The Pursuit of Pope and Young – Bret Amundson, entry #2
Ben Brettingen’s trip out west last weekend really started to get me excited for the bow season this year. Reality also hit me as I realized just how close to the season we are. I’ve been shooting my bow a little bit, but not as much as I wanted to before the season starts. I also have to dig out my warm weather hunting clothes and make sure they’re as scent free as possible.
Since we’d be hunting in the Badlands of western North Dakota, I had to make sure my long range pins were ready to go. And for the first time I felt comfortable enough to try and take a 70 yard shot in practice. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see ANY situation where I’d actually take that shot at a deer, but after watching the guys attempt the 100 yarder at Game Fair, I decided to move beyond the 60 yard pin that I’ve got dialed in. I had waited to take too many long shots until I had a good backstop. One arrived in the mail in the form of “The Shield – Archery Backstop”. That way if I miss, the arrow won’t bounce into the woods.
I had a little fun with some long distance dialing, before moving the target back to the 30 yard mark and shooting until my arms were tired.
30 yards was the distance between myself and the 10 point buck I stuck last October out west and that’s been the furthest I’ve had to shoot for any of the deer I’ve taken during the bow season. But it’s good to practice long shots so if you ever decide to take the shot, you’ve gotten proficient and confident in doing it.
I did get a little sweaty out there tonight, but at least the wind died down a bit and I had lots of friends. A young fawn had been laying the grass just 20 yards from me when I started. I think she scared me more than I scared her when she bounded away. A rooster crowed in the distance and talked me into taking a quick scouting trip before it got too dark.
I haven’t gotten any bucks on my camera, but a heave dose of does and young fawns are regular visitors to the area bean and corn fields. While Ben had the chance to scout our land in NoDak, I have been spending time in the Minnesota woods checking trail cams and glassing cropland hoping to find that bruiser that I’ll hope to see walking within that 30 yard range from my treestand. I did catch a nice 10 pointer doing mach-10 across a bean field when I was driving home the other day-hopefully he’ll make his way by me on September 15th.
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