Okay, okay here it is.
I did write a tale on the Pow Wow after taking this deer, but a good hunting tale never gets old.
I shot the Vancouver Island blacktail on October 27 2006 with my Earl Hoyt Jr. heritage series longbow, 2016 superslams and 145 grain Satellite Titan heads. One of my best ever stalks resulted in a shot of less than 8 yards, and terrible shot placement. From my angle, shooting slightly uphill I thought that perhaps I had one lung, but more likely liver. I gave him some time and took up the trail later by headlamp. As the trail began to play out I decided to leave him for the night. Early the next afternoon, after taking a greenhorn hunting in the morning, I again took up the trail. After many lost trails, pin prick sized drops of blood and searching for sign ahead with my binos, I found him curled up and stiff in a shallow creek under a log. The trail felt like 1000 yards, though it was probably closer to half that.
I experienced every emotion a hunter can possibly experience during that blood trail. I had high hopes at the beggening, dispair when the trail petered out, anger, frustraion, and sadness at the thought of losing a deer, to unparalelled elation when I found him.
I will paste the link to the original story for photos of the blood trail, and more in depth commentary.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=038304;p=1 Thanks for reading, and I must say, it is an honour to have my gruff mug sitting at the top of the page. Thanks again guys and gals.