There’s something about the first snow that has always excited me. As a young boy it meant snowmen, forts and snowball fights. Now as a grown man, the first snow brings with it beauty and peace, the thoughts of approaching holidays and time spent with loved ones. And of course, if the first snow comes early enough, I get the chance to hunt deer with snow on the ground. This year, that day was November 9th. It had been forecast that we would see accumulation that day, so I made plans to be in my deer blind with my crossbow. The alarm clock went off at 4:20 a.m. and rolled right out of bed to get my first look out the window. I could tell the very second that I stepped into our living room by the amount of natural light coming through the window that there was snow on the ground. I fed the dogs, ate my breakfast, grabbed a shower and was out the door in time to get to the property I was hunting on before 6 a.m. I wasted no time jumping out of the truck and getting suited up.
The inside of author’s hunting “shack”
I wanted to be in my blind an hour before the legal shooting light. As I cut across the field and walked into the lane, I couldn’t help but smile as I saw all the wet snow sticking to the branches. The brush on both sides of the lane swept up and over me forming what felt like a white tunnel for me to walk through. I followed the snow cover trail to my blind and hopped inside. I fired up my buddy heater which created just enough light for me to get unpacked and settled in. I enjoyed the faint glow and warmth from my heater while I peered out the windows sipping my coffee. Just then, movement caught my eye. I could see the silhouette of a large deer moving across the opening about 75 yards out in front of me. It was still too dark to shoot, but I couldn’t help but get an adrenalin jolt as I imagined how big of a buck it probably was and hoped he might come back by once daylight came. By 7:30 a.m. it was nice and bright, the snow was still softly falling. Moments like those make me wish I could freeze time and just sit there forever watching the snow fall.
shortly after first light
As I sat there staring at the snow, coffee in hand, my mind began to wander and I began to think about my previous hunt earlier in the week. I had taken off a day of work to spend in the woods. As luck would have it, the night before, I got a call from a friend that his corn dryer had burned up a power feed. So after a short morning sit on my day off, I headed over and got his dryer back up and running. I made it back to the woods and into the tree I had chosen by 3 o’clock. Sometime shortly after 4 o’clock a very nice buck went cruising through the woods south of me. I grunted and bleated a few times. The old boy gave me a look once but never acted like he was interested in changing his current course of travel. I’ve seen this many times before and have learned that if a buck ignores you, it doesn’t mean he won’t be back. So, I played it cool and kept watching the area I last saw him. About 45 minutes later he emerged from the brush that he had previously disappeared into. He didn’t appear to be going back the way he came, but rather looked like he was coming to find me. I gave a few soft bleats to seal the deal and got ready. The buck came in like he was on a rope, well until he didn’t that is. He gave me one clear shot at 30 yards but he had altered his course slightly and was still on the neighbors property so I had to wait.
When he finally crossed the property line, he stopped in an opening that was almost perfect. I say almost because I had set up too high in my tree with my tree saddle putting a big tree limb right between me and that buck. I should have lowered myself down on my tree tether a little bit but fearing he might hear or see me I tried to force the shot. Trying to make sure I didn’t hit the tree limb, I ended up shooting right underneath him. He bounded off onto the neighbors property again and stood there for a while as if he was trying to figure out what just happened. After a few minutes I tried to get him to reengage. I threw a few soft grunts and bleats in the opposite direction hoping it might entice him to come and see what was hiding in the brush to my west. He lifted his head to look but he wasn’t budging. I knew this buck was seconds from walking away so I gave it the Hail Mary. That’s right, the infamous “Snort Wheeze”. A very effective call when used appropriately. Well, it worked, that buck came marching right back into the woods I was hunting but as luck would have it, he went behind me into an area I had not prepped any lanes to shoot through. I got myself spun around the side of my tree and braced myself to try and make the shot. He was 30 yards again or so I thought so I settled my pin and released my second arrow. Thump! The arrow struck the ground beneath him again, I was shooting through a lot of smaller thin branches and figured the shot must have deflected. The buck just stood there motionless. For the first time in my life I had a chance to take a third shot at a deer with a bow after two missed attempts. Unheard of for me but still, I had to try it. Once again, I settled the 30 yard pin and expected a different result. Thump, the third arrow stuck the dirt mere inches from the second. By now I was getting very frustrated and the buck was growing a bit more unsettled as he began to trot back the way he came. Just as I nocked for my fourth and final arrow the buck crossed into an opening that I knew was a forty yard shot. I gave a couple of short meh meh’s as I drew back for the final attempt at the buck. I settled my 40 yard pin and released just as the buck started to move. Wack! “Gotcha that time sucker” I muttered under my breath. He had been standing perfectly broadside and other than his slight movement before the arrow reached him, but the shot felt good. I could see the very tail of the arrow and fletchings sticking out of him as he bounded off. He stopped about 75 yards east of me and I thought, “sweet, he’s going to tip over right there”. What felt like close to a minute or more later, he began walking south and then as if nothing had happened, I watched my buck turn and trot away heading south east. In the following moments I began reflecting on the whole situation. Had I lost my mind? I’ve never done anything like that before. I got so determined that I was going to win this little charade that I lost my cool. I should have been done after the second shot but by then I had lost control. I got down and walked over to the spot he was standing for my last shot and I found blood. I quickly let Steve know and he contacted the neighbors so we could take up the track. At first, I felt really good about what we were seeing. We had good blood, nice and bright and a fair amount of it on the ground. But just over 50 yards into the track, blood drops started getting smaller. We had found the front two thirds of my arrow. It was covered in blood but I noticed one of the 3 mechanical blades had broken off. That could have caused arrow deflection inside the deer’s body. We pressed on and somewhere around 200 yards or more the blood trail dried up. We searched and searched for signs of where he went but found nothing. I crossed the open field and looked up and down the edge of the next section of woods in hopes that I might pick up a blood trail again but nothing. We had successfully recovered Steve’s deer a few weeks earlier with my 7 month old lab pup so I had my wife bring Ranger out to see if lightning might strike twice. With no formal training, I knew it was a lot to expect from him but we had to try. Poor Ranger was a mess once he hit the trail, he started out ok but quickly became distracted by the new environment and all the shadows we were creating in the woods with our flashlights. After several attempts to get Ranger to focus, I finally had to call it. Steve let the neighbors know our last heading and asked them to let us know if they found a dead buck.
Author’s buck shortly after recovery
Suddenly, I was awakened from my daydream as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened a text from Steve. It read “look what the neighbors found”. Followed by a picture of my buck. My emotions went from calm and relaxed to wanting to jump out of my blind. I texted Steve back, “I knew it, I just knew that shot was lethal.’ Now all I had to do was sit back and finish my coffee while I waited for the morning hunt to conclude so we could go get my buck! A few hours later, we met Rick, the owner of the property my buck had expired on. He kindly drove us out to the woods where his boys had spotted my buck the night before. He was lying about 150 yards from the spot that I stopped my tracking efforts Thursday night. Well as they say, the rest is history, and I am tagged out a week before the Michigan firearm season opener. Which is something I haven’t done in 10 years. I will be out filling doe tags during the firearms seasons doing my part and just enjoying more time in my blind.
Stay safe out there, enjoy every minute you have in the woods, good luck and God Bless!
son how to shoot and have watched him successfully harvest three deer to date. I enjoy making memories with him in the woods and hope to see him take some nice deer in years to come. My loving wife and partner in life is my biggest fan and supports me in all of my endeavors. We love to go camping, hiking, kayaking and exploring together. I’ve been to Canada nine times and counting on remote fly-in fishing trips and love going after those tasty Walleye and giant Northern pike. Most recently to date, I have become a Michigan DNR certified Hunter and Bow Hunter Safety instructor and
have started writing for the Wild Game Dynasty Blog. I enjoy giving back, by teaching youth some of what I have learned in my years of experience in the woods, as well as sharing my stories with readers.
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