Lone Star Bowhunters Association

I was hunting with Marty Thomas at his lease in Mason County. We had gotten up there on Wensday, only to find that I did not have my release. Marty called his friend that was on the way there and asked if they could stop and get one. Well, they did and I could not thank them enough. We got up Thursday morning to hunt. First thing that morning, I took a shot at a doe and missed. I had forgotten how shaken you can get shooting at deer... even at does.
Well I decided that I was going to go back to that stand again that evening. I really liked the set up and had seen quite a few deer that morning. It was getting late that evening and I had my eye on a doe that had something wrong with her mouth. This would be my first bow kill, topped with my first hunt videoing, and she never would offer a good shot in my video frame.
The whole time I was watching her, I was glancing back and forth at all the other deer that were in the area. I guess I had forgotten to keep an eye out behind me, and my brain was fixed on the deer in front of me, I did not even hear the buck come in.
He just appeared below my ladder stand. All of the sudden, my brain went into hyper-drive, and I automatically moved the camera away from where it was originally positioned to directly under the feeder. The buck went right to eating and ran off all the smaller bucks that had been eating. I quickly counted points to determine he had the required 10 points. He then picked his head up to look at a buck coming in and I saw that he was outside his ears, second criteria… check.
As he was facing away from me, I began to draw my Outback. I came to a solid anchor and like it was staged he turned broadside and stuck his neck out and began to bow-up to a smaller 8 point. When he did this I settled the pin on his shoulder. I slowly began to squeeze the trigger on my release. Before I even had time to think about what was about to happen, the buck leaped into the air. I had hit my first deer with a my bow. I was so excited. I was breathing heavy and tried to regain my composure. When I finally regained my composure, I realized that I need to continue my video.
It was all I could do to wait the thirty minutes, but I did. I decided that it was getting to late to try and track the deer by myself, so rather than looking for him on my own, I walked by to the four wheeler and went back to camp to get reinforcements. We searched for about an hour, but did not find him that night. With a encouragement from Marty, we decided that it would be best to give up for the night and wait until morning. That was a long night; I got up the next morning and went back to the same stand. It was all I could do to wait until 9:00 when Marty said he would be there to help me track the deer. I walked to the last spot that I had seen him and began walking in circles. All of the sudden I just stopped in my tracks and began looking under all the trees and underbrush. I was looking directly into the sun, but something white caught my eye. I shaded my eyes with my hand, and began walking toward the white object. After two steps, I realized that the white object was the belly of my deer. I had found my first bow kill. I hollered Marty’s name and he asked if I had found blood, and I said, no I had found my deer. He ran over and the celebration began.
I was so happy, I was speechless. I could not tell Marty thank you enough. This is a hunt I will never forget…. one because this was my first bow kill and two because I got it all on video. Hope you enjoy!!

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