My most unique kill ever

[John Scifres]

Un-friggin-believable!!!  Cool too!  Thanks for sharing.  My very first bow kill back when I livved in Kentucky was a doe that I just barely grazed the nose of.   She bled out from that!  Kentucky deer must not be as tough as TX deer.

[4runr]

Eric, I use to have the same problem with Charlies and Curtises pics. I think it was the settings or the anti spam software. I got a new laptop and now all the pics show up fine.

Curtis that is just amazing. Probably an inch either way and things would have been different.
Great photography and autopsy.

[philil]

Wow...that's truely unbelieveable!

[TimBow2]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Littlefeather]

I love the mind-set behind the coencidence theory Shaun. Thanks to you and Micky for the compliment on the photo.

I've thought quite a bit about this deer since yesterday. I can't help but be very saddened to know the suffering she must have gone through. I suppose this is one of those times designed to make us think about the ramifications of our actions. I suppose looking back that I may have corrected this injury by simply waiting for a closer shot. The deer were jumpy that day due to the strong wind. Maybe if I'd paid closer attention to this factor she wouldn't have sustained such an injury. I suppose I'm simply second guessing now! It certainly was an unfortunate event that I wish hadn't have ever happened.

OK, Last picture on this subject is to answer the question of why she had the enormous bulge in her jaw. It remained a mystery untill I was about 3/4 the way through scraping the skull. All the other skulls I've ever Euro mounted have removable lower jaws. As I continued to scrape, I begain to also pry to get the jaw free so I could reach the difficult areas within. The more I scraped the more I pried until I realized that one of the ear holes was oddly mis-formed. As I closer inspected the jaw area I realized that the two sides were not alike. More scraping revealed a immovable jaw on one side. The broadhead had traversed the ear canal, broken the jaw hinge, and also broken away the lower portion of the eye orbit. Everything is healed now of course but the unrepairable damage was done. Everything on that side of the skull was bone welded into a solid piece. The other side of the jaw would move to a small degree and was the side she was feeding on. On another more positive note, she obviously had the ability to feed better than I'd first thought. He stomach was completely full when I gutted her and she even had a layer of fat in her pelvic region and on top of her back. Those cute little deer are awesome in their ability to survive. Most resilliant! Here is a pic of the immovable side of her jaw. See the hinge area grown together?

   

Maybe this story brings closure on some other events that have been told on this thread. Seems that others have experienced this "hamster pouch" on other deer as well. Who could ever know the nature of their injuries?

That concludes this story. Thanks for your nice comments! CK

[LazerRay]

Do you think a 3 blade would of ended her suffering with a head shot like that??

[Littlefeather]

I knew that question was comming. I don't care to get into a debate about it. I shot her with a two blad and can't change history now. I just hope no-one ever finds out if a three blade would have made any difference. The shot was simply too far from true vidals. The second shot was perfect though!     Two lungs with one hell of a cool combination of bow and arrow. CK

[LazerRay]

I like grizzlies as well I have one in my quiver, I ran out of WW and had a sixth arrow and I needed to put something on it. Grizzlies group with my WW

[Guru]

I don't think a 3bl. would have made a bit of diff.,but we'll never know...great job bud!!

[Huntrdfk]

Amazing Curtis!  Great story with a great ending, way to go!


David

[Doug S]

Curtis,
If you ask that deer if it was glad that you didn't kill it last year I think it would say, I am glad you hit me in the head. Not fun, but better than dead. Thanks for the extra year. Yea she suffered but she was glad.  
Thanks for the story, and the bulge answers.

[rabbitman]

You the man Curtis...Congrats on "bagging" the doe.  

[Guru]

Doug, I don't think Curtis was glad she suffered...is that what you are trying to imply here??

[Coop]

That's pretty amazing and interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing Curtis.

[Gary Kellar]

Although you'd told me by phone about taking the doe with the lump on the side of it's head earlier this weekend, it was before you made the discoveries that led to the "rest of the story" - - that is one simply amazing tale!!  That's also a great looking bow that got christened before it was even finished!  What an appropriate name.

Also a great bunch of pictures . . is that my old wool shirt you're wearing??  I want it back!

[Doug S]

Guru,  Not even close!
I simply was guessing that the deer was happy to have just a head shot last year, even though it was painful, instead of a heart shot last year. She got to have another year. I would happily have another year with a messed up jaw than no year at all. Sometimes we (me included beat ourselves up for giving a deer some pain. But I think they would take some pain over no more life here. Yea we feel bad but she was glad. Just my thoughts.

[Doug S]

Curtis already said he hated that she suffered at all. We all do. Anyway, great story and hunt very interesting..

[JEFF B]

awesome mate real nice doe.  

[Guru]

Sorry Doug,I just wasn't sure what you meant by you comment.  Thanks for the explanation bud.

[Mike Walker]

Awesome story.