So the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC do not have the best whitetail genetics and the taxidermist thought this guy was 5.5-6.5 years old. To me he is a ten point trophy and I'm proud to share my story. Been archery hunting with both compound and Crossbow for 15 years. We put an arrow through him at 7:30 AM on November 8, 2017 He was on his way to a bedding area to check for does and I stopped him with a bleat. He was slightly quartering away. I had ranged the spot at just under 30 yards. I let the bolt from my Tenpoint XLT Turbo fly and it hit him slightly back and slightly low. It was a pass through. At nine I checked the arrow...covered in blood from tip to fletchings with very small food particles in it. He bled at impact from both wounds and he bled for 50 yards or so and then the trail quickly dried up. Crazy. I was by myself but had good weather. But at the 50 yard mark I decided to back out. Gave him 5 hours and went back in. Cold trail...so we started a grid search. I thought sure I knew where he would go...either to water or to a thicket where I had an encounter with him a year ago. No luck. Busted brush until dark. Worked Thursday morning and got back to it around 1:00. Rechecked the creek and thicket with no luck. I had not yet checked an area to the north. It was up hill and I just thought he would not make the climb mortallly wounded. I started a grid search and at 3:00 pm I was startled by a loud flapping noise...turkey buzzards in a tree...bingo. Only 31.5 hours had passed. Walked toward that tree and caught sight of a belly and horns. Thanked the Lord...and the buzzards. Getting a euro mount. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
