The Hunt for My First Public Land Archery Deer
Lucas Cooney 01.20.20
I fell in love with archery about six and a half years ago when I was at a press event for an ATV manufacturer and they invited an archery company along to give us media folks an afternoon of flinging arrows. That was the first time I’d ever shot a bow and it lit a fire for archery that has yet to be quenched.
Before I even got home, I’d made plans to purchase a target bow and started shooting tournaments pretty much right away. After maybe a year and a half of target archery, another ATV manufacturer invited me to Texas to hunt whitetail deer. On that trip, I was able to connect on my first-ever live animal and that was all it took to get me hooked on bow hunting. You can watch that video here.
And while I’ve had a chance to shoot deer and hogs on private land with a bow in the following years, I have never been able to fill my tag on public land. A friend and I hit the woods about an hour or so from Toronto, Ontario in the middle of the rut to try to change that this season.
Toyota Canada was kind enough to lend me a Tundra TRD Pro for the trip and we loaded it up with tree stands, bows, and more gear than was probably necessary for four and a half days of hunting.
The Truck
The Tundra TRD Pro I borrowed came dressed in Army Green paint and is built on the Crewmax short bed chassis. It comes loaded from the factory with more options than any truck I’ve driven before. Some of the highlights include four-wheel drive, 18-inch forged black alloy wheels, 2.5” FOX coil-over shocks, spray-in bed liner, embedded navigation, powerslide/tilt moonroof, push button start, LED headlamps, Rigid Industries LED fog lamps, heated mirrors, heated black leather seats, and access to the Toyota app — which lets you start the truck from your phone and lets you know how much fuel is left in the truck and how much air is in the tires. There’s plenty more, but you get the idea.
I ended up using four-wheel drive a few times when the snow got a bit deeper than expected, which meant that traction was always plentiful. But it’s the growl of the 5.7 liter V8 engine that I’ll remember. I could start the engine on my app and find the truck with my eyes closed from a good distance away. Going back to the docile hum of my fuel-efficient daily driver was a direct hit to my ego. I need to get a V8 back into my life.
And the truck did not disappoint on paved roads. The cab was quiet even at highway speeds and that burly V8 had little issue getting up to speed quickly. I only wish I had a chance to tow something behind me to take full advantage of its 381 horsepower and 401 lb-ft of torque. Maybe next time.
The Area
My buddy Viktor (huntingcidiot on Instagram) is much more proactive than I when it comes to public land hunting and had heavily scouted the area we planned on hunting for the past couple of years. We each brought a climbing stand so we could set up pretty much anywhere the trees cooperated (no low branches). I had my Lone Wolf Hand Climber that I bought used about a year ago. I’m a fan of climbing stands, but if you’ve got to walk a really long way, the weight can become an issue. Fortunately, we were always within a mile of the truck.
The beauty of Canada is that there is public land (or Crown land, as it’s called here) all over the place. We were just a short drive from the biggest city in the country, which is home to literally millions of people, and there are tracts of huntable public land all over the place. Of course, being that close to so many people means that there can be a lot of other hunters looking for the same deer you are. Luckily, we were hunting during the week and didn’t have to fight for space.
Equipment
I went into the woods armed with a brand-new Mathews VXR 28 bow outfitted with a Black Gold Ascent Whitetail sight, Hamskea Raptor peep, QAD Integrate arrow rest, and Gold Tip AirStrike arrows tipped with Thorn Archery broadheads. I decided to use heavier 70-grain stainless steel inserts in the arrows for added weight and more momentum. I would be very thankful for that decision on this trip.
The Hunt
The first two days of our hunt were pretty quiet. Neither of us spotted a deer, but there was sign of deer activity all over the place. The deeper-than-expected snow was littered with hoof prints and game trails were not hard to find. And with all of Viktor’s advanced scouting, he was confident he knew where the deer were bedding and where our best chance to see them would be.
On the morning of the third day, I decided to take up residence in a permanent stand that had been built quite some time ago. It overlooked a large field and was bordered by thick woods to my right and behind me. If nothing else, this was my best chance to actually see deer — even if they were hundreds of yards away.
I climbed into the stand and secured my harness well before the sun brought in the light. Despite the snow, the temperature was not unpleasant, hovering slightly above freezing and climbing. Unfortunately, the deer I was hoping to see in the field did not make an appearance, so I spent the first hour and a half glassing and trying to stay positive.
At about 8:15, things got really interesting, really fast. Behind me I could hear something thrashing about in the woods and then a very agitated-looking buck flew out as if he were looking for a fight. He stopped about 25 yards to my front/right and stood there breathing heavily for a minute. Frustratingly, there were some small trees between us. If he walked just a half dozen steps further left, there was nothing but open space and great shooting lanes. Instead, he decided to turn around and very slowly walk back towards the woods from which he’d come crashing out.
At this point I had my bow in my hand with an arrow nocked, but no shot. Then he made a mistake. He stopped for a little bit between two small trees while quartering away from me. I was standing up and still had no shot, due to branches in the way. There was an opening in the branches a little lower, but I had to sit down. Terrified I was going to make a noise and spook him, I managed to get my butt on the seat and draw my bow.
The only thing wrong at this point was that my knees were pointed straight at him. I couldn’t move them any more to the right, as the tree on which my stand is built was in the way. So I twisted my body hard right, placed my pin on his vitals, and let the arrow fly. What happened next will haunt me for a very long time.
My arrow hit him far back — right in the ham. Elevation was good, but there is no denying the shot was dreadful. Keep in mind that I shoot my bow all the time, shooting somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 arrows a year. The deer was all of 23 yards away and at that distance I am automatic. In fact, at twice that distance I keep my groups pretty tight. Despite all the practice, despite using the best equipment you can buy, despite all the cards stacked in my favor. I still messed up. Bad. The issue, as best I can figure, is that while I practice a lot, I’ve never practiced with my knees pointed toward the target and my body twisted hard to the right. It just never occurred to me.
When I let the arrow fly, I felt good about the shot. The deer was close. The pin was not floating all over the place. But clearly my alignment was off. And now, for the first time in my life, I was sitting dejected after putting a bad shot on an animal.
I texted Viktor and we waited about two and a half hours before I even got out of the tree. Once on the ground, I could see where the buck’s tracks were leading, but there wasn’t a drop of blood to be found. So we followed the tracks into the woods and had a look. Still no blood, and now there were other tracks to get confused by. Then we got lucky.
Viktor spotted blood — and suddenly there was a pretty good supply of it. We followed it for a while, then we heard something — we’d jumped the deer. My instinct was to back out, but Viktor was worried that we’d lose our blood trail because the snow was starting to melt. Plus, the deer was clearly hurt. He was bedding down every 30 yards or so and dragging his right hind leg. He was also staying in a small area. We tracked the buck for a couple hundred yards, but he was never more than maybe 75 yards from where he was shot.
As we approached a narrow finger of land surrounded by water on all sides, we split up. This way, if one of us jumped the deer, we would likely send him to the other for a follow-up shot. As it turned out, that wasn’t needed. Viktor found the deer just after we went our separate ways. To say I was elated would be an understatement. You couldn’t wipe the smile from my face at the size of the buck — as well as the relief at being able to recover it after making a bad shot.
I mentioned the arrow weight earlier in this article and I am convinced the extra penetration from that weight was the difference between recovering the deer and not. Despite hitting the meatiest part of his leg, the arrow still pushed through and did the damage necessary to put him down. I hate that I made that terrible shot, but I’m grateful I had the equipment necessary to make up for my mistake.
Final Thoughts
Though it has only been a relatively short time, I think about my bad shot and the joy of finding that buck many times each day. And I’ve learned a valuable lesson. I need to practice shooting while facing my target and in a variety of other odd and uncomfortable positions — and if I can’t do it consistently well, I can’t allow myself to take a shot like that ever again.
While I’ll be eternally grateful that we recovered that deer, it will be a long time before I forgive myself for the shot. I practice so much because I want to be an ethical hunter. That I failed in doing so will not be forgotten and I will do my best to make sure it never happens again. I’ll have the trophy of my first ever public land deer to remind me every day.
