The Perfect Day

Tanis, a lady bowhunter shown here with her husband Mike, harvested a very nice 8-pt. buck last October north of Vicksburg, MS. Here is her story in her own words. Congratulations Tanis! I'm so proud of you! This is a sweetthing!

It was Saturday, October 20, 2007. I had already killed a doe on the morning hunt, and I was now preparing for the afternoon hunt. At 2:00, I headed off to my stand. I had my heart set on a nice buck. It was a beautiful day, a little warm, but I don’t like the cold, so I didn’t mind. I was hunting a climbing stand on the edge of my food plot. My food plot is in a creek bottom, and I had it planted in turnips, mustards, and rape. On my previous hunts, I had seen a small six-point and a spike on a regular basis. I had already killed a small seven-point year before last, so I had let the six-point walk. My goal was to get a buck larger than the one I had killed in the past. A little after 3:00, the spike came in on my left. He grazed the length of my food plot and eventually fed on off towards the creek to my right. Then at 4:30, my little six-point came in from the creek to my right. I could see another deer with him about twenty yards behind. Because of a limb that we had left in front of me for cover, I couldn't see the head of the second deer. Both deer were feeding towards me. I finally got a look at the second deer, and I immediately knew that he was the one I wanted. I could tell he was a nice buck, so I started talking to myself in order to calm down! The six-point fed on off to my left, and had gotten out of sight. My total concentration was now on the eight-point. As he fed on over directly in front of me, I waited for my chance to draw my bow. I got worried because he had reached the exact spot that I had shot the doe (110 lbs.) that morning. He stopped, and smelled the ground, and acted like he may spook. I didn’t want to take a chance on him running off before I could get a shot. So I drew back, tried to steady my breathing and my knees, and released my arrow. It was a thirty yard shot, and I could tell it looked like a good hit. He spun around, and rand back up the food plot, and into the wood line. I tried to listen to see if I could hear him fall, so that my husband wouldn’t be made at me for not paying attention after the shot! My knees were shaking so bad I had to sit back down, and take deep breaths. I waited for about thirty minutes, and then climbed down to see if I could find any sign of blood. I didn’t see much blood, and didn’t want to take a chance on trailing him so soon. It was getting dark, so I made my way back to the camp to get my husband. I pulled into the camp yard blowing my horn, and flashing my lights!! We gathered up a few helpers, and some good flashlights, and went to look for him. We found him not fifty yards’ from where I had shot him. He had pretty much fallen as soon as he hit the wood line. We got him back to the skinning shed to get our measurements. He was a nice eight-point with 20-inch main beams, 15-inch inside spread, 4-inch bases, and weighted in at 165 lbs. All the guys were congratulating me and telling me that I had the best luck of anyone they knew! They said bow hunting was tough and I made it look easy by killing two in one day! I couldn’t have been prouder and I put on my baseball cap that says, “So Who Says Girls Can’t Hunt??” That was probably a once in a lifetime day for me, and I will definitely be one that I will never forget! (A week later Tanis got another doe (l25 lbs.) with her bow. You go Girl!
Tanis Ervin
Vicksburg, MS
Tantan1369@yahoo.com