It has been a tough year for me. I had been hunting hard after some real bruisers but they ended up on the receiving end of some gunpowder and lead by neighbors (and friends). Happy for them, but it dampened my spirit a bit. Something about chasing these bucks for several years and seeing them dead got me down. It shouldn't have, as that is hunting, but it did. I got some mojo back getting after another old buck who is still on his feet. He gave me the slip three times but I learned a lesson: the journey is the destination! He and I still have some time
I learned another lesson Christmas Eve: a sure shot, and easy 20 yarder can be a nightmare if you shoot at an alert deer. So here's the setup: I got a couple of hours from the Mrs to hunt with one request in mind. No passing up deer looking for a big one. We are a 4 deer family: we were one away from the goal. So first slickhead gets an arrow...
At 4 pm a swirly in the wind made the four does start to wind check. Scent free as possible it still doesn't sit well with them. Inside my red zone already I felt like my Thunderchild was quiet enough once the nanny of the bunch turned sideways. It is a quiet bow, and I love it for tree stand hunting. I picked my spot and dropped the string only to see the arrow hit far back in front of the rump.
At the shot the old girl did her matrix thing and instead of a broadside hit, I got a hard quarter away. I just knew I had screwed up! The arrow was buried to the fletching and I wanted to puke. Miraculously she stopped at 30 yards and fell over dead as a hammer. Evidently I got something good...
Although not super alert she had enough of a scent of me to not like any noise, quiet BigJim TC or not, caused her to turn inside out, and take the arrow in the rump. I have shot at a lot of critters and have killed several dozen with stickbows, and I never had one do that. I must really smell like death.
I got down to see what I had hit. Walking up on the deer I was looking up to God just thanking him. What a Christmas gift! I wish I had taken photos of the autopsy but I was running terribly behind cooking for guests. My wife was watching my roast and potatoes while my son and I recovered our girl.
The arrow had angled from the left rump forward into the opposite shoulder, tinting the skin. I got femoral artery, guts and right lung. It looked like a path of red paint on the short trail. Without the artery I had a one lung deer, without the heavy arrow and Tuffhead, well who knows. I basically covered the whole deer with a 630 grain arrow out of a 50 pound longbow. I won't have trouble with confidence on anything in N. America with this setup!
So, a lesson. Alert deer do strange things. I have heard our Texas members talk about how wired they are. This one would have fit in. As it is, food for my family and a lesson from this girl is what I got for Christmas. Not bad, not bad at all. Happy New Year friends!
Topic: Christmas Eve Doe and lesson (Read 865 times)
