by – Forrest Breedlove
This afternoon I slipped out because of a front coming in tonight bringing much colder temperatures with snowy rain and climbed into the big white oak just an hour and a half before last light. This was the first time I had hunted this stand since September when I arrowed a summer coat doe.
It is a funnel connecting two bedding areas pinched down by a standing bean field. This funnel is used quite often by deer in route to the foodplot some 200 yards to the North. With rifle season in its third week the deer are reluctant to get out of bed in the evening to head to eat. With the pressure delaying movement this stand is perfect for picking one off on its way to the foodplot near last light.
At 5:10 I heard some deer coming from the thicket to my SW and saw the glimpse of a few in motion. Though my Leupold’s dissected the extremely thick briars and broomsage it remained hard to identify exactly what was coming. When a big doe popped out into the bean field I started getting ready. It was dead still with very little wind. The deafening silence would make pulling it off against this old pressured gal very dicey. When 2 fawns popped out behind her they all started walking quartering to me.
There was no way I could stand for the shot and would need to move sluggishly to raise my bow into position without being detected. Finally I was ready as she started to turn quartering away and I ranged her at 35 yards. She walked behind a long limb that was overhanging the field edge from the white oak I sat in. Once she got out from behind that limb the display of my RX-II read 41 yards. Drawing while she kept pressing forward I stopped her with a mouth bleat. After zeroing in on her the Firenock lit the path of my longest connecting shot on a whitetail ever. Out of the gate like a greyhound she exploded into the hardwoods to my Northeast.
While I gave her a few minutes for insurance a year and a half old buck came by inspecting the scene. Once light expired I slipped out of this productive hide and took up the prominent blood trail.
The only archery shot execution I have experienced harder than that of a pressured mature doe is shooting a turkey without a blind in sparse cover. Every North Carolina rifle season doe I am fortunate enough to take is very special to me and this girl will always hold a place in my whitetail memory.
