As many of you already know September 15th was an amazing day for archery here at Tobacco Road. Pro staffer Sean Ottaly was the second to take an awesome buck that Saturday. With all that has been going on with the wedding and such, I owe Sean an apology for the time it has taken to get his article up but here it is!

On opening day I missed a doe in the evening hunt, followed by another miss on an evening hunt during the week. I began to get very frustrated at my shooting and wondered what it could be, however, little to my knowledge the third time out would not be as disappointing and would show the third time is a charm!

This particular hunt was fairly unique from the start. It was the first night of the year all the boys were spending the night at camp, we had a first time bow hunter, and a hunter who is in his second season trying for his first bow harvest as well. We all met at camp about an hour early that evening to put in our requests as where we wanted to hunt and enjoy each other company. A little before four we pack up our things and were off. Where I had chose to hunt that evening was a stand I had wanted to hunt after some observations the year before. During the rut in the 06’ season I had seen several bucks and does but they were out of my range. I observed their travel route and was more then excited to hunt this area. Although I hadn’t completely walked this area in the past I knew where I wanted to be. It was picture perfect, a big draw in a little strip of hardwoods connecting two giant cattle fields. This spot was truly the perfect funnel. At about 5:30- 5:45 I finally got settled in after trimming the limbs that needed to be taken out and reaching my desired elevation. Archery season during September in North Carolina can be tricky weather wise, it can be unbearable. On this particular afternoon it was around 78 after several days above 90 and a week of 100+ so it was just perfect. I had hardly got my bearings in order, after just getting situated, and I heard footsteps. I figured it was a few cows, as the cattle have access to the block of woods I was hunting but to my surprise I turned around to see the legs of a whitetail. Looking a little closer over my left shoulder I then saw horns and knew right then I was going to take this deer. He was heading right down the draw, straight towards me. I reach around to grab my bow, turn back slowly in hopes I wasn’t busted by all the movement seeing he was only about 45 yards out. I hadn’t anticipated deer moving down the draw at all, I was set for them to come up it instead, besides the wind was blowing up the draw virtually eliminating any chance of seeing a deer from that direction. Anyhow, here we go, I wheel around to this bucks direction and manage to do it unnoticed. Once turned in his direction I notice another buck behind the first. My heart is beating out of my chest at this point because the bigger bucks are usually the last in the group and this first deer was already wall material. As it turns out the second was actually a little smaller, which  was a little disappointing actually, but with that behind me now I can focus on the first one. He hung up around 30 yards grazing through the under brush, about that time I notice the smaller of the two stick his nose in the air and check the wind, my heart sank as I had gotten this close only to be busted by this deer I have no interest in. Much to my surprise they continued on, apparently the scent free shower and scent blocker suit worked to my advantage. Fifteen minutes had passed, I had gained my composure and was awaiting the perfect shot. They covered more ground with every second and were going to pass me right at 20 yards. Just at that point I realized where they were about to come out, a severe downhill shot was in the works and a vision of last years identical shot and miss on a potential record book buck pops in my head. I knew what went wrong then and told myself not to let it happen again! As he steps behind a tree without a care in the world, I draw my bow, three more feet and he stops broadside, THWACK! Astonishingly he drops right there, the shot was a little high but had penetrated the vitals as well. I sat down, gathered myself, called the rest of the crew and let them know we had a big buck down (BBD Baby!), and started down the tree. Not but about 8 feet down the tree at this point I hear something else coming down the draw, a dang coyote, “Great!” I think myself, my bow is 30 feet at the base of the tree and there is a great buck dead 15 feet from this mangy coyote. Without thinking twice I let out a “Yaaaaaaa!, Yaaaaaaa! Get Out Of Here!! Just as he had smelled my buck like a flash of lightning he gone with his tails between his legs. I finally reached my dee, thinking he was a nice 10 I realize his left side only had four points. He may not be a monster, but this excellent 9-pointer is my personal best with a bow! Looks as if the ante has been raised for the rest of the season.

Starting on Monday October 29th Tobacco Road will have a daily devotional courtesy of www.sportsmandevotional.com.  IF you have not had a chance to check out their site you should it is well worth it!

Well everyone we made it back safe and sound.  We got into the dreaded Montezuma’s revenge but we are over that and back into the real world.  The wedding went great, Crystal looked gorgeous!  I will have pictures of both the wedding and Mexico soon!

Well as many of you know I am getting married tomorrow!  I will be out of the country until the 15th so until then there won’t be any updates.  I promise there will be plenty when I get back though as we have several good stories on their way!

Have a great week everyone!

- Zach

Hey everyone, Zach here! Just wanted to update everyone on what to look for in the upcoming articles. As many of you have seen, September 15th was a successful day for the for us here at Tobacco Road, however KJ was not the only Tobacco Road pro staffer to succeed last week. Sean Ottaly also connected with a nice 9-pointer in Chatham County as well. Congratulations to both of you yet once. Sean’s story will be up within the next few days.

Also, for the upcoming waterfowl season we are working on several very good comparison articles so be sure to keep your eye open on updates for that!

Take care and God Bless!

-ZQ