Finally a little success in a very frustrating season...

I set up on a south facing hill where I expected some deer activity as some of the snow is melting, and browse is becoming more available. I was on the ground, and up against a tree the my camo blended pretty well with. At about 5:00, a pair of does, on a good bit larger and the one I shot came strolling in as expected, and this little doe actually got within 15yds of me, and I literally put my bow cam on my nose to hide my face, as she looked my direction. She relaxed up, and walked away, and at about 30yds, the got into a lane I could shoot into, head behind a tree, and I looked at hte bigger doe, making sure she was paying more attention to eating than me (I don't believe the larger doe EVER saw me), and I drew, settled a pin, and eased my finger on my release. What happened from there, I cannot 100% tell, but I believe I pulled a little, maybe peeked, but I watcvhed the arrow go right where none of us EVER want to see an arrow fly. I stood against that tree in exactly that spot until a few minutes before 6, retrieved my arrow and located her trail, put my arrow in the ground to mark her trail and headed home to give her some time to die. After 5 hours, I returned to find a good blood trail right up to a spot, and it disappeared. I did concentric ciircles, followed fresh trails, and I must've walked around her within 10-15yds about 4-5x before I finally saw her, she jumped up and ran another 50yds as I was moving towards her to check to see if she was dead. I backed out, and came back this morning and she never budged from her deathbed. I'm more than a little disgusted w/ myself, but I DID get her in the end. Meat should be okay, the arrow did get up into the chest cavity, about 3 ribs in, and she still was alive after over 5 hours from the shot. But she was good and dead this morning, The arrow got guts, liver and the back over the off side lung. I'm not proud of it, but I did put a little meat in the freezer. It's certainly a thrill to kill them from the ground, but this one left a little bitter taste in my mouth. Sorry for the long post....

And now the really bad part, the "Classic Back of the Truck Pic...."

 

Doug,

way to stick with it, at least you recovered her.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!:D

 

Congratulation's on your deer!!

 

At least you got it, congrats.

 

Congrats!!!!

 

Congrats and way to stick it out

 

congrats

 

She will still eat good you did good by backing out! But congrats on your Doe

 

Congrats, way to hang in there.

 

While it wasn't the perfect shot you should be proud of your actions after the shot backing out is hard to do. Then you still wern't sure after you spotted her and backed out again. You should pat yourself on the back 90% of hunter would have kicked her up in the first hour and never recoved her. Way to keep you head on and congrats

 

Hey, things could have gone worse... I'm glad to hear that you were able to recover her before she spoiled. Congratulations on having the skills to get the job done in a less than perfect situation. Anyone can get it done when everything goes right and you showed what it takes to get it done when it doesn't. Good on ya!

 

Congrats on getting it done.

 

congrats!!!!

 

Congrats on the doe!

 

Glad you got her!

 

NIce doe

 

Thanks for the "Congrats" guys, I still feel a little like a heel over this, but I'm glad I made a few good decisions and it ended up with her being recovered. Frustrating as it may be, I know at some point, almost all of us will hit one where we shouldn't, and then it turns into a real mess. Fortunately, this one worked out for me, but I still feel bad about the shot and the fact that she suffered pretty long d/t my error. Life goes on, lesson learned, and
I just need to remember to follow through a bit better next time around I suppose. Still one of my more exciting hunts as I love to set up on the ground like this, and lay up against a tree, and have them walk by and not even realize I'm there, and getting a clean shot off. Unfortunately I pulled the shot a bit, but to do this with no blind or anything, just finding a tree near a known trail that matches up well with my camo, and sitting in wait to ambush an animal, with that risk that it may or may not see you, and may or may not recognize you as something other than a blob that blends into a tree is certainly a true thrill. Hopefully, I can put one more in the freezer before I run out of time, as I'll got through this much meat in a couple months w/ my two little jerky monsters around here.....

 

Congrats Doug! Glad you got her in the end!

Dan

 

After cleaning away some of the discolored meat, I still ended up w/ about 45# of meat from this deer, so I feel blessed about that.....now to sneak out in the morning and see if I can arrow another......:D

 

Good Luck Doug!

Go Get'em!

Dan