Paul Morrison checks in with an update on his quest to kill his first deer with his longbow. He killed a turkey with his longbow back in the spring and was hoping to keep the trad bow streak alive this fall on a few early season doe hunts. Here’s a what Morrison had to say about the hunt…
As if bowhunting and self filming aren’t hard enough already, it seems like every year I try and come up with a new challenge for myself in the whitetail woods. The past couple years, the goal has been to harvest a mature doe on camera with traditional archery equipment, but until this point, the opportunity had eluded me. I felt like I was edging closer to my goal, having arrowed a beautiful Merriam longbeard in Wyoming this spring, but would this be the fall when I’d accomplish my goal?
Few things are as pure and simple as taking an animal with a longbow.
This deer season has already proved to be more hectic than I had even imagined, with our new baby boy being born on September 16, and me working on renovations for our house to make room for the new addition.
With deer season finally in full swing, I decided to take a break from work, switch out my hammer for my Striker longbow and get some much need treestand therapy. I headed to the woods with a Lone Wolf stand on my back, camera gear and my traditional bow in hand.
I quickly hung the stand and set all my camera gear up in a food plot that seemed like the ideal location for my longbow. I had just pulled my bow rope up the tree when I caught a glimpse of a little buck making its way through the woods towards me. He made his way passed me and up the hill on to his next destination. As he walked away I couldn’t help but wish that he had been a big fat doe, or even better yet, a monster buck.
The sound of a twig breaking caught my attention and signaled another deer coming my way. This time, it was a big, fat, shooter doe. I quickly powered on the cameras, grabbed my bow from the hook and waited as she made her way to the edge of a small pond within 18 yards of my tree. Standing broadside and as calm as she could be, I knew my chance had finally arrived.
I drew slowly and aimed for the low heart as she looked away. All the practice of the off-season came together as the bow seemed to go off on its own and the arrow flew strait and true. The deer mule kicked and took off into woods, leaving me grinning and shaking in the tree as the realization of my accomplished goal swept over me.
I gave myself 30 minutes to calm down before climbing down to start the blood trail. And just 100 yards down the trail I found my Ohio trophy doe. It was a great way to wrap up another traditional archery film for the Bowhunt or Die web show.
It’s a great feeling to accomplish the goals you set for yourself, even if the road to get to them is both discouraging and hectic. All the lows really do make the highs that much more enjoyable when it all comes together.
Be watching for this hunt on an upcoming episode of Bowhunt or Die.
