Alright fellas, what a day it was. I saw in total 9 bucks and 3 does. Super thick where I was at and had hardly any shooting lanes. Morning hunt was extremely exciting but couldn’t seal the deal. Evening was uneventful until the last 30 or so mins, when three bucks appeared. This boy gave me a shot at 25 yards through one small window and I took it. Heard a loud pop and he went screaming out of there. I knew I hit the deer and I was right on him. I get down, gather my thoughts. Call my dad and then look for the arrow. Can’t find it anywhere, no blood, no crash, nothing. I was panicking. Finally saw one spec of blood with bubbles in it. Everything else was pin drops and nothing. I backed out and dad heads my way. At this point it’s been about two and half hours when we got back up there. We start at last blood. Nothing. We start grid searching. Left, down the road, in circles. I tell dad I thought I heard something crash when I was going out of the woods. Which would’ve been about 45 mins after the shot and around 400 yards from the scene of impact. So we start in that direction all the way to the bottom of the ridge and nothing. I had pretty much given up and dad said last go back to last blood and try again. We start up the fence line and I kid you not by a miracle my dad goes, “oh my lord, he’s bleeding good.” We somehow stumbled upon blood in the middle of all the woods and 400 yards away. He’s gushing and it’s bright red with bubbles. I turn to my right and there he lays. Unreal. Never give up is all I can say. I wanted to give up multiple times today while I was hunting and didn’t get any shots on these bucks that kept skirting me. Wanted to give up on the track. I have to say I’m extremely happy with this deer even tho he’s not the biggest. First on opening day, first with a compound, biggest to date. Deer has a ton of ice on it and going to processer first thing in the morning after I get measurements and better pics. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Entry and exit. Initial shot was a little back but enough to clip a single lung and maybe some liver. It actually came out of the opposite rear leg. Fixed Blade Magnus Stinger. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
So here goes. This afternoon I got in the stand about 4:45. It was right around 80 degrees so a fairly warm opening afternoon. I get up in the stand and start taking some pics and posting, I even played a few games, lol. Right before 5:30 I started thinking I better grab the crossbow off the hanger cause at this stand site I've seen a lot of doe activity right around 5:30. It was too late. I heard some crunching in the leaves back over my left shoulder. I glanced slowly and saw a nice doe coming. At this point in time I could not grab the crossbow off the hanger yet. Then I saw a second doe coming and she was much bigger. So I decided to put my attention on her. By this time the first doe had made it to the bottom of my ladder stand. She stopped and looked up. I was a statue. She then put her head down and slowly moved on. The bigger doe followed in her footsteps. Only difference was she stopped at the base of my ladder and was facing my ladder. I then heard two clangs and thought what the hell? Is she going to climb up my stand? She put her hooves on the bottom rung of my ladder, stretched out her neck and started sniffing. I could plainly hear her sniffing. She did this for about a minute and I thought for sure I was busted, done for. Well, she finally turned away and started walking to the corn pile, glancing back every few seconds and stopping as she walked. When I knew she finally committed to go over to the corn I reached up and grabbed the crossbow. Of course I looked and made sure the other doe wasn't going to bust me first. Her rear end was facing me so I was just waiting for her to turn broadside. She finally turned and was at a nice quartering away angle. So, I shot back just a little bit and let the arrow fly. I use the 2 blade rage and man do those suckers ever do damage. On impact I immediately saw blood spraying from her chest. It was freaking awesome. She went maybe about 30 yards and was done for. Shot entered upper back end of left rib cage and exited just in front of right front leg. Blood trail was pretty impressive. Check out the entry wound.
Congrats guys. We are starting to heat up here! Looks like we are starting to fill the freezers. Had to play catch up in this thread for the last couple days. We are on fire!
Congrats guys! Shawn, great doe andamazing eating. Humpy, great deer and a great deer to check off a bunch of firsts for you! I'm super optimistic for our team this year.... going to be awesome! Sent from my SM-N975U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Can someone help me with scoring before I enter this thing? I’ve watched tutorial, and read post on scoring thread. I got the following and wanted to see if that looked right to you all? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Looks right. There are some apps out there that do the math for you. I have score my rack. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
As for hunting for me, I’m going to rest a few days and be back in their bedroom on Wednesday. Cold front coming. One of the bigger 8 pointers I’m after was on camera this morning before daylight where I shot my deer last night. Doe is green light as well for me. Try to get more points on the board! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
As far as hunting goes for me, I'm not sure. I'm going to try and leave work early a time or 2 this week and sneak in a hunt or 2 and I'm going to try and sneak in an evening hunt or 2 as well. That cold front is suppose to hit Monday night into Tuesday so from Tuesday on the rest of the week looks pretty good to be in a stand. I think our remaining hunters join the rest of us October 1st. Good luck to all.
Nice front for me this weekend. I'm planning a solid saturday and sunday of hunts. Should be a good one. Not targeting anything just yet. Bigger bucks are day walkers in about a month or so. At least that's what the last 2 years of cams are telling me. Always going back to pattern them using trail camera pics. Looking forward to the fall. Sent from my SM-G950U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I just fixed a structure for a buddy stand and adjusted the cam on that path. It's a PITA but I know bucks walk by it. I'll be out every morning and night with few exceptions after this Thursday. It's final here boys.
Yea same for me down here. Solid temp drop. Going to be blood shed this weekend by many hunters. Hope the ones on our team get in the stands this weekend. Should be a good one. Sent from my SM-G950U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Tempted to slip out in the morning for a quick hunt. Sent from my SM-G960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
