There is one doe that is very wise to my hunting platform stand feeding station and the timber was recently thinned pretty heavily after the blizzard we had in 2000 and left the view of my stand in the open when looked upon from the ridge line straight up the hillside at a plateau which is at least 80 yards in the distance.  One doe in particular has figured out an antidote to keep from getting an arrow launched at her.  What she will do,  is circle my entire hunting stand and get down wind to pick up my scent and if that doesn't work, she will remain at the top of the ridge and look straight down an ole logging skidder road that terminates in front of my tree platform stand.  If something doesn't look or smell right, she will immediately give out the snorting alarm which can be heard at least 1/4 mile away if the wind direction is right. 

The only way to harvest that particular doe was to outsmart here and so far she has been smatter than myself.  My plan of attack was to set up a portable tree stand at the ridge line and plateau and hopefully intercept the doe while she was looking at my tree stand platform from her position.  On the afternoon of 10-03-03, I packed my portable tree stand up the ridge and plateau and had a tree in mind to get into but after surveying the scene, another tree offered a much better view of the area since I didn't know exactly the direction and trails the deer were accessing the ridge line;  I would look up and there the doe would be looking straight at my platform tree stand trying to figure out if something didn't look right.  I got the portable standing set up and climbed up about 25 feet giving me a good view of the area and the large diameter white oak tree offered me a pretty good concealment due to its size.  After getting settled in and pulling my bow and back pack up the tree, I felt very confident that this strategy would be successful.

The wind direction was from the North which was in my favor if the deer came from my right and at around 7:00 PM, two does about the size of the one harvested circled the ridge and a yearling that was out of the spots was with them also.  The doe sensed that something was not just right because I had walked across the trail the doe used when she circled the ridge line but my scent wasn't  strong enough to spook her.  She stopped behind a very small sapling with her vital area directly behind it and I was standing on my tree stand and it seemed like five minutes had passed before she took a step forward giving me a clear broadside shot at her heart lung area.  I slowly drew the heavy cam bow back, anchored and let the Holo sight settle down and released the arrow which looked like a very good hit.  I stepped the yardage off from the tree I was planning on setting up on and she was a couple yards in front of it which was around 18 yards. 

I watched the deer after the arrow hit and she ran into some cover and I heard her when she fell down and kicked a few times and the other two deer stayed within about 40 yards and I waited until dark before I came down out of the tree not to spook the other deer.

It was nearly a mistake to wait because when I retrieved my arrow there was a little blood on the ground but no blood trail.  I went straight to the position I had mentally marked and had to make about 4 or 5 laps "criss" crossing trying to find the deer.  I left my bow and back pack near a large pine tree and lost them for a while also  I finally hung a small Mini Mag flashlight which is a piece of junk; a lightening bug puts out more light than those things.  I definitely plan to replace my Mini Mag flashlights in the very near future for something that will put out more light, yet small enough to carry........now back to my story.  I finally kept making laps back and forth into the cover and actually "stumbled" onto the doe.  I saw the reason why there wasn't a blood trail; the exit hole was two (2) inches higher than the entry hole which the arrow planned upward for whatever aerodynamic reason.  After tagging and field dressing the doe, the drag down the hill was not too bad but very rewarding. 

The temperature was around 58 degrees and is going to be in the mid 40's according to the Weather Prophets, therefore let her hang overnight with the hide on and process her in the morning.  There should be some very good venison after quartering her up and letting her age for four or five days in my basement game refrigerator.

Well I had better get off her...this story is taking on a novel like form..

Below pix of harvested deer with the PSE Mach6 bow and Holographic Sight:

Written by Bill Porter on 10-03-03 and web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 07-03-13.