Here's the story. I have been bowhunting for 3 years now. I could've shot some does my first year but I was greedy and was wanting to wait for a big bruiser that I had on camera. Then some guy got him during rifle season and I never saw another deer that year. Last year I had a decent buck start in on me but he must have winded me and didn't get within range. Never saw another deer (while trying to stay warm in subzero temps). Now it's this year and I'm trying again, desperate for any deer. That is until I get this guy on camera. So then I passed on a couple does to try for him until I saw this on my next card pull His g3 (?) is missing. So now I'm bummed, but decided to let him go. Hopefully he makes it through rifle season and I can try for him next year. So I tell myself that the first thing I see that is bigger than a fawn is getting an arrow thrown in its direction. I went out multiple times without seeing a thing. Until yeaterday. It had just rained and I wasn't combining so I headed to the stand with a half of a bucket of crab apples. I get setup at about 3pm and just sit there thinking I have hours before any action. We'll 3:40 rolls around and I hear something over my left shoulder. I slowly turn my head and see this guy coming about 15 yards away. My heart starts going crazy! I wait for him to turn his head and I stand up and grab my bow and hook up my release. The next tree he puts his head behind is a mere 3 yards away from the bait pile. His eyes disappear and I draw my 28" 55# Mission Craze with my Easton Bloodline arrow and Muzzy 100 grain 3 blade. By the time I get settled into my anchor point he is stepping over the last fallen branch and a second later....thwap! My heart is jumping from tree to tree and I try and mostly failed to settle myself down and watch and listen for him. He's gone in a flash and I still can't believe what just happened. I probably rushed getting down to look for my arrow, but there is a huge corn field to the southwest so I just figured he'd go there. I get down and find my arrow. But I don't see any blood in the grass. Puzzled but not too worried since I've read that they sometimes don't show for 30 yards (perfect since that's about where the corn starts). So I pack up and head back to the pickup (almost directly east). I go home and give him about an hour, pickup my neighbor and we go back to look. We couldn't find a SINGLE drop of blood. He has other plans for the night so I take him back and pickup another neighbor (he has tracked deer for longer than I have been alive..I'm 28). We go looking and we still cannot find a SINGLE drop of blood! So he starts looking for fresh tracks in the corn and in the cultivated stubble field south of the tree row where my stand is. NOTHING. I saw him run south from where I shot him and we are 'positive' that he is in the corn somewhere. We search until dark with another neighbor that has a good history of hunting and tracking. We can't find a stitch of evidence. The only thing keeping me believing that I didn't dream the whole thing was my bloody arrow. After a restless night filled with dreams..or should I say nightmares..we went back out this morning. We decided to walk the whole shelter belt starting from the north down to where my stand is on the south end. I am aimlessly walking around just looking and I see a white belly! I dash across the belt, tripping over logs and stumps and there he is....about 100 yards north of where I shot him (the opposite direction of where I thought he went and the opposite direction of the corn). The coyotes didn't find him but his exit wound (he was laying with that side up) was pecked at by birds. This is the entrance. Pretty much right where I thought it was. We were thinking it was a liver shot since there was no external bleeding, but when I gutted him the liver was untouched and it was actually part of a lung that got hit. There wasn't even that much blood where he was laying until I rolled him over and his cavity was filled with blood yet. My very first deer with a bow! I am hooked!! My 4 month old boys have no idea what's going on but someday they will. Things I learned from this experience. 1. I need to do much better at calming myself down before AND after the shot. 2. I need to be even more patient while searching for the deer and think! 3. I will be getting different broadheads next season. Any suggestions?? 4.BOWHUNT OR DIE!! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Congrats, did he circle back towards the way he came? Going to be a heck of a stepping stone from him to that buck in the first pic. Have another buck tag? If not, you now have a pretty good idea of what goes into the shot, the good thing about it is that feeling never goes away, you just learn to adapt to it a bit better with time.
Nice story, I enjoyed reading it. As for broadhead suggestions, I shoot 125gr Ramcats. This is my first year bow hunting. Took my first deer a couple days ago and she crashed 30 yards away. My buddy who has bow hunted for much longer than I swears by the Ramcats. That's why I tried them. Have not used any other yet, but so far, from his experience and my one, I have no complaints at all. Plus they shoot exactly like my field points. Congrats and good luck on the next one. Its also good to see that you plan to expose your boys to the addiction.
Oh man i am super stoked for you. Glad you didnt give up on the search. Adrenaline is sure a powerful drug!!! Disorients you like no other.
Thanks for all the congrats! After my neighbor helped me skin and butcher him out, I ended up with 45 pounds of meat. I am very pleased! Oh and I should've stated in my story that it was a 12 yard broadside shot. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Yeah he headed south and then I lost him behind the trees. I thought he was going to the corn but he just went around the outside of the trees and went south for 100 yards or so, staying in the tall grass the whole time. No other deer tag until next year. We only get one OTC bow tag either sex and then we have to apply for a gun tag in a lottery (I could use the bow during gun season though). I applied for a doe thinking I would surely draw that but nope. I get so jealous reading about everyone else's 5 does and 3 bucks in a season (maybe a slight exaggeration). Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Congrats! Black eagle arrow's pro staff Mathews mq1 #70 Single pin vital gear sight Ripcord drop away arrow rest Black eagle outlaws 350
