Hunter: Robert Nash
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Cobb
Season: 2022-2023
Hunt Story
It was a cool and crisp Sunday morning and I was walking an old roadbed surrounded by swampy bottomlands with oaks scattered throughout. The roadbed ran alongside of a small creek. As I made it about halfway to my stand I heard a deer stand up and start to walk off but not spook. I decided that I would quietly set up in between the roadbed and creek in the small patch of woods that ran between them. So I quietly got started climbing up the tree with my hawk climbing sticks and Tethrd saddle and got settled around 615. I noticed some movement on the creek bank around 645 and could tell it was a buck but that was about it as it started to come closer. I tried to look through my binoculars but the buck fever already had started to set in and I could hardly tell which buck it was. It looked a lot like The deer I had been chasing since opening day that I had named big dawg. I have seen this buck numerous times on trail camera but only once in person while he was still in velvet. Anyways back to the story. The deer started moving down the creek bank closer and closer to me until he reached my 40-yard lane at around 655. Once he stepped into my lane I stopped him and quickly drew my bow and judged the yardage to be around 35 and let the arrow fly. The shot felt great but from the looks of it, it looked as if I had hit shoulder. My heart sank as the deer ran off with the arrow still stuck in his side with not much penetration. As he ran off I watched him drop less than 50 yards and lay down. He was dead within minutes of me shooting him. I went ahead and gave him around 30 minutes before getting down to look at my arrow even though I could see the deer laying on its side in the swampy creek bottom. As I walked up to the deer I still didn’t know it was big dawg until I got within 20 yards of him when I initially walked up on him. Honestly I thought I had made a bad shot because of hitting the shoulder it upon further investigation when I was cleaning the deer I had actually had a direct hit to the heart. It was such a blessing and reward getting to watch this deer all season. I truly enjoyed the cat and mouse game this deer played with me and have learned a lot through the experience of chasing him. This is definitely one of my most memorable and shortest hunts to date.
