So I after we cleaned the geese I grabbed my rifle and headed up the hill. I’m not much of a doe hunter, although I should be. I killed a couple early this fall in Southern Missouri but since then I’ve been positively hands off. Generally I’m afraid of shooting a doe while buck hunting because I don’t want to stir things up. If does are using an area, I want that behavior to continue. I also don’t want to get down, wander around tracking, and then spread my scent all over everything. Even when my buck tags are full it seems like I’m guiding a friend or scouting bucks right up to the first of January. Anyway, this year I wanted to shoot a doe to make jerky. The Kansas late rifle season runs the first several days of January but I can also hunt Unit 19 with a bow until the end of January. No pressure.
I had a wild truck ride up a steep and rocky hill with 8 inches of snow on everything. Then I trudged through the snow to a nice little double man ladder stand that was real good to me several years ago, last time I sat in it. I was set up by around 4:00 and saw my first doe by 4:15. She was in the brush and never gave me a shot. Then 15 minutes later a couple of does walked behind my stand 20 yards away. I picked the bigger one and took a shot when she cleared some brush. She took off running like nothing had happened… downhill… in the trees and brush… Ugh.
Since I had a hard time believing I missed at that range I got down immediately and picked up the tracks. It didn’t me too long to find the blood that you saw in the pictures below. Still, she went probably 100 yards:
You can tell the shot placement was good… anyway, now I was remembering why I don’t doe hunt much. I went back up to the stand, ditched all my gear except a safety strap, and went back to start hauling. The Old Man eventually showed up to help, and we had her in the truck before it was completely dark, without anyone having a heart attack. Now I’ve got my jerky basis covered until September’s antelope hunt…
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