Deer Hunt 2025

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
23,033
8,045
113
Phoenix Az
Got drawn for archery deer this year. Goes from 8/22 to 9/13. Its for any antlered deer so mule, white tail, couse, what ever is in my unit. My unit was Unit 1 which is 5 hours from my house, way up in the northeast corner of the state. Course, people already have time off on opening day and the following week, to the point we are a skeleton crew so i cant take time off. Fuck it, ill just go up after work on friday and hint saturday, maybe a little sunday morning. Parents are retired so my dad went up early and i was going to stay with him.

Well 2 days before i was leaving, figured fuck it, ill bring my boy too. Hes 6 now and im not expecting much for hunting at this point lol. Be his first time out hunting and we get some quality time together.

So i load up the 25 year old vehicles for a 600 mile round trip drive. That flatbed is 20 years old this year lol.

22356cf4e3fddb447c7e812fc7a6b7d0.jpg


Cruise up the mountains at 70 without issue.

Saturday morning, i still gotta finish siting my bow in (upped the poundage to 65, got new arrows and adjusted my trigger). Got a good 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yard pin on it and dailed best i could in an hour or so. Wasnt that far off so wasnt bad. Didnt see much for the day, lots of elk and turkey. Few does but no bucks. At the tail end of the day, we decide to just check out one last spot in the tracker and run across a decent 2 point. I hit the brakes, grab my bow and jump out. My dad and son are just staring out the window at me. Estimated first shot at 30, it was 20 so over the back it went (i let go high too). It ran up a bit and stopped again 50 yards out and facing front ways at me. I aimed just to the side of the shoulder and nailed that fucker! Im stoked, sons stoked and dad is yelling hes so stoked. Waited 20 min till it was getting dark and started to go after him. My som picked up the blood trail and off we went. Buck made it 170 yards from where it was shot and was done. Nice little 2 point, nothing massive but aint small either for the area

dc79b1281423c4112a0fc3291f55b4f9.jpg

a96967b56e62517f753604d5df263646.jpg

57e9824194400bccc6c6ead96e71ff58.jpg


My son had no issues with it till he could smell it. He hated the smell lol. Gutting it didnt bother him though, he just watched.

Got it back to camp and took an hour to skin it. Got to bed by 10:30 that night. Woke up next morning and brought it to the processor an hour from camp, then headed home. Uneventful drive once again but god damn i miss pulling with this power compared to the L5P. Passing on two lane roads is so nice. Turbos wind up and your around them in a heartbeat!

Overall, it was a whirlwind of a weekend but one ill never forget. Thats first buck i ever got and first kill with a bow. Im not a huge hunter, average or less than average at best but i enjoy it when i can go. This one certainly got the blood flowing!
 

clrussell

pro-procrastinator
Sep 23, 2013
6,034
527
113
Nice work James.

So much of hunting to me is the fact it slows down time. Couple that with you got to spend it with your family multiplies the win.
 

N2BRK

Well-known member
Dec 31, 2009
2,377
712
113
That’s so cool to see! Nice memories made there :)

Years ago, I made some ammo for a member here, and I was so happy to hear that he used it on his daughter’s first hunt. She blew the neck out of her first deer shot and it went flop! :) My kiddo has zero interest, so I lived vicariously. Haha.
 

Dozerboy

Well-known member
Jun 23, 2009
5,088
682
113
TX of course
That's awesome James! I never got into bow hunting. I'm not quite that patient. I did do some black powder hunting though and enjoyed it.
 

Benny315

Benny
Feb 11, 2019
87
4
8
Backwoods, Savannah, NY
Same here James, its just a westcoast east coast thing. I always give some friends of mine shit for calling a 4point buck a 8 point ?
Curious to what happens when it's an odd number of points ?? Have shot many deer with odd number points, several 5+4's, 4+3's, somewhere I even have a 1+5 skull... Even our tag reports ask left/right point count..:unsure: