First Kill of Deer Season

I was deer hunting on the first day of bow season with my newly purchased Parker Bushwacker Crossbow. I got to my stand, which is in the middle of the woods facing a swamp bottom, at 3pm so that I would have time to remove my rifle rest before letting things start to settle down. I was unsure of the wrench size needed so I brought an adjustable wrench and a pair of pliers. The rifle rest took about 30mins to get off because I was trying to be quiet and the adjustable wrench kept loosening. I finally got it off and situated out of the way. By the time I got the crossbow up into the tree stand and a bolt loaded it was 3:45. The woods just began to quiet back down when I herd something coming through the swamp about 50 yards to my left. When I first caught sight of her I got a bit excited because I knew that a Bobcat had not been seen on this property in 10 years. She acted as though she was going to stay in the thick stuff off to my left and I figured that I was not going to get a shot at her. All of a sudden she seemed to catch wind of something and turned and made a be line toward my stand. When she got in a clearing 20 yards out I growled at her. She stopped looked right at me and I pulled the trigger. The arrow caught her right above the shoulder which made her do a back flip. She took off through the woods and smashed head first into a tree where she died. I am guessing she caught wind of the raccoon urine, put on my boots for cover scent, which is why she headed for me, but who knows.

JoeMal said:

Did you ever think about leaving it? Maybe to boost their population a bit? Especially being a female? Not trying to rain on your parade I was just wondering. That was the first thing I thought about when I read that. Good kill, nonetheless, and congrats.

Click to expand...

No, I sure didn't. I have to agree with Sav .250 on this one. Thanks for the congrats though.

Exactly. The reason that we haven't seen one is not because they aren't there but because they are very elusive and territorial against other bobcats.

Thanks JEB for the congrats.

Bobcats are very elusive so therefore there is a bit of a prestige about killing them. They are also very vicious animals and can do a good bit of damage to live stock. They are a nuisance to deer hunters because they are known to attack deer on occasion. This can lead to deer leaving the area or at least mess up their travel patterns. I hope that answered your question.

Thank-you MaterDei. She weighed 25lbs I didn't get a measure on her.

I am getting a "rug" made out of it. I put quotes because it is not going to be that big.