So, opening day – archery. Like everyone else in the kootenays, The Wife ™ and I were looking for anything in the elk family (big bulls are preferred, but hey, we’ll take what we can get – we like elk steaks any way we can get em’).
We headed out long before daylight to the same spot where my wife got her LEH cow elk last year. It’s out by the city fields, which is typically a madhouse of hunters, but the spot we’d found last year was back off the roads a bit, nice and secluded and we never saw another soul the whole time. Well, that was last year. Apparently we’re not the only ones who thought it looked like a gorgeous spot for an elk ambush. After the second bowhunter of the day came within sight (one of which walked within 5 feet of me and never figured out I wasn’t a bush – it was VERY hard not to yell ‘boo’ and see how high he would jump, but I just let him go on, never knowing I was there), and the umpteenth quad drove by (some of them not even bothering to turn the quad off before honking their hoochie-mammas), we packed that mess in and headed for home for an early lunch. We had seen two does before the traffic got thick, but big deal – we are NOT shooting a doe on opening day. We’ll do that during late archery season if we’re desperate for a bit of meat.
Regrouped, we headed to a new spot I had found last year, but didn’t know much about it’s current state. It was a nice spring of fresh water deep in the forest with gobs of critter sign, but they’ve clearcut to within 200 yards of it, so we didn’t know what to expect (other than solitude – it’s a bit off the beaten path). Got there – still gobs of critter sign. Setup shop, and The Wife and I took turns napping and looking for elk to walk by so whichever one of us wasn’t napping could try out the new crossbow. Hours and hours later, no elk. One doe with fawn was all we saw the whole time. Tired and discouraged, we headed home for supper.
That done, we headed to yet another spot – this one a tried and true standby hunting spot right by a nice spring of water. Several hours later, my back and shoulders were in severe pain from sitting mostly motionless without a backrest or chair, hoping for an elk to walk up. No elk, just pain and discouragement.
Then, out of the bush walks a really nice looking 5×5 whitetail, still in velvet. He’s very nice, but I’ve seen bigger. I said to myself – “no way, it’s first day of the season, I’ll let him walk. This is the year I’m going to hold out for a monster non-typical or something” Then, my inner voice piped up, and we had a conversation that went something like this:
Inner voice: hey, numbskull, how often to you see nice whitetails like that one in a typical season?
Me: maybe once, in a good year.
Inner voice: hey, stupid, have you ever shot a nice whitetail like that with a bow?
Me: nope – just a little 3 point.
Inner voice: would you shoot this guy during rifle season?
Me: of course – he’s a very nice buck.
Inner voice: so get off your stupid butt and shoot this deer as soon as he turns broadside, eh!
Me: oh… since you put it that way…
So, I started the (as it turned out) agonizing process of getting a shot lined up. Those who whine about the tremendous advantage a crossbow has by being already drawn, can kiss my white butt. It is just as terribly tedious work to get that bow out of the lap and up to the shoulder without yee olde’ deer getting wise to the plan, as it is to pull back your bow (especailly when you’re sitting at ground level, with no cover but some bushes that only come to about your midsection – which is how I was setup).
I got spotted 4 times between lap and shoulder which required the old ‘freeze and pray’ maneuver, and so by the time I had my eye to the scope about 5 minutes later, my arms are literally shaking from fatigue at having to hold the bow in various awkward positions along the way. To make matters worse, the scope is totally fogged, and the deer is now quartering to me.
I get spotted again while rubbing the scope lens with my gloved thumb, and another 1+ minute frozen standoff goes by (during which time, the scope re-fogs). I can’t believe the deer can’t see my left arm quivering from fatigue from holding the bow up for so long. The tension in my body/mind/soul is just off the charts.
Finally, the deer decides he’s had enough of me, and does an end-for-end, and then stops and glares at me at about 18 yards. I swipe at the scope just once with my thumb and pray. Then, just for a moment, he’s doing a quartering-to that is so close to broadside, as to offer a textbook double-lung shot. I hold off, unwilling to risk him jumping the string because he’s tense and staring right at me. Then, for a split second, the buck’s focus wanders, and he glances away from me and seems to relax. The moment at hand, a double-shot of adrenalin hits, which steadies me up like a rock, the freshly wiped crosshairs hit the sweet spot and hold solid, time stands still, and I squeeze the trigger. A ‘swish’ and a ‘thwack’ happen almost simultaneously.
I think I was shaking again before the arrow hit home. I sat there in that semi-shock state you get after a huge jolt of adrenalin has started to wear off, and watch the buck walk calmly away as if nothing happened – except I could see the neat little 3 bladed hole in his side about an inch back from his shoulder blade and a little below center. He calmly meanders on out of sight. I wait for what seems forever (probably only a matter of seconds – I can never tell actual time at moments like that), and finally I hear him go down.
I sat and waited another 20 minutes till the shadows started playing tricks on my eyes (still 5-10 minutes before that ‘hour after sundown’ close of day), stubbornly hoping that I’d get an elk come up to the water hole before dark, and have a double-header. No such luck. Oh well, my back wasn’t up to dressing and hanging two critters tonight anyway.
So, all in all, a very slow day. Only saw a very few deer, and no elk. Just happened that one of those few deer was pretty decent. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see an elk.
Anyway – before someone begs for pictures, here they are. Not bad for an opening-day buck, eh?
