Barnett Hunting Blog: It?s been a long time coming?

by | Oct 14, 2021 | 5 Ag Stories, News

Saturday, October 9th, 2021, will go down as the night I finally tagged by first whitetail buck with a bow.

I grew up deer hunting with my family in northwest Missouri. My first deer was a little 4×2 6-point buck that I shot with my brother?s Remington 700 .243 rifle. I believe I was 11 years old at the time. That would lead to many other successful hunts with a gun, taking several bucks through my teenage years that scored in the 120s and lower 130s.

Bow hunting was something I always felt like I had a passion for. It was either 2007 or 2008 when I first started hunting with archery equipment. My first hunting bow was a hand-me-down PSE Spyder with Easton aluminum arrows. In 2009, my dad bought me a Hoyt Super Hawk and I used that bow through the fall of 2020. In January 2021, I purchased a new Bear Species single cam bow that I?m really enjoying. It shoots very smooth.

Believe it or not, I came into the 2021 season STILL searching for that first buck with a bow. I have had several opportunities at mature deer while bow hunting over the last 13-14 years, but it just never worked out, many of the reasons being my stupidity and inexperience. That all finally changed on October 9th.

My boss at the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network, Russ Parker, was kind enough to invite me out to hunt on his southern Iowa farm last weekend and I was extremely thankful for the opportunity. This was my first time in a tree stand this season, so I wasn?t really expecting to shoot anything. I was just happy to be in the outdoors soaking up God?s wonderful creations. Nature is pretty cool, and I?ve always felt so relaxed when hunting or fishing.

After receiving a four-wheeler ride to a double-seater ladder stand on the northern portion of the farm, I climbed up and got settled in. The stand was positioned inside thick timber roughly 25-30 yards from the edge of CRP. A creek ran east to west about 40 yards south of my location.

Only 5-10 minutes after being dropped off, an adult doe ? by herself ? came by within bow range, completely relaxed, almost as if the four-wheeler was a regular occurrence, kind of like how deer don?t seem to mind farm equipment. She stuck around within sight for a couple of hours, bedding down, getting back up and browsing and feeding on acorns, and then bedding back down again. I also think she was either sick or was stuffed up because I kid you not, that doe kept sneezing the entire time. After a while, I started to feel kind of bad for her. I would hate to sneeze that many times.

It was roughly 4 p.m. when I first saw that doe. The only other deer I saw that evening appeared directly behind me at about 6:10 p.m. It was a BUCK!

I couldn?t believe it. This buck ? I couldn?t make out his rack, only that he had what I considered a solid frame ? was feeding behind my tree at 40 yards on acorns. It was so silent in the darkening timber that I could actually hearing him crunching down on his evening snack. The adrenaline was out in full force. I was shaking like a leaf, but I was able to stand up while his head was turned away and I got my bow into position. 30 minutes ? YES, 30 minutes ? passed and the buck over that time had slowly but surely worked his way into a shooting lane at 23 yards. At 6:40 p.m., he stopped completely broadside and looked behind him. I pulled back my Bear Species to full draw, settled my pin tight against the right front shoulder, took an extra slow breath, and slowly squeezed the trigger on my Scott Archery index finger release.

In almost slow motion, I watched my arrow mid-flight head straight for my desired shot location. The buck whipped around upon impact and tore out of the area in a flash. The shot felt good, and I was confident he was down.

We gave the buck about an hour to expire. Once we got back to the shot site, we searched for several minutes before finding a blood trail. We followed small pin drops of blood for about 30 yards, crossed a creek, crossed back over the creek, and eventually found him on top of the bank roughly 60-70 yards from the shot site. The shot was perfect, right behind the shoulder and through both lungs.

I was ecstatic.

A long journey to harvest a buck a bow was finally complete. He was a smaller, gnarly looking 10-point with some funky tines on his left side. A trophy buck for me, and memories that I will never forget.

I can?t finish this blog without thanking Russ, who not only invited me out to his family farm, but helped me track the buck, field dress it, drag it out of the timber, skin and process it. I also need to thank my wife because she was the MVP back home taking care of our family while I was gone.

It was a long time coming, but I finally got my first archery buck!