Shot this 7 point buck yesterday evening with my Fedora longbow. We've had a bumper crop of acorns this year plus Hurricane Matthew came through last weekend and so there are acorns everywhere.
I went out Sunday and did a little scouting. I've always seen a flurry of pre-rut activity during this week so was hoping to find some good buck sign. I knew where there were a couple of large oak trees in an area that doesn't have very many oaks and had a feeling the deer would be hitting these good. Sure enough I found signs of feeding activity, multiple rubs and a good licking branch. I selected a tree, did a little limb trimming and planned to hunt it the next afternoon.
Got in the woods around 4 p.m. and squirrels were already feeding. At 6 p.m. the buck appeared and came within 10 yards but I couldn't quite get the shot I wanted. I thought he was going to walk off but then he came back closer to me feeding and looking - he finally stopped at around 18 yards and I put a perfect shot on him.
After giving him a few minutes I went looking for blood - I didn't see anything obvious at the site of the shot so eased down through the woods looking as I went. When I got to the last spot I had seen him running I looked ahead and there he was - he had run about 50-60 yards and was down.
The 200 grain VPA 3 blade had gone in tight behind his left shoulder and come out low behind the right shoulder. I have been shooting a lighter bow this year - around 42 lbs at my draw length - and found my accuracy had increased significantly and had been wondering how it would perform on game…No more concerns from me on that issue lol…