My buddy Darren(Elktalker) and I have access to a nice little hilltop property that has a few blacktails on it. Once elk season is over we start thinking about deer hunting and this place is close to home. Darren is a hunting machine and one of the best shots at live animals that I have been around. He works hard at it and has earned the success he has had. He first started shooting trad a couple of years ago and is the main reason I decided to give it a try.
Saturday morning we went up to this property to check a trail camera he has set up. There is a very nice blacktail buck that lives here and Darren jumped him several times last year without getting a shot. This year he is going to try a tree stand when the season opens back up in a couple of weeks. I tagged along with him because I have an antlerless tag that can be used now. We saw a doe in a small apple orchard just as it was getting light enough to shoot. She was way more interested in apples than she was in me, so I was able to get within about 15 yards of her. I have been practicing religously since January and feel very comfortable shooting out to about 25 yards, so this was a slam dunk. Now, if she had been 30yds my hunt would have been over. Since she wasn't my shot went about a foot over her back. I've watched videos of whitetails and seen them drop at the shot. This blacktail didn't do that. She never twitched until the arrow hit the ground well beyond her. Then she slowly walked away and out of my life. I think I was flock shooting. I certainly don't remember picking a spot. We went down to check the trail camera and found a couple of good places to put tree stands for Mr. Big and then I went home to lick my wounds.
It has been raining hard of and on in our part of the state for the last few days, and it absolutely poured starting around 10am. At about 2:30 Darren called and said since it was raining so hard he thought we should go do some indoor practice. Well I had proved I couldn't hit the broadside of a deer so I agreed that might be a good idea. After shooting way to many arrows we decided to call it a day and head for home. Surprisingly, the rain had stopped and if we hurried, there was just enough light left to stop at the apple orchard again. As it turned out, the same pretty little doe was having supper on the far end of the orchard. It was now dusk and once again she was paying more attention to apples than she was to me. I got to about 25 yards and her head came up and she was checking me out. At this time, even in the low light, I could see that she recognized me. I'm not sure, but I think I heard her snicker a little bit. At my age my hearing isn't as good as it once was... hmmmm reminds me of a song. Anyway, I tried to focus a little more than I had in the morning, zero'd in on the crease and the arrow kinda took off without me thinking about it to much. Things usually work out better if I don't try to think to much. The shot look good, but I thought maybe just a tiny bit low. She staggered hard, then took off running, hit the fence, feel down, got up and was out of sight in less time than it took me to type it. Darren was able to watch it all from behind with his bino's. We waited about 20 minutes before going to check. Found both pieces of my arrow where she hit the fence. It wasn't a pass through but was sticking out on both sides when she was running away. It was fairly dark by now but with the use of his hand held 747 landing light, Darren found her on the trail a short ways ahead. The shot hit right where it ought to, proving once again that even a blind hog can root out an acorn once an a while. She went just 45 yards before expiring. She was a beautiful mature doe. For me, when I first approach an animal I have harvested, the emotions I feel are always bitter sweet. We took the time to thank the One who created all for this gift, that we did not take lightly.
Here are some vital statistics.
Thunderhorn Heartstopper (its a beauty and shoots even better) 53# @ 28", 30" CE Terminator Hunter Select 45-60 shaft, 50 grain brass insert, 200gr Muzzy Phantom (no bleeders) total arrow weight 600gr+-.
Darren got a few pictures. He said he will post them on here tomorrow.
Me... I'm sold on trad, it's not easy, but it's well worth it.
Topic: Another first trad kill (Read 541 times)
