Got to my stand this morning while it was still dark. Sat for about twenty minutes till it was light enough to see. A lot of tree rats were about today. I did have my trusty tree rat arrow but it was still to early to think of that. After some time I heard the church bell off in the distance ring 7 times. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes later I see some movement to my right. It was a couple of yearlings that have been showing up a lot. The first time I saw them I told myself I would not shoot these guys and of course they show up everytime I'm in the stand. I do enjoy watching them interact. After a while they left the area and I was back to watching tree rats.
Around 8:00 Movement in the brush about 45 yds in front of me catches my eye. It's a deer! Looked like a pretty good doe. It makes its way closer until I can see that it is a buck with both antlers busted off. At 25 yds the buck is broadside and standing still. I remember drawing the string back while looking at a spot behind the front leg. The next thing I know the arrow is gone and the deer is running! I do not remember releasing the string nor did I see the arrow in flight. He only went maybe 20 yds and stopped, tail twitching. I tried holding him with a doe call but he walked into the brush out of sight tail twitching the whole time. A few seconds later I thought I heard him go down.
I called my buddy Steve on the cell phone, told him what happened and how I really wasn't sure I hit it. He said he would be right over. It took hime bout 15 minutes to get there by then I was down outta the stand. We walked over to where the deer was, found a small spot of blood and then the arrow which was covered with blood. The blood trail then became heavier and easier to follow. He did not go far, maybe 35-40 yds total.
This is how we found him:
A complete pass thru double lung, hitting and splitting the far rib before exiting. I was extremley happy! First deer with my new Bama Hunter T/D, made by Nate Steele, 55@28 (My draw length about 57#). I was shooting 31.5" tapered ash arrows with Zwickey Eskimos on the business end that I bought from a fellow TG'r (Thanks again John!)and thanks to TradGang for all the information I have learned since joining!
Topic: First with the new bow! (Read 405 times)
