Off to a Good Start

by James Ferguson

President/CEO

Bowhunting North America, LLC

With a full moon in the night’s sky and the mercury on the thermometer pushing 85 degrees, it was time to try to get some sleep before opening day arrived for the Texas 2007 archery whitetail season.  With the weatherman calling for highs near 95 degrees it just did not seem like it was time to chase whitetail.  Even though I have experienced over 20 opening days in Texas, I just cannot get used to the weather being so hot for this special day.

The Ferguson’s archery season would start out at Brazos Archery Outfitters this year.  We have had numerous successful hunts with Brazos Archery Outfitters in past seasons and I could not think of a better place to kick off our 2007 season.

After a restless night it was here, opening morning.  Donna and I dressed in our Max-1 camo, packed our gear and headed out to our favorite stand.  As Donna climbed into the double ladder stand, I hung two Wildlife Research Center Key-Wicks soaked in WRC Active-Scrape scent. 

As I climbed into the stand, I noticed that Donna was sitting in the camera seat.  When I got to the top of the ladder, I asked her what was wrong. I thought she was hunting first.  Donna said that she wanted to run the camera.  I didn’t waste any time getting into the shooting seat. She wasn’t going to have to tell me twice!

We were hunting in a huge oak tree on the edge of a road that deer use as a travel route.  Acorns were everywhere and I just knew we were in for a good morning despite the full moon and hot weather.

As the sun rose on another beautiful west Texas morning my mind kept thinking about what played out the past two seasons in this same stand.  Donna and I both had taken two bucks each from this very same stand. 

While daydreaming about seasons past, I noticed Donna had turned on the camera and her body tensed up as she stared at something through the tree branches.  I began to scan the road in front of us and then I saw what had caught Donna’s attention.  It was a deer.  I grabbed my Nikon binos to check out what was walking into my shooting lane.  It was a doe.  A mature doe!  The doe came in from down wind.  As she walked into my shooting lane she was sniffing the aroma of the Active-Scrape scent that was just a few feet from her.  After watching the doe for a few minutes and discussing it with Donna I decided I would shoot her.

I slowly lifted my Mathews Drenalin from the bow hanger, clipped on my Tru-Fire release and waited for the doe to turn.  She didn’t know we were there, thanks to our Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer and cover scents. 

When the doe turned slightly quartering away, I came to full draw and settled my 20-yard pin tight behind her shoulder where  my exit hole would be on her off shoulder.  The 20-yard pin of my new Limbsaver sight was glowing like the North Star on a dark winter’s night.

After I settled the pin on the deer, the rest was just a blur.  I saw the Lumenok on my arrow streak toward the doe. Thwack!  The arrow disappeared and the doe stumbled forward and almost hit the ground.  Then she vanished into the waist high broom weeds.  The sound of the running  deer soon stopped and all was silent.  She was down, very close to the stand!

After a short celebration in the stand, I nocked another arrow.  It was only 7:15 and there was still plenty of hunting time left. 

Two hours later we exited the stand to find my doe.  The damage done by my Muzzy MX-4 head resulted in a short tracking job.  We found my doe piled up 75 yards from the stand.

Deer sightings were slim the rest of the weekend for us but I would say that we are definitely off to a good start!

One hunter did connect on a nice buck that almost made the book. 

We will be back at Brazos Archery Outfitters next weekend in hopes of connecting on one of those big bucks that call the banks of the Brazos home!