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Bowhunting Tennessee Deer On Opening Weekend

By Brodie SwisherSeptember 25, 20171 Comment

LAST UPDATED: February 27th, 2020

Despite the temperatures pushing 90 degrees, the Tennessee archery opener proved to be another great weekend to kick off the best days of the year. My family’s growing tradition of hunting together on opening morning found us scrambling around in a big shooting house overlooking a secluded food plot tucked in the timber.

On last year’s opening morning, we saw several shooter bucks and my daughter killed a doe after passing on the bucks that were out of range. This year, however, things were different. The woods were dead. Nothing was on the move. We never saw a deer before having to leave mid-morning for a soccer game.

We made plans to try again on Sunday afternoon with a ground blind setup on a bean field. My 8-year-old boy, Easton, was up to bat for this sit. He’s killed a couple deer with a rifle but hadn’t had the opportunity to turn an arrow loose during archery season.

blind-brushed
Some blind sets just feel deadlier than others. We had a great feeling about this set as we crawled into the blind.

We drove in to locate the exact trail I figured the deer would be entering the field on. The boys picked it out right away. It was a solid trail that was obviously being used heavily for entry/exit to this portion of the field. We dumped out the ground blind, bows, chairs, tripods, and the Yeti and began to make our same-day ground blind set.

We worked up quite a sweat as we worked to clear grass and brush in our efforts to make our blind disappear from the eyes of deer entering the field just 15-20 yards away. With the blind brushed in and looking nearly invisible, I went and stashed the truck while the boys set up our gear in the blind.

thermacell-on-yeti
The heat a Thermacell unit puts off can get you by in a pinch. Keep one in the deer blind, even in the late season, to knock the chill off your hands.

A nice breeze made the sit in the blind a little more bearable as we waited for the action to unfold. A little fawn with a few spots left on her rump was the first on the scene a little before 6:00pm. She fed around then went back to catch up with momma. Another doe popped out further down the field a few minutes later and worked her way out into the field.

Things were pretty quiet the next 30 minutes or so until I looked up and a buck was standing on the trail in front of our blind at 18 yards. I told the boys to freeze. The buck did his best to figure out what the black hole in the brush was.

Easton stood up to the crossbow as the buck began to make his way out into the field. When he stopped to look back in our direction, I gave Easton the green light to pull the trigger on his Ravin crossbow.

The arrow had passed completely through the buck before he even knew what hit him. He ran just 50 yards before crashing to the ground and disappearing in the beans. It happened fast. Too fast for the nerves to get the best of us. Easton was fired up – and speechless, which is rare. It was fun to watch.

finding-blood-trail
Easton immediately found blood right where he shot the buck.

We waited a few more minutes to see if any other deer might step out into the field, but our desire to lay hands on Easton’s buck before darkness took over caused us to slip on out of the blind to look for blood.

We immediately found blood right at the shot scene. Blood trailing may be one of Easton’s favorite parts of the hunt. He gets it honest. There’s nothing like following that first blood trail of the year. And this one was an easy trail to follow. Easton’s shot had taken the 7-point buck’s heart out.

blood-on-beans

 

Easton was grinning ear to ear as we walked up and found the buck that had disappeared in the beans. He was proud to grab on to those antlers and begin counting points.

tennessee-buck
Nothing compares to hunting at home with my kiddos on opening weekend.

No matter where I go and what animals I shoot – nothing compares to the hunts I spend with my kids. They are moments that will never be forgotten. They are memories made that we’ll talk about for years to come. These are the days – the best days. Well done, Easton.

Gear List

Ravin – R15 Crossbow

NAP – Slingblade Broadhead

Vortex – Ranger 1000 Rangefinder

Lacrosse – Boots

Primos – Double Bull Blind

ThermaCELL

YETI – Hopper Flip 12.

Brodie Swisher
Brodie Swisher is a world champion game caller, outdoor writer, seminar speaker and Editor for Bowhunting.com. Brodie and his family live in the Kentucky Lake area of west Tennessee.
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