Rainstorm Double
Hard raindrops splattered down pretty loudly on our Double Bull groundblind creating a rather comforting pitter-patter on this cold, dark South Texas bowhunting morning.
The heavy rainclouds kept daylight at bay for a long time, but a sip of hot Black Rifle coffee from the thermos kept me comfortable and much appreciative to be an American bowhunter, no matter what the weather.
The corn feeder was a good 35 yards yonder surrounded by thick brush and briars, barely visible through the rain and dankness.
As usual, we waited patiently for a hopeful moment of truth to unfold and silently celebrated the unique and wonderful sensations of being out here in God’s country with a bow and arrow and all the amazing wildlife we knew to be here with us.
If one can put up with inclement and oftentimes uncomfortable weather, I truly believe some of the best hunting conditions can be experienced just before a front and right in that transition from rain showers to clearing skies. Wildlife having this wonderful innate sense that getting up and moving to feed under these changing conditions can provide a boon to the hunter.
And it wasn’t all that long as the raindrops began to taper off before a grey shadow appeared from the thicket to the right, the buck’s tall antlers visible in the minimal light, slowly swiveling and searching for danger.
With the go ahead for vidcam light, I carefully lifted my Mathews bow into position as the buck lowered his head to nip some corn, and as my 30-yard sightpin hovered high on his ribcage, I launched the backstrapping Gold Tip projectile on its mission of mercy and watched the glowing Lumenok disappear right there where the pumpstation lives!
Well that’s how you do that! My never-ending archery form shot sequence practice pays off in untold happiness!
We kept the celebration silent since it was so early in the morning, and I nocked another arrow with high hopes of keeping the spirit on fire and venison flowing.
As the rain subsided, we were increasingly joined by squadrons of twitting, chirping songbirds, a pair of uppity cottontail rabbits and eventually a small covey of bobwhite quail bobbed in front of us to keep us entertained and happy.
With shooting light increasing by the minute, the visibility brought us the telltale shape of another handsome whitetail buck, this time coming in straight at us from the heavy cover. Facing us for the longest time, my lifetime bowhunting patience paid off as the stag finally meandered to the left, giving me an opening to his left side, standing in the same spot as his predecessor, and once again a gazillion hours and arrows on the 3D range paid off as my muscle/spirit memory shot sequence unfolded instinctively with a life of its own, and another beautiful arrow entered the bucks side right where the good backstrap doctor ordered.
With two dandy, handsome whitetail bucks skewered really good, we left the blind and began a pretty easy double bloodtrail on the rain-soaked Texas ground, recovering both bucks in short order for another Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show, celebrating and promoting perfect hands-on conservation for the whole world to share with another magical bowhunting morning on magical bowhunting grounds. The spirit was very good and very wild!
