Bud bagged a doe on his first foray into the field

Well, that long-awaited day finally arrived! Oct. 1, 2025, was Opening Day of the Indiana Archery Deer Season. I have been trying for many years to have that date declared a national holiday, but as of right now, my efforts have been futile. The “powers that be” cannot be persuaded to agree with me. Regardless, I will always have it marked in red on my calendar.

This is also my 61st year of archery deer hunting, but I am just like a little kid on the night before Christmas. I always toss and turn, trying to get a good night’s sleep so I will be well-rested and alert for Opening Day.

Well, that never really happens. I think I wake up every 45 minutes and look at the clock. I am so keyed up, but I manage to doze off for another 45 minutes. I repeat the process until either the alarm clock goes off at 4 a.m. or I just give up and get up. It is usually me just giving up.

I normally get up, start of pot of coffee, wash up with my Wildlife Research Center scent control products, use my unscented deodorant, and start getting into my camouflage clothing. After I get all that preliminary procedure completed, I check the weather forecast. I pay attention to the wind speed and direction. That will help me determine what hunting stand location I will choose.

I already have the ATV loaded on the trailer, and the trailer is hooked up to the truck. At 5 a.m., I leave my driveway and head north. As I pull into the parking area at my hunting location, I normally see several deer feeding in the fields along the road as I drive up.

Once I get parked, I unload the ATV and load some of my equipment on the luggage carriers. I place my crossbow in the special holders on the front, and on the back luggage rack I have a small satchel that I carry with extra rope and equipment to drag out a deer, as well as a thick, padded seat cushion that makes sitting more comfortable. At about 6 a.m., I start heading for the woods.

This year, it was comfortably cool. I hoped the deer would be moving and that the farmers had completed taking the beans out of the fields. That normally gets deer feeding actively on the freshly cut beans.

I parked the ATV and started the long walk in the darkness to my favorite ladder stand. I located the stand and hooked my haul line onto my crossbow, then leaned it up against the side of the tree. I slowly and carefully climbed the ladder as quietly as I could.

I didn’t spook any deer as I entered the woods. I reached the standing platform and carefully got myself attached to my fall restraint device. I sat down and slowly raised my crossbow up. Holding my flashlight in one hand, I grabbed the crossbow and laid it silently on the shooting rail.

I was just starting to get comfortable and was congratulating myself for silently entering the woods and getting to my stand without spooking any deer when I accidently dropped my flashlight. When it hit the ground, I figured any deer that heard that were probably headed for the next county.

And there the flashlight was, shining in the darkness. I had to repeat the process of exiting the ladder stand and climbing down, retrieving the flashlight, climbing back up, shutting the flashlight off, and getting ready to hunt.

On most opening days, I feel happy if I see one deer. Since it comes in Oct. 1, most times it is rather warm, and that makes deer activity scarce. I was more or less just wanting to see if and when deer activity would happen. I had several hundred pictures from my Browning trail cameras, indicating there were several deer using the trails all summer, so my confidence was rather high.

Less than 20 minutes after I got settled into the stand, I heard deer activity. Even in the darkness, I could hear them bleating and walking through the thick cover. I hoped they would mill around and stay in the area after daylight. I also heard raccoons making their squeaking sounds, and suddenly I heard a noise jsut to the right of me that sounded like something had broken a huge tree limb.

I knew immediately it was not a raccoon, but in the darkness, I could not even see ground 18 feet below me. I could hear something walking, and I knew it was not another hunter entering the woods. It got quiet again, and I started relaxing.

It got light enough that I could see maybe 10 yards around me. I looked around me, and I heard something off to my right. I could just barely make out a ghostly shadow moving heading my direction. It was about 25 yards from me.

I raised my crossbow and looked through my telescope, hoping it would improve my vision. It was definitely a deer, but I could not tell for sure if it was a buck or doe. Suddenly, it stopped. I could barely see it turning its head. I was certain it was a buck. I could not tell how many points it had, but it was just feeding on acorns that had been falling.

I got really nervous, hoping the deer would continue browsing; not hearing my heart beating out of my chest. If it had kept coming, I could have had a pretty easy 15- to 20-yard shot, but the buck turned around and slowly walked away.

I was at least encouraged to see activity. Maybe 20 minutes later, I heard a deer running. I saw a small doe running from the picked bean field. She passed to my left about 25 yards away. She wasn’t really spooked, just traveling fast. I was really confident now. It was legal shooting light, and I had deer activity.

At 8:55 a.m., I saw movement in front of me. There were three deer coming in from the bean field and angling to my right. I looked through my Vortek binoculars. They were all does, but the lead doe was definitely mature.

I used my laser range finder. She was 38 yards away from me, and the deer were browsing as they headed back to their bedding area. I knew the trail they were following. There were a couple open spots I could get a shot through.

There was an oak tree just ahead of them. Through the years, I had taken many deer in front of that tree. It was exactly 32 yards away from me. As they traveled forward, the bigger doe stepped in front of that tree.

I put my 30-yard crosshair behind her right shoulder. It was a quartering shot. I heard the 125-grain NAP Spitfire broadhead hit. When she took off, I could see the bright red spot on her side. I knew she would not travel very far.

I saw her run down the ravine and up the other side, which made me happy because it is a tough job getting a deer out of those ravines. I heard her crash to the ground. I climbed down at 9 a.m. I had seen seven deer, which in itself was a great morning, especially for Opening Day.

I had a pretty good idea where the doe was laying ,so I went to the ATV and drove it around to the west side of the woods. I took a dragging rope with me as I found her and took some photos. I had to drag her out of a thick deadfall, and I think I left a pretty good blood trail myself. There were thorns, stickers, and branches poking me.

I was certainly overjoyed with my success. I had dedicated this hunting season to my deceased friend Carson Hughes, and I somehow felt that he was up there smiling at me. But what made the joy of success fade rather quickly was I was hunting by myself.

My grandson usually hunts with me as much as his busy work schedule will allow, but he had to take his girlfriend to Indianapolis that morning for surgery. I had texted him to tell him the beans had been cut and it was somewhat cool. He told me to keep him updated, and that he was sorry he could not be there with me. But I understood.

When I sent him a picture of my deer laying there in the woods, he congratulated me and said, “See? At 80, you still got it!”

Well, I had to get busy field dressing the deer and dragging her out to the ATV. I was once again reminded rather quickly that I was not 20 years old anymore. I dragged the deer a few yards, sat down to take a break, dragged the doe again, sat down to take a break.

I decided to try to create a path to get the ATV closer to the deer. I guess I made the “Critter Getter” into a tank. I pulled everything I could out of the way, but some of the smaller bushes … I was just glad it was a four-wheel drive vehicle.

I got close enough to get the winch cable and its extended rope attached to the deer, and I winched her to an open area. I then turned the ATV around and took a short piece of rope to drag the deer the rest of the way out of the woods and to the truck.

I have to admit, in 61 years of deer hunting, I can only recall three times that I had success on Opening Day. But that first-day success has me looking forward to the next outing. I had my deer processed. I have already had a couple delicious tenderloins and steaks.

No, I am not done hunting yet. I planned on going out when the cold front arrived a couple days ago. I have a deer bundle license. I can still get another doe and a buck. I can’t wait to hunt with my grandson Conner Zeck. Hopefully, I’ll help him drag out a few of his deer, and he’ll help me drag put a couple more of mine.