Busted!

This past Sunday I had an interesting experience while I was out hunting. I arrived at my hunting spot a little after seven and it was getting to where you could just barely see. My tree stand is about a quarter of a mile from where I leave my truck. This is my tree stand pictured. I started heading for my stand and when I was no more then ten yards from the tree my stand was in, I heard a bunch of racket in the brush about thirty yards away. I focused on the movement and it was two doe and a buck that I had spooked coming into the woods.

I didn’t get a very good look at the rack on the buck because it was still pretty dark. I could just make out the body structure of the deer to tell it was a buck. The deer ran across the field to another woods. I went a ahead and tied my bow to my lift string and climbed into my stand. This is where things went wrong.

For those of you that are not familiar with a lift string, I will explain. A lift string is a small rope that is tied to the tree stand that hangs down to the ground. You tie your bow or gun to the string on the ground and use it to pull it up to your stand. You also use it to lower your bow or gun down. If you are hunting with a gun, it is important not to have your gun loaded when you raise and lower it because it could accidentally be fired and injure or kill someone.

Ok, now back to where things went wrong. I was in a hurry to get into my stand so I only tied a single knot around my bow. After I was in my stand I started to pull up my bow and I bet you can’t guess what happened next. My knot slipped and there laid my bow on the ground of the string. Right then I looked up and those three deer were running straight back at me. There must have been something in the other woods that spooked them and caused them to come back.

I didn’t know whether to stay in my stand and let them pass by, or try to hurry down, retie my bow, and hope I can still get a shot. I decided to go ahead and try to get my bow. Unfortunately, they spotted me before I could get my bow and they took off in a different direction. They never came back that morning after that.

This is why it is a good idea to be prepared for anything when on a hunt. If I just would have tied a double knot I probably would have a deer in my freezer right now. I am not to angry about it because I will be ready next time.