I wish I waxed eloquent when I tell the stories of my deer kills .... but for some reason, I don't. Now give me a topic like Christ and that flows from me ... so bear with me guys .... Yesterday started my 10 day vacation, in which I fully intend to put three deer in the freezer with my bow. Yesterday was a bit of a bust ... saw a small forkhorn in the morning and I let him go. At the evening sit I seen 2 deer running 100 yards away from something .... the conditions were great ... 24 degrees in the am ... touch of snow ... but few deer ... Now this morning's alarm goes off and I didn't want to leave my toasty wife :D ... but I did. The morning was 32 degrees and light winds ... the afternoon was supposed to be raining. I get to my stand an hour before sunrise and it is just awesome out ....quiet .... about 8am I catch movement from my right ... COYOTE .. . he got withing 30 yards, but my confidence was shaken by my miss earlier in the week, so I let the yote go. 8:30 am I see movement on a small ridge directly in front of me about 70 yards away ... I see it is a decent size deer and I can see horn ... I was thinking, "This better not be those two small Forkies". Regardless, I would need him to take that left turn that would bring him in my direction as many have done in the past. The area they walk thru transcends woodlots and is a secure pathway to them as it is 7' tall thorny junk. He takes the pathway ... he is walking straight towards me ,,,50 ... 40 ... 30 ... I wait for the best time to draw .. and believe it or not, it was at 12 yards when his head was behind a tree ... he angles a little quartering too and I let him have it at 1 ... I heard the SMACK and he bolted like hard hit deer do and actually ran towards and back of me into the open woods ... I watched him, expecting him to fall but he hooked around and I lost sight of him ... I wait the customary 30 minutes and sneak down to find my arrow .... and this is what i see ... http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb130/PreacherTony/Hunting 2011/1029110848.jpg I loved the blood on the feathers ... I grab the arrow and my hand slides on nasty, stinky, brownish green matter ... I immediately knew I gut shot this deer at the worst ..... but I couldn't figure how I did at 12 yards??? My only thought was it was a wee bit back and the shot was slightly quartering too that I MUST have gone through the lung and liver... turns out there was a little sappling, the only one in that whole 15 foot area, a few feet from him that my arrow hit and deflected back and at a harder angle... joy To make it worse there was NO BLOOD ANYWHERE within the hit area or 20 yards from it ... I crawl back into my treestand and wait, knowing I am going to back out ... Fran's voice was ringing in my ears ...lol as was Dave's texts.... I waited 2 hours and checked for more blood along the path he went, going super slow so as not to bump him if he was close ... I walked another 30 yards and there is no blood ... I snuck back and walked out a completely different way ... I had only told VS, Phil (Live2Draw) and Dave cuz he is my teammate and he stalks me until I answer his "ANYTHING?" texts ... lol I get to my car and it is starting to sprinkle ... very light, but it just added to the stress ... I am never gonna find this deer .... my teammates will disown me ... my wife and kids will kick me out cuz they want venison... I call Rob/PA ... he is the calm voice of reason and a prayer partner to boot... I was going to wait until 2pm, but he said you may want to get out there around noon if it's just sprinkling ... he prayed we would find the buck .... one of the guys that hunts there calls me and asks me if I got my deer. I told him the story and he said he will come back at noon to help me if I want but he has to leave at 1pm ... I thought ... Hmmmm Yep, I will meet you there at noon. I told Andrew to get his clothes on and that he is going to help me blood trail this deer. We meet Mike at Noon and walk the round-about way to my stand so we wouldn't bump the buck if he was still alive ... it has been 4 hours since the hit. We check out the hit site and I told him the direction that the buck ran ... no blood ... nothing ... but then! Andrew says, "Here is blood!" he picks the leaf up and shows this small speck of blood! We look a little further (hands and knees) Speck! it is amazing how exciting a tiny speck of blood can keep hope alive ... then no blood ...Mike walks in the general direction the buck ran hoping to find him lying there ... I didn't like that but I didn't have much hope anyway .. so we look and there is nothing ... I said, "Let's go back to the blood ... it's our only hope." Mike agrees and we painstakingly find the smallest drops of blood I have ever seen. Andrew and Mike were INCREDIBLE with what they saw .. I wasn't to shabby myself :D So we kinds leap frogged guessing where he went by the blood and the slightly turned up leaves ... I felt like an Indian. You know how a blood trail will be good and go bad or bad then good and any combination of the two??? This trail sucked the whole way ...over a creek ...under a fence ... it was the worst I have ever seen ...but we followed it for 400 yards and it took hours ... and then ... WE LOST IT! There was nothing ...I said to Mike and Andrew, "We are going to have to just grid search now ... I NEVER thought we would find this buck, but I wasn't going to give up ... make stayed way longer than he should of. Mike went one way, I went out another, and Andrew kept looking for blood. I thought, "there is no way this will turn out good." ... and then, I heard what I thought was a whistle. It was! It was Mike ... Andrew said, "I think Mike found your buck", so we headed over towards him ... I see him standing looking down at a lump on the ground ... and I knew... I have to tell you .. it was almost surreal, as I was not expecting to find this deer ... but there he was! And he was bigger and thicker in rack than I thought he was ... I was overjoyed for myself, for those that were rooting for me, but mostly for Andrew ... he saw it done right ... he seen what patience will bring him. So we gutted the deer and dragged it together at times, and alone at times. Andrew said to me, "Dad, I am having a great time with you." and I was so thankful he was with me and that he ended up enjoying the experience when he did not want to even go help me. (Long Story) I really wish I would have gotten Andrew way before 11 .... But I digress... So here are a few pics ...enjoy, mock, whatever you like, but I am more proud of this buck than ANY I have killed before, gun or bow. AND I broke in the Bowtech and Ultimate Camo :D Thanks to all of you that have encouraged me thru some tough times over the years ... you guys are awesome
Loved the story! I know the feeling how one tiny speck of blood can get the heart pupming. Way to stick with it. Congrats again, Tony!!!
Tony, this is so awesome! I am telling you, this story is great. TWO years in a row of a monster bowhunter in the midst. Man you are a machine with the bow. I wish you the best of luck the rest of the season my friend. Did you ever discern what killed the buck? What organs did your broadheads clip?
Thanks Brett ... I did fail to mention that the arrow destroyed the liver and exited through the guts ... the deer was in rigor when we found it 7 hours later
Didn't I make that call when speaking on the phone? Well done my friend... well done and I will have to lecture you on the negativity... go in positive, I'm going to find it, I'm going to find it... positive attracts positive and shazaam PeeWee, there's your buck... congratulations... ! On a side note, my mom's husband shot the best buck of his life, a solid 120ish 8 point... I'll try to get pics up later... Pat Andrew on the back for me.
Sweet, way to go PT, yes my job is to hound you until you respond. Atleast that what Will told me to do. Dave
Nice buck and great story! I went through some of the same emotions last year on a shot similar to yours. I had lots of blood but, the rain started in on us and I had to get a jump on the trail sooner than I would have liked. We kicked the deer up at about 80 yards and I did not think I would see him again. Ended up seeing him 30 minutes later and only a few more yards! Always think positive and you have a better chance at the outcome you want. It keeps you motivate and focuses on the pin head drops of blood!
