I've got work to do tonight, but a little more procrastination won't hurt anyone and maybe someone will find this story interesting.
First a little background information...
I grew up in western MA shooting traditional equipment because that's what my dad shot. By the time I was 12 he was confident enough in my abilities to let me hunt deer about 150 yards from him. I never got a chance to shoot and we moved to KY before I turned 13. Sports became more important to me than archery and I was solely a gun hunter until 3 years ago (I'm 35 now). About 7 years ago a childhood friend of mine left the Army and moved back home. I'll call him Jason for the purposes of this story because that's his name. I taught him to hunt deer and he has been very successful with with rifles.
About 2 years ago Jason expressed an interest in bow hunting. At that point I had recently started bow hunting again with the Damon Howatt Black Mamba dad gave me when I was a kid. He asked about wheel bows and I told him that I wouldn't be able to help him with that since I literally know nothing about them. He tried my bow and, in spite of being big and strong, he had some trouble with the 50# draw weight. I told him to buy a Samick Sage at 40#, but he bought one at 45#. I set the bow up for him and taught him the basics and sent him home with a G. Fred Asbell book on instinctive shooting that my dad had given me.
Over the following months Jason practiced and we'd text each other pictures of our groups. I spent time with him sharing the information I'd learned here and what my father had taught me. Before our season opened here earlier this month he was shooting well out to 20 yards and was committed to limiting his shots to 15 yards or less.
We hunted the same farm together a few times this season and had seen several deer and have a fairly good idea of where they're moving.
The hunt...
This past Saturday we were set up in our stands about 80 yards apart in some woods about 40 yards off of a recently cut soybean field. The deer are both browsing the bean fields and eating acorns in the woods. About 9am Jason texted me telling me he was going to get down by 10am. Less than 10 minutes later I heard a bleat and saw a big doe we'd seen several times before run behind my stand like she'd been hit. She ran for about 60 yards past my stand and I saw her bed down in some very thick brush.
I texted Jason to ask about the shot. He told me the doe had managed to walk within 8 yards of his stand without him hearing her and he took the shot. He was very discouraged at having hit her farther back than he wanted. He thought she was close to broadside, but maybe quartering to a bit. He said he only thought he got about 8" of penetration. It was into the 70's at the time he shot and heading towards the low 80's at midday. We agreed that ideally we'd simply back out and give her some time, but with the heat we were worried about the meat spoiling. We decided to give her an hour.
Right after 10 we climbed down and met at his stand to look for blood. There wasn't any. We followed the path she took and still no blood. We found part of his arrow that had broken off. The blood showed that he'd gotten about 18" of penetration, but given the angle of the shot and lack of blood, I was certain that he didn't get an exit wound. At that point we decided that I'd loop around and try to get in front of where she was bedded in case he bumped her into the field.
He followed the trail and found her bedded. He got within 20 yards, but the underbrush was too thick to get a shot. He hollered at me that she was coming to the field, but I never saw her. We backed out briefly and discussed our options. He said she was obviously hurting. It was getting hotter. We still hadn't found blood. We started grid searching and couldn't locate her. Jason was understandably feeling dejected. By 11:00am we had search the wooded area. I was starting to lose hope that we would recover the doe.
Jason mentioned that he wanted to search some long grass (6-7' tall) between the edge of the field and the woods. We started at opposite ends some 250' apart and within 5 minutes I heard him holler at me again. I turned to see him trying to get another arrow on his string and the doe running towards a grassy finger jutting into the field with an arrow sticking out of her rib cage. We saw her bed down in the finger about 100 yards from me and considerably farther from him. I motioned for him to stay put and we had a brief, whispered conversation by cell phone. He had found her bedded without spooking her. He shot her again, but he'd hit a branch in front of her and the arrow barely penetrated. I explained that the doe hadn't seen me and the wind was in my face and that I was confident I could get to her without spooking her. We decided on hand signals for him to let me know when I was within shooting distance of where she bedded down.
I stayed low and moved slowly along the edge of the finger. Jason let me know I was close. I set up with my Bob Lee signature (70# @ 28") and whistled hoping she'd stand. She didn't. Another two steps and I could see her. She was laying down facing away from me. I drew, hit anchor, picked my spot and released. The 700 gr gt trad with a snuffer up front buried into her back and exited out her sternum and into the ground below. She never stood. A few seconds later and she was gone. I can't express adequately how happy we both were. It was still shy of 11:30, but already 80 degrees.
He field dressed her and we drove his deer up to the barn and skinned, boned her out, and got the meat in coolers by noon. Based on the trajectory of his first arrow, the deer had to be almost completely facing him at impact. He spent Sunday butchering and tells me the meat was all good.
Obviously, this isn't what we'd planned. After, the work was done, we talked about waiting for broadside shots. Still I'm proud he got his deer and we didn't waste any meat. I'm proud we found his deer without any blood trail and ended her suffering.
We didn't take a hero picture. I'm going out again this Saturday and he's already let me know he's got my back if I need help.
Topic: A learning experience (Read 409 times)
