Date: 12/23/2005
Location: Gasconade County
Time: 7:50 A.M.
Conditions: Clear/40°
Weapon: Hoyt Havoc Tec
Gear: Scentblocker Plus Realtree X-Green/Mossy Oak Insulated Bib, Cabelas Gear Bag, Super Carbon Magnum Arrows, Wasp Jack Hammer Broadheads.

December 23rd was certainly a beautiful morning to hunt. The 40° degree weather was a nice change of pace form the previous days I had hunted in the mid to low teens. I set up in one of my most successful stands that I had stayed away from for awhile. The wind was perfect coming out of the west. At about quarter to 8:00 I spotted movement 70 yards off on the far ridge. Three mature does were making their way towards my set up. As the lead doe turned on a trail that crossed directly in front of me, my heart began to pound on queue.

The first doe walked in front of me at 15 yards, stopped and took a good look at me. After a brief stare down ,she put her head down and cautiously made her way forward. Feeling comfortable, I began to draw back, only to have the doe spot my movement. I labored at full draw for a good minute as she tried to locate where the movement came from.

She finally relaxed and headed on her way. Still at full draw, I was getting ready to pick my spot to take a shot, when I noticed the last doe was good size and was limping. As I took a closer look, I saw that she was laboring on three legs (missing her front limb) trying to keep up with the first two. She gave me a great quartering away shot at 20 yards and I took the shot. The arrow found a perfect path and the doe ran 70 yards as I watched her fall.

This was a nice end to a long season that had its up and downs along the way. I now have a plenty of deer steaks to share with family and the rest of the heartland hunters.

Field notes: When I recovered the doe, I examined her leg to find she had fully recovered from the loss of her front leg from an injury in the past. I also rediscovered the reason for hunting partners. After dragging the doe 100 yds, mostly uphill, I had really missed a second set of hands in dragging her out of the woods.