Well. I got to go hunting last week and was able to put a couple critters in the cooler! On my first evening hunt I saw one animal......a nice big lone sow that came by just before dark. I made a good shot on her and she made it about 80yds and piled up. Here is a pic of my 120# sow:
I have hunted hard this year and, because of circumstances beyond my control, had not had a shot at a single deer. No shooter bucks and not a single doe! On the second evening of my hunt I went to a blind with no real expectations. I had not been sitting there 10 minutes when 3 does and a nubbin buck came walking up. I got all excited like I had never seen a deer before! After quite a few minutes one of the does finally got in a good position about 10-11yds from my blind. I pulled back and let one fly. The next thing I heard was CLANG. The deer scattered and my arrow came to an abrupt stop........I stuck my German Kinetic broadhead square into a metal pole. I sat there, immersed in self pity, trying to figure out what the heck I had done wrong to shoot clean over that deer and smack that pole like that. After I got out and retrieved my arrow, which I was sure was going to be trashed, I was suprised to find NO damage at all. I have to say that I am very impressed with the strength and stability of those GK heads! The edge was a little dinged up, but after about 30 minutes of sharpening back at camp, all was good and the head was reloaded into my quiver. Here is a pic of my Pope and Young feeder leg kill:
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement! After two months of hunting I finally had an opportunity at a deer and I flubbed it royally. Oh well, at least I did not wound it and lose it. I have always said that a clean miss is better than a bad hit any day!
On to day three. I hunted a tree stand in the morning and saw only one dinky 6 point that needs to grow up a bit before he can earn one of my arrows. In the afternoon I decided to go back the the stand I hunted the day before.....and shot the feeder leg. This time I was really not expecting much. I was thinking that I had probably spooked those deer yesterday so bad that they would not be back for a while. I got settled in the blind real early....just after lunch. I stayed there all afternoon without seeing anything. Then at about 5:10pm I caught movement and here comes a whole gaggle of does and fawns. There was about 4 or five mature does and a couple of fawns. They passed by and nibbled on the hand thrown corn I had put out but just kept on going! Ugggh, I could not manage a shot and was really kicking myself now for flubbing the shot the day before. Then about 15 minutes later I caught some movement from my right through the brush. It was deer legs and they were coming towards me. Sure enough, all the deer that had been there earlier came strolling back through in front of me. This time one of the biggest does in the group got on my hand throw corn and set herself up for me to shoot. I shot her quartering away at about 9yds and they all took off running. The shot looked good, but maybe a bit back from where I was looking. I waited a few minutes and got out of the blind to look for blood. I found blood at the spot where I had shot. I followed the trail a bit and also found stomach contents on the ground. My heart sank when I saw the green blood trail and I began to wonder if the shot had not been farther back than it had appeared when I took the shot. I went back to camp and decided to wait a while before tracking just in case. My buddy had his tracking dog, Maestro, with him so we decided to wait a bit then use the dog. After seeing the sign, and having it be a very cool night, I would rather have waited till morning to try to find the deer. The coyotes are very thick around where I hunt and if you do leave a critter over night, there is a very good chance you will find nothing left but bones in the morning. We started tracking a little over 2 hours after the deer was shot. Maestro got on the trail and found the deer in about one minute. The doe had only made it about 40yds and was down for the count. The shot was farther back than I had thought but, because of the quartering angle, turned out to be a good lethal shot. Here is a pic of my first deer of the 2012 deer season. She was a nice, fat, 109# doe:
Now that I have a deer in the freezer, the pressure is off a bit and I can spend more time trying to get a buck for this year.
On a side note; it sure is great to have good friends! When I got home yesterday afternoon, I stopped by my local archery shop, Double G Archery, and was stunned to find out how great my friends are. Those guys went and had a lifelike replica of that feeder leg with one of my arrows stuck in it made and it was on display at the shop! Here is a pic of my trophy which I will cherish for the rest of my life:
See y'all later,
Bisch
Topic: After 2 months, I finally got a deer! (Read 1868 times)
