Okay, two days later, with SD's gun season starting the same day as NE, I was running out of time so burned a personal day and drove northwest to hunt ground I'd never set foot on before.
Got there at dawn, within minutes found sign I really liked and a setup that would work with the wind. Put up a portable, got settled in, and an hour later had a nice buck headed my way on the general path a doe/fawn had taken 10 minutes before. Thick brush made real good ID of his rack impossible, but he was definitely good enough for me on wing-and-prayer hunt such as this. He ended up in scrape 12 yards away but facing right at me. I leaned to the right, keeping a medium cottonwood between us, waiting for him to decide whether to go right or left and either way get himself shot.
Of course it's rarely that easy.
Well, after what seemed like an hour (probably two minutes) he decided to turn around and just as he turned and angled away I found a spot and let him have it. The arrow went in just front of left hip and angled forward. Again, enough arrow hanging out that I was a bit concerned but needn't have been. This arrow went through guts, liver, lung, heart and exited the deer and re-entered his front leg. During his run, it literally pulverized the leg area, and I found numerous chunks of meat on the blood trail. These chunks were the size of a screw-off pop bottle cap. Amazing. When I started finding more than one, I thought this deer's done. I do think the additional agitation spurred him into a much longer run than normal and he made it about 160 yards before expiring. He's a nice 6x6 counting a couple cool inside points, a big one on his left side and a smaller one on his right antler.
And the damage this arrow did during the death run? Upon removing the cape (a beautiful one that I probably will not mount), this is what was left of the area. An osage-orange or hedgeball-sized (that's more 'traditional' than saying a grapefruit or softball!) hole of mincemeat. I'm holding a huge chunk of meat pulled from this area. And the Woodsman broadhead came out sharp enough to reuse after only a few strokes on a diamond hone. Frankly I'm amazed.
Sorry for the graphic nature of this picture, and if the mods feel it needs to be removed, that's fine. But I think each blood trail and hit is a learning experience.
I'm not sure what's next, but will probably try to kill a few does, but maybe use other bows, like the Browning I Nomad recurve and Microflite arrows tipped with old Razorheads (that I picked up this summer), or the Schafer Silvertip I've neglected for years, or maybe dust off one of Hohensee's White Bisons that spilt a lot of blood back 10 years ago. But the Green Machine--my Pronghorn takedown, now with snakeskins--and Woodsman heads performed well; I only wish I'd held off on one of the NE bucks to still have a buck permit in my pocket if one of the nocturnal guys ever decides to come out in the day.
Thanks for allowing me to share. It feels kind of selfish to do so when I've been largely absent from here this fall, but it's been an unbelievably busy year. And I think the SD hunt was 67th of the season.
Topic: Short Recap of my Fall (so far) (Read 432 times)
