Sorry for the delay. I was going to do this last night but fell asleep on the couch after dinner.
Well, here goes...As some of you know from a previous post I missed a really nice doe from on of my two Double Bull set ups last week. It seems like when you have two set up the deer seem to know when you are at one or the other so, the chess game I love to play was starting to get old. Laura and I went out on the 13th and she had a "feeling" about where I should be sitting so I went with her intuition.
We left the house about 1/2 hour later than usual simply because the deer activity seemed to be more towards the latter end of the afternoon. I arrived at my blind at about 3:40 PM. I got settled and decided that I would eat my snack, 2 apples, before I got my black shirt and face mask on. I was still just "getting comfortable" when I heard deer approaching. I checked my watch at it said 4:05. I peeked thru an opening in the blind and found myself looking directly into the sun but I could see a deer off to my right (West) about 12 yards away. It stood a while and just looked around. As it rounded the thick pines I had put the blind in I could see it was one of the four pointers that frequented this area but more typically in the mornings along with an 8 pointer with a medium rack but a large body. However, after a few minutes I could tell he was by himself.
At first he just stood behind the thick pines and I could really only see him if he moved his head or flicked his tail. He was on a trail that if he stayed on would take him another 100 yards or so towards Laura. He seemed to be heading that way and then turned and headed back towards me. Then he did something I didn't understand at the time. He looked directly at the blind as if he were looking right at me and he froze. I had never been detected in the blind before with the mesh down but I felt like he could see me.
Then he circled in front of the blind and was in range, maybe 25 yards, but I was not comfortable shooting that distance with the mesh down. I found that the depth perception was not certain even though the sun was out and the skies were clear.
He did a semi-circle around me and stopped after 180 degrees. He stood around a while and then followed the same path around me and stopped directly in front of the blind and looked right in again. This same pattern went on no less than 6 times. Since it was so early and he was more uncertain than he was jumpy, he would occasionally stop and preen or scratch himself, but something about the blind was bothering him. I felt that if he didn't spook his big buddy might show up or one of the monster does that also seemed to favor this series of trails. I secretly wished he would move off towards Laura but the thought of her killing two bucks before I got any deer caused a lot of ambivalence.
Finally he seemed to commit to coming in closer and I got ready for a shot. He needed to take a few more steps and it would be a 10 yard shot. His shoulder was still partially covered by the pine limbs I had left in place to conceal the blind. He put his head down to smell the Trophy Rock and just as quickly as his nose touched the rock he swung his head and gave the blind a quick look and he jumped back and stopped about 20 yards out behind the thick pines. I looked at my watch....almost 5:00 PM. This had been going on for almost an hour! By this time I was angry and ready to kill or I just wanted him to leave as there was plenty of time for other deer to show up.
Then I heard two more deer coming down the original trail he had come in on in back of me. Actually two tom turkeys walked right by us and he got distracted by their presence which seemed to calm him down. He finally started back on the trail he had originally walked in on when he first showed up. His nerves were settled but, again, something about the blind made him hesitant to commit to feeding in front of it and when he did he stayed out of range.
I had a slight opening in the blind that I used for observation. If he would walk out the same way he walked in I thought I might be able to get a shot. So I turned in my seat and could see a small but clear opening in the blueberries on that side of the blind. If he stepped into that opening I knew from Muzzy Stump Shoots that I could get an arrow thru without any problem.
He made his move and stepped into the spot I had just described. Before I even had much more time to think about it the arrow was on its way. However, it hit him a bit farther back than where I was aiming. He jumped, walked about 20 yards and just stood there, apparently not aware of his mortal condition. I tried to peek thru the blind but the sun was still in my eyes and the mesh made good visibility nearly impossible. The only part of him I could make out clearly was his tail. I moved to see if I could reposition myself to see without having to look thru the mesh. When I did I could not see him. He had moved on. It was looking more like a gut shot and I was frustrated with that.
A million things went thru my mind. How good or bad was the shot? Gut? Liver? Back of lungs? I just didn't know. I just knew the arrow hit left of where I wanted but the height was perfect. Should I just sit and wait until dark? What to do?
I gave it some time and decided I really couldn't make a good decision without seeing the arrow. I quietly unzipped the blind and stepped out. I took two steps and he got up about 30 yards away and made one lunge forward and was swallowed by the thick blueberries. I went back to the blind and sat and thought. I knew the shot was fatal but I could not see him well enough afterwards to determine the nature of the shot. It was clear to me at that point that this was one of those "when in doubt, get out" situations. I assumed that my first venture out of the blind sent him into a thick hemlock stand about 100 yards away and leaving the blind now would not push him farther. I was afraid if I stayed I would get anxious and curious and do something I might regret like taking up the trail or finding the first blood. The weather for the night was for light wind and clear skies and a possible frost. It was time to leave, get Laura and get out of Dodge. I decided to leave all my gear in the blind as I did not want to create any more commotion than necessary.
When I stepped out of the blind (the leaves were really dry and the air was still) I was startled to hear a deer blow at me from about 50 yards in the general direction the deer had gone, but slightly South of where I thought he had gone. I hoped it might be another deer and not the one I shot. I wanted him to bed down as soon as possible. Jumping him twice would not be good.
I made the walk down to Laura's stand, explained the situation. From where she was sitting she witnessed some of the movement of the deer I shot when he was on the Western side of my blind. In addition, she said she caught glimpses of at least 3 other deer in the area where I had heard the deer blow at me when I decided to leave. My hope was that those deer and not the one I shot were the culprits.
The next morning we found the arrow right off the bat. I was thoroughly relieved as the sign indicated a liver rather than a gut shot. We had a bit of a time finding first blood beyond where he had been standing after the shot. Never found any sign right there. But once we found the first blood the trail he was on was the one I thought he took when I first bumped him. One thing became clear to us as we trailed him. We had always worried about trailing deer on our property when we bought it. It was cut over about 20 years ago and was now thick with primarily blueberry bushes and ferns and other troublesome brush. But, the deer trails there were very obvious so that really made the trailing quite easy. Blood was on the ground, high on brush and grass. It was about a 100 yard trail but it ended right where I anticipated, it the thick hemlocks where we always suspected they bedded during the day.
Well, here I am with my prize. Not the eight pointer I wanted or the large doe I want to shoot for Bobby Urban's contest, but he represents an accomplishment that I had endeavored to achieve this year...get one from my Double Bull. I am sorry for my appearance in the photo, I was a bit unkempt and tired....but very pleased. The deer dressed out 8 pounds lighter than Laura's so she is still ahead of me in the local archery deer pool (we are the only two with deer in it, currently). He was also stiff as a board so posing him at that time was not ideal.
We had to drag him through some rough and wet areas so I decided not to field dress him until we got him back to the blind, got him on the cart and move him to a small stream where I could dress him out, do the autopsy, and clean myself up afterwards. I don't know what we would have done without the cart. Getting him to it was just the beginning as we had another 1,000 yard back to the truck (I counted how many steps it was) and the river was too low to get him out in the canoe which is our usual MO.
On a side note, I was shooting my beloved DAS Master Hunter riser with 55# Border HEX 5 wood limbs, a 340 spine Beman MFX shaft with 250 grains of a 3 blade Razorcap. The deer was 9 yards at the shot and I determined the poor shot placement was due to several small blueberry twigs I was not aware of at the time of the shot. Since the deer had shown up before I had put on my face mask and gloves Laura told me that she could easily make out my bare face and hands thru the mesh. That, no doubt, is why he was reluctant to come any closer than he did. When Laura told me that I had her sit in the blind and sure enough, I could see every uncovered part (her face and hands, in this instance). Lessons learned and I feel good....and many thanks to Laura for being such a great partner and wife.
By the way, when I filed dressed him it appeared that the arrow hit slightly in back of the liver as there was a small slice along it. The broadhead had apparently severed a number of veins and arteries leading to and from the liver and also the digestive tract.
Bleeding out was much quicker that I had anticipated and perhaps if I waited a bit longer I could have trailed him and gotten him out that evening. He was probably dead when I got to Laura's stand. In any event I probably would handle it the same way given the weather forecast and past experience. All's well that ends well.
If I left anything out I will be happy to answer any questions.
Topic: Another Double Bull Adventure (Read 1076 times)
