And I'm Finally back to finish this up!
He stood there cautiously, yet confident as a mature buck does. Our blind was well brushed in, but he appeared to be absolutely locked on us. With his hard quartering to angle there was no hope for a shot. Moments later there were a few crunches behind us, and I knew he was looking at some does that had been working around us all afternoon. They must have stepped in to his view because he committed and began to walk perfectly in front of our set. I was calm, shockingly calm really, as I drew. I anchored and my mind was focused on a crease tight to his front shoulder as he was still slightly quartering to. It seemed in slow motion as the shot broke, with the arrow arriving exactly where I hoped it would. Immediately he spun 180 degrees and I could see the shaft well out the far side with solid placement. Chaos ensued, and with the does around us running through standing corn in all directions I never heard a crash. Doubt crept in for a moment, but the replay in my head of the entry and exit points kept me confident.
Landen and I waited about 30 minutes to take up the trail as light faded. Landen found the first blood and got us started, but we had to stop when my flashlight batteries died unexpectedly. With three boys it seems my flashlight batteries are ALWAYS dead.
We headed back to the truck, and texted both my father and our family friend bret who were hunting near by. Bret had actually shot a deer as big or bigger, but did not feel confident on the shot due to poor penetration. This really threw a wrench in to our plans because the ONLY way to get to my deer with a truck meant driving precisely by where Brett had last seen his deer.
It was well after dark by the time everyone got rounded up, and we decided to walk in from the north and cross 10 mile creek to resume trailing my deer so as not to disturb Brett's. We started in on the trail again, and the blood was solid, all over the corn stalks. We made it maybe 50 yards when I saw white belly up ahead. I paused for a moment giving thanks before approaching, and finally laying my hands on him. I think it's important as hunters, that we revere our quarry.
We field dressed him in the corn, and drug him into the blind for the night. It was cool, in the 30's, and there was no way we were going to get him across the vertical banks of 10 mile creek. The next day we resumed the trail for Brett's deer with no success, and retrieved my deer from the blind.
The weather in Kansas this fall has been surprisingly cool, which allowed me nearly 2 weeks of aging without having to use our walk in cooler. I find aging really helps with mature deer flavor, and tenderness.
Thanks for tagging along!
Topic: KS Success (Read 18948 times)
