Holy Smookes! this thread has not be pulled up in a long time.
Here is my blog entry the year I made those heads and then the final version of them.
Sat. Nov. 8
I moved one of my ladder stands last week and sat in it for the first time on Saturday afternoon. I got to the stand at 2:30 pm and hung 4 small sponges soaked in Tinks 69 upwind of my location and then climbed into the stand. It was COLD with a slight rain snow mix and hard Northwest winds. The soggy river bottom and the rain made it almost impossible to hear anything approaching so I sat tight with my hood pulled up to keep me dry.
At 3:30 I heard a noise to my left (down wind side) and turned to see a buck at 10 yards. He didn't smell me but I think he was focused on the Tinks sponges. I was busted sitting. I have never harvested a deer from a seated position but there was no chance in standing up with the buck so close. He took a few more steps towards the sponges and stopped with his head and part of his front shoulder blocked by a big cedar tree. I took the longbow that was resting on my lap and moved it to the vertical position. and got ready for him to step forward but he just stood there. I leaned back and could see the hair line on the back edge of the front leg so I figured I would take the shot.
I took the below picture the next morning to show where he was standing and made a poor attempt at sketching where he stood.
I had plenty of time to tell myself to pick a spot and to take a good aim and then release. The arrow hit a bit high and the deer lurched forward and turned to run back on the trail he came from. About half of my 29 inch arrows was still visible as he ran off. I gave 3 loud blows on my grunt tube and he stopped for a moment and then walked off.
I knew I had hit him high but I was not too far back so I was sure I had hit him in the lungs. I desided to sit for 20 minutes but waited 45 instead since he took off with my arrow. At 4:15 I got down and collected my sponges and went to where he stood to take up the trail. There was no blood to be found but the black muddy kicked up tracks made the trail easy to follow.
After tracking about 40 yards, I spotted a shed antler in the wet leaves.
A few feet further I found my broken arrow. the first 6 inches were missing
After going another 20 yards I found the only blood that I would find while tracking this deer.