Well, I just got in from a really great and interesting day of public land hunting here in MO. I'm gonna break the Lamb tradition and try to type it all in one sitting for you guys...
I've been hunting the same public land area for about ten years now and I feel I know it all pretty well. There are a few areas I generally avoid due to the fact that everybody else hunts them and I have quite a few out of the way nasty thick places that I usually have mostly to myself. At least during the week. One of these thickets is really getting overgrown to the point that the sapplings are turning into full fledged trees. Some of them are big enough for a tree stand now. The place I hunted today is one that is not very far off the beaten path but in years past it has been overlooked by most of the other hunters.
I did a little walk through a few days ago looking for sign. Usually, what with the abundance of cottonwood and willow saplings I can find some patches that are all tore up with rubs. Unfortunately, this year, the rubs and scrapes started right on the edge of a field road right out in plain sight and buddy, EVERYBODY seems to have seen them... Of course, I didn't find that out until today. When I scouted for sign, I was going cross country so to speak and came at the area through a field and a bunch of brush. LOTS of good rubs up to 4 inches or so in diameter. Some huge tracks too. You know the kind, all blunted off, wider than normal and showing the staggered gait of a broad chested deer.
I sorted things out and found a couple scrapes and rubs on the south and east sides of the thicket and instantly figured that would work great for a typical northwest wind. I found a tree and got my stand hung. Sat till dark and didn't see diddly. (that was yesterday evening)
I don't ever leave a stand hung there overnight unless I'm planning to go back the next morning and since that was the plan, that's what I did.
I got in the stand about 45 minutes before dawn (better than an hour before sunrise) and was just getting situated when I saw a light coming down the edge of the woods about 75 yards behind me. I did the obligatory public land "wave the light so the other guy knows I'm there" routine and saw his light stop. I figured he'd either back out or continue on. I thought he left.
About ten till seven I heard a deer walking south down the east edge of the thicket. He popped out about 50 yards to my right and I saw he was a smallish buck with maybe a 12 or 13 inch spread and 6 or 7 points. Still good enough for me and my public land... Out comes the grunt, one time. Nothing. Again, still walking. Third time he stops and I figured he just didn't hear me while he was walking so one more time and he really perks up! Ding! He's coming "on a string" He comes in to about 20 yards right behing a low branch and stops for a bit. Then he starts heading towards a scrape about 15 yards in front of me but before he gets there he stops broadside and things start to happen kinda quick. "Pick a spot" is running through my mind over and over. I hit anchor, pause and kinda loose my concentration but the arrow is already on it's way. Story of my life.
Looks good, no, a little high....he's ducking too....uh oh he's doing the ninja spin to the right....big cringe from me... crap, did it just go right through his neck? It kinda flipped up too. That's what it looked like. My arrow is laying right there in the ground. Must have passed right through. What's he doing? He only ran about 30 yards and he's stopped. Come on and do the wobble....come on..... Hmmmm? Just standing there. Now he's walking off like he's not hurt a bit.... can't see him any more. Dang, why am I shaking so bad suddenly??????
Check the time, ten till seven. Give him plenty of time. Keep listening for a crash maybe???? Just silence.
Five minutes later CRASH! Then CRASH again!! Is that him? No, it's still crashing and getting closer! It's a deer coming this way right at me from the thicket. It's a buck! Is it him? No, it's smaller. Wait, there's another one. It's a buck too! And a third buck! Wow. I've never had this happen during season.
All three came in to about 15 yards out and came right through the scrape in front of me at a walk. Just a quick sniff at the scrape but none "refreshed it" They stood around in good bow range for a few minutes and I got a real good look at them. All probably 1 1/2 year olds. Two were fork horns and one was a spike. Both the fork horns had one side busted off. One was busted off clean, the other had about a 3 inch stob left. Between them they'd have made one good rack since one was missing the left and the other the right. Ha! Just my luck but I can't shoot anyway since I just shot the other buck so I'll enjoy the show.
Long story longer, I heard some grunts behind me but I couldn't see any deer that way. After the three amigos left I heard an obvious "rattle bag" and figured out that the guy from the morning didnt' leave after all. There he sits about 75 yards behind me. The buck I shot would have gone right to him if I hadn't called him with the grunt... Good for me bad for him I guess.
Now for the really STRANGE part. After I waited 40 minutes or more I climbed down and went to my arrow. Clean as a whistle but broken off right behind the head and a foot long piece splintered off from there back. I mean NO blood. Zip, zero, nada. I swore I watched that arrow go through his neck just forward of the shoulders. Exactly what part of a deers neck could I hit and only get a broadheads worth of penetration??? Maybe it was up near the skull? Didn't look like it. Point of the shoulder? Maybe if the arrow flipped up but 65 pounds behind a 33" footed cedar shaft that weighs about 650 to 700 grains with a razor sharp Zwickey Delta should bust almost any bone it hits or at least penetrate past the head.
What do you think?
After all day playing it back in my mind I think I figured it out.
Here's what I figure happened. That buck went ninja on me and slapped my arrow out of the air! Well, I figure he ducked and spun just enough for the point to miss him but in spinning, I think he actually hit the arrow mid shaft with his neck and deflected it just enough to put it about half sideways in the air and when the arrow hit the hard dirt, SNAP! There goes the broadhead and there lays the shaft.
It's the only thing that makes sense.
To top it off, mid day I climbed down and decided to head a little deeper into the woods following the edge of the mature timber and the thicket to look for more sign and maybe a better place farther away from the other guys stand. Plenty of sign!
There hangs a reflector though and that tree by it has climbing stand marks all up it. Hmmm, only about 70 yards away from both me and the other guy. Kinda crowded.... Keep going. Fifty yards farther along, there is ANOTHER stand. Sheesh! Never been this crowded back here before. Guess I'll go a little farther. Sixty or so yards and, you guessed it. ANOTHER stand! What gives? How does everybody know abou this spot? Aw screw it. I'm pulling my stand and going somewhere else. Maybe I'll take the shortcut out to the field road just past where the first guy has his stand then I can walk a path all the way out.
That's when I figured it out.... There are rubs and scrapes all along the field road so of course everybody saw them and did a little connect the dots type investigating. Guess that's the end of having that spot to myself eh?
Still a great morning though. I'm glad I didn't make a really bad hit on the buck and in fact never drew blood. Wish I'd known so I could have shot one of the other bucks but I'm on vacation all week and I know none of those little guys made all the big buck sign I'm seeing so....
So...no happy ending (YET)
But I also saw two turkeys and another small buck in the evening from a different spot. Gonna go back in the am and see what happens tomorow.
Wish me luck!
Topic: Really strange "hit", GREAT day (Read 445 times)
