The Moment Of Truth
Posted By
Wisconsin
at
11/7/2009 12:00:00 AM
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As a bow hunter I live for this time of year. It is a time that you can sit all day in your stand knowing that at any minute the buck of a life time can quickly be within bow range. It is at this moment that your season is literally in the palms of your hand. From knees shivering, butterflies in your stomach, apprehension, and sweaty palms it is now or never. But wait! You can't blow this; it may be the only shot you ever get at this majestic animal.
It is now the time of year when big bucks are going crazy and are the most unpredictable. Here is a situation that portrays this very well. How many times have you seen a buck that was following a hot doe and the doe comes trotting in 15 yards upwind right by your stand? You think to yourself…Are you kidding me? This is perfect!…The buck is trailing
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her, he stops at 25 yards only for a moment and then sprints out of bow range only to cut off the hot doe. It’s completely unpredictable and it happens very often. I've seen this happen this year already. There are also times where I have had a buck come in at a steady pace. Then I have had them stopped once at about 30 yards all the while thinking to myself…He is coming right by me, don't take the shot yet. He does come by me at 10 yards, but he is so focused on the estrous of a doe that he is just like my German shorthair on a pheasant. His nose to the ground, steadfast pace, anxious trot, and a focus so intent that even if I had a blow horn I couldn’t have gotten the buck to stop. I remember that last year I had a younger buck come in that would not lift his head up for anything. With his nose to the ground I watched him actually bang head first into a tree, he then backed up and progressed forward only to hit another tree about 30 yards further. I just wonder how many trees he ran into during his morning mission and if he had a headache at days end. It is unbelievable to me how oblivious a buck can be at certain times of the year.
This brings me to the title - THE MOMENT OF TRUTH - If you are a serious bow hunter you try to control certain things as much as you can. The hours spent in preparation for that one cherished moment of the year are extraordinary. From stand placement to hours spent fine tuning your shot placement, to the rituals each time out, control is everything. I have some rituals that I do every time I go afield. I clean the binocular lenses, range finder lens, and camera lens. I then go to my bow and check the cams, string, rest and sight. Then I make sure I have my grunt tube, estrous bleat, rattling horns, scents, etc. Once I know my equipment, accessories, stand placement, and confidence in my shooting ability are all in check, I'm good to go. This makes me able to solely focus on the moment of truth when it arrives. My experience and advice is if you have a mature buck come by during the rut, take the shot at the first presentation that you are comfortable with. If he stops for a moment at 40 yards and you are comfortable with that shot…take it Take the shot immediately after you settle in. Odds are that he will be out of shooting range very quickly. You do not want to be left with the sick feeling of a once of a lifetime buck that got away.
Enjoy your time in the woods this November as this is one of the best times to be in the Wisconsin woods hunting giant whitetail deer. Good Luck Hunting!
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Cole T. Sandstrom
