At about 5 pm I had a little spike come out of the bedding area, cool I was at least going to see a deer.
At about 5:45 I had 8 doe, mom's and little ones come out of the bedding area. I was covered up and had eyes and ears all around me. I heard some grunting in the thick stuff and could catch glimpses of a bigger body and a rack. Luckily, he didn't come out right away as I would have had trouble getting a shot off with all the doe around me.
The doe eventually made there way into the field and sure enough, that buck came out of the thick stuff and was heading my way. I wasn't sure which way he was going to head but I had my bow in my hand and was prepared to pivot however I needed to in my climber's seat. I thought he was going to head to my left and pass through my opening in the above picture but he turned abruptly and was going to pass in front of me at about 20 yards.
He was walking and when he hit my opening in front of me I drew back and shot. Now here is where this story could have had a not so Happy Ending.....
I immediately saw my arrow hit a little further back than I would have liked. He took off like a rocket to my right and I watched him until he was out of sight, about 100 yards in a about 2 seconds flat. They can really run!
I knew my hit was lethal and I guessed it was going to be a liver hit with maybe lung if i was lucky. Not ideal and now is when the anxiety and worrying take over...time really drags out when your waiting to track. I waited about 30 minutes and climbed down. I walked over to where I shot him and there was some nice dark red blood spots there so that eased my mind a little. I situated my gear and carried it to the truck and by now it was dark.
I took a seat in the cab of my truck and figured I would wait at least another hour before I started to track. There is nothing worse than jumping a hit deer and pushing it. After about 2.5 hours of waiting I grabbed my pack and my lights and started blood trailing. I had ok blood, a few drops and spatters every couple feet and it was dark red and I could tell he was running the whole way. I didn't see any stomach or gut matter so that was very encouraging as well.
I had trailed him about 200 yards and I was right at the edge of the property I was hunting. There is a very steep hillside that heads down into the next property and that is the way he was heading. There is also a small stream at the bottom.
Now I had a big decision to make. I don't know the people that own the property he was headed onto. It's after 9 pm now. I have ok blood and the temperature is supposed to get down into the upper 30's overnight. I made the decision to head home, knock on a door in the morning and hopefully pick up the trail.
It was a very long night without much sleep.
Topic: Happy Ending (Read 1444 times)
