[jcrayford]

In going along with the 2023 Archery Harvest thread, tell a story about what you feel is your best bow hunting season.

I'll start:

8 or so years ago, I was hunting down on my brother's property in Southern Alberta. Targeting Mule bucks, I wanted to get close in on the action. My brother suggested the night before to go sit in the round hay bales to get a chance at taking a buck.

In the middle of the night (or so it seemed) I quietly snuck out of the camper and down through the creek bottom and back up the other side to where the 35 bales were sitting, gathered in the field. Quietly sneaking through the barbed-wire fence, I settled down at the far north end of the gathered bales, placing my short stool just on the south side of the last bale. It was still very dark with no moonlight, but while peaking above the height of the bale and looking through binoculars several deer sized shapes were out in the hay field. Although I couldn't make out any antlers yet, I knew that if there were Does there was a good chance that a buck could be among them.

Every 5 minutes or so I would stand up and look out into the field again and again, watching the bodies appear better and better with the ever-brightening sky. Now glancing down at my watch, I was beginning to count down the time to legal shooting light. 45 minutes.... 30 minutes.... 20 minutes.... Soon would be the time to either get busted or get busy.

With 15 minutes left until legal shooting light, as I patiently waited, I saw movement to my right (South of me). A Doe had snuck in through the fence where I had come through and was walking through the bales to join in on the fun going on in the field. Freezing everything that could possibly move, she glanced towards me but carried on her way without much concern.

About 2 minutes later, I heard a grunt from the other side of the bale I was beside. The bale moved slightly and within seconds, an antler appeared around the edge of the bale. An ear quickly followed it, then an eye…. A 2x2 Muley had stuck his head around the bale and was now proceeding to sniff my broadhead and arrow. I could’ve reached out and grabbed his nose! At the time, I was thinking “You’re cute, but I need you to move as I’m waiting for your larger cousin.”

It took a couple of minutes for the 2x2 to move off and I never did get a shot at the 4x4. But to this day, after everything I’ve experienced while out bow hunting that was the coolest thing that’s happened. Even though I didn’t spill a drop of blood that season, it remains as my best season of bow hunting since I started this madness in 1996.

J.