this morning started as any other morning that i get up and go hunting, but little did i know i what was to come........
the hunt actually started sunday ( 9-12-10) when i hunted a huge overcup oak that is dropping with persimmons dropping about 30 yards behind it. i had a lone doe come in only for the wind to change and get me busted. this told me i had a killing spot given time and steady wind.
friday afternoon rolls around and i pack my climber in for an afternoon hunt. nothing much going on. i knew the deer were hitting the acorns and had an idea that this was gonna be a good morning spot. i left the stand to return at 6:30 saturday morning- 9-18-10.
daylight was slowly creeping through the darkness of the thick swap about 7 and i was getting "in the zone" looking and thinking of possibilities for approaching animals. about 7:15 i hear a twig snap to my right and see a deer coming from my right to my left behind the big oak. i see an opportunity to stand and get ready. with a glance back from the lead doe i see more legs coming..2 more sets. at this time i am focusing on the lead doe that is munching the bits of acorns provided by the nice squirrels from above. feeding at an angle to my left she goes behind a tree and i put tension on the string and cut my eyes to the other deer that are coming in making sure i can draw without getting busted. i can and i do. "10 yards, i got this", i tell myself.
with the bow drawn, i am focusing on the spot and start my push/pull through the clicker, awww crap, i shot..and didnt realize it. i am blinded for split second by my homemade lighted nock. i see the bright red nock go low and left of the spot i was looking at. a loud CRACK with a high kick and frantic pawing front legs fighting for traction was the result of the shot. as she turned to run, she went between two very tight trees/vines breaking my arrow sending the nock end flipping through the air. again, all i saw was the bright nock doing circles in the air landing helpless on the ground broken in half. many bad thoughts were going through my head at this point knowing i had just made a bad shot as i wathced the doe make a sweeping circle to my left and around a corner of vines.
with the frustration weighing heavy on me i couldnt hold it in. i sent my wife and chase the news of what looked to be a wounded deer. i sat for about 15 minutes and decided to get down and look for some blood in a small circle. i found blood right off. where she went through the two trees was covered really good, after that, well, it got kinda sparse. i found a little more and flagged it off and began project " time killer". i made a sweeping circle through the swamp looking for hogs. my search came up empty but killed about 35 minutes or so. after my hog walk, i went and got daddy and we headed back to the scene of the bad shot.
we picked up the trail and went with it. i was hoping i had heard the deer crash around the corner from where i shot it, and honestly with the blood we were finding, i was expecting it. not so lucky. she ran across the flat and up a slight embankment to a higher ridge. on top of the ridge we were finding a lot of blood, good blood. this went on for a ways weaving left and right, twisting and turning..then i felt a sinking feeling, we had to have jumped this deer for us not to have already dound it with the blood we had found. good bright blood with bubbles.
we continued on through the block of woods to a road..the same road daddy was hunting in. at this point the blood was reduced to spots and specs. she crossed the road and it picked up again going directly behind daddys stand..where the deer had blown at him earlier..same deer?:huh: weird, but possible i guess. anyways, we continued on again and the trail went to nothing again. now the deer was at another road and crossed it ( so far she has taken an "S" shaped path", we picked up good blood and followed it into the next wood lot, where we would very soon lose it.
after following the blood aobut 20 yards into the lot i lost it. i made semi-circle after semi-circle looking for blood. nothing. i decided to give up for a bit and go get daddys pit bull Dixie. she has found stuff before for us and i couldnt stomach the thought of losing this deer, especially the first deer of the season, the first with my new bow, nope couldnt handle it.
time passed at home while getting a quick bite to eat and getting dixie ready. we take her in and she runs wide open like a wild animal that is being released into the wild. i try to look for blood while she is going crazy and that turns into a ground search of the wood lot. nothing. there is a slough running adjacent to the lot where i lost blood, a mere 10 yards from where i lost blood. daddy had already been looking across the muddy slough, so had dixie. he reported nothing but only one set of fresh tracks, but no blood anywhere. i had not went across the slough myself, so i decided to give it a go just for good measure.
i walked up and down scanning for any fresh track in the sloppy mud, not much. i walked through the cypress/tupelo/water oak flat and came up with nothing visible. "i give up", was the thought of the moment. walking back to the range full of frustration, im noticing all the tracks, old of course telling by the cobwebs in the toes of them..until i see a fresh set of runners crossing the muck. i squat on hands and kneed and inspect them...I GOT BLOOD! Back Again! here we go. by now dixie has ran out of going power and is hasseling to the point that i think she is gonna fall out..she has laid in the wet, sloppy, but cool, muck to cool off.
when she sees me squat she comes tome, passes me goes ahead about 10 yards. i find specs of blood to where she is. she moves ahead and gives the ground a heavy sniff and a blow like dogs do and went on ahead. daddy is gonna go with her and im gonna continue to hunt for the specs of blood. knowing they are gonna be going on a wild goose chase i continue to scavenge the swamp floor. nothing the way im going. i decide to look where dixie was sniffing..what do ya know..blood. i begin to look in the new direction, not letting dixie out of sight. on hands and knees i am looking everything over, not much happening. all the while i lose sight of dixie when all of a sudden i hear here bark. she dont bark unless she has something alive. here is where it gets wild.
at the sound of the bark im up and running wide open in the direction i heard here. "snake" was my first thought. then i hear something make a wild sounding noise..( tough to hear precise running wide open dodging trees and eye level branches).."she done caught a hog" is the next thought. while im running to her and trying to figure out what im gonna do with her and a hog, i hear the sound of a bellowing deer. "cant be? i know she dont have my deer" sho nuff! she had my deer! when i came to the seperation line where she was and saw my deer laying there with dixie standing over her, panting like a 300 lb marathon runner that just ran a mile ( i werent much better myself), a huge sigh of releif/excitement came over me and took all the frustration away.
i immediately called my wife and told her dixie had found the deer followed by a call to chase who i had been chatting with all morning. dixie had went that way across the slough severa times, but i never persued her, figuring she was just wondering around. boy was i worng!!!! she has found stuff for me before, but this was by far the toughest/longest trail i have ever been successful on. nothing to blame but my crappy shooting. i was right. at the shot i dropped my bow arm slightly low and left, hitting her low in the shoulder and going through the low brisket.
i am super proud and lucky to have found this deer. i owe it all to dixie..i should have followed her to begin with. cant beat a good pit bull that will trail scent/blood!
this is the first for the plywood bow and first deer with the centaur heads!
mudded and blooded 9-18-2010
Topic: Dixie's Deer..Wild Story (Read 372 times)
