 yards a way, not visible, I stay still for a moment and decide to take a step to my right to clear the small mesquite and drop to my knees to prepare for the shot. He sees this and instead of following the Does path he trots straight away circling to the does location about 60 yards from me. Broadside of course when he gets there. I know I cannot catch up and I watch them go over a small lip. In a moment of self realization I discover "wow butterflies are back"
I grab a water and some peanut butter crackers from my pack and have breakfast thinking about what just transpired. Then I look to where all the action took place and see the baby buck making his way on the same path as the other two. This time in my new found wisdom I go to the left of the mesquite and set up. Knowing I am a horrible shot without sights and a rest for that matter, my subconscious was saying I will miss by two feet, so aim higher. The voices in my head were loud that mourning. He clears the mesquites by a step where the big buck hung up and I draw, aim, and release in one smooth motion like I knew what I was doing. After a second, but what felt like the last hour of driving school, the deer drops in his tracks.
I could not believe what I was seeing. I had just taken a coues with a swap meet recurve at
27 paces. No tricks, very little tech, on the deers terms. I never even lifted my binos to my eyes.
Hunting this old way, I learned more about animals than can be imagined. What would have, very likely, ended with a full size deer if I had my Monster,instead ended with one of my greatest trophys. I wasn't going to post this deer because of its size, but this was just to cool not to. It got my butterflies back.
We finished the year searching for a buck for my brother, on the way we found this place.
