Well,
I hit my chosen area of the Apalachicola National Forest around 1030 am. Hunted along the Ochlockonee river within about 200yds of the river for several hours, playing the air currents and just trying to move slow and quiet and spot some game. It was cool out all day and sunny, and we have had freezing temps the last few nights. Good stuff.
I had to settle for a middle of the day hunt simply due to work/family logistics.
Anyway, I walked for a while, and finally decided to set up my chair right on the border between the dry swamp area bordering the river and the oak/ palmetto hammock that paralleled it inland. I found a nice clearing with some pines and oaks and lots of acorns on the ground. I setup the chair and figured I might see something heading toward the river as the day went on.
I'm sorry to say I didn't end up seeing any deer or pigs. Lots of squirrels of course. Lots of bird activity, including a really neat Owl "sonata" LOL.
But toward the end of my allotted time I did score.
Thanks Faith!!
I picked a spot, came to full draw, and let it fly...visualizing the arrow hitting its mark, which it did.
It is a fascinating sound when a sharp broadhead tipped arrow hits where its supposed to on an animal.
That raccoon acted like it had just been tazed. It bolted up the tree, and I could clearly see that my arrow had perfectly transected its rib cage right behind the elbow and come out the other side...it was likely a double lung pass through but the arrow got stuck on the fletching inside its chest cavity. This was worrisome as it was more or less partially plugging the hole!!
No worries, I could already hear the blood dripping down. I looked at the ground at the base of the tree and sure enough bright red blood was steadily raining down. The coon had climbed as high up into the slender tree as it could..it made it up about 15 feet. With my arrow still sticking completely out one side. It gnawed and bit at the arrow, finally chewing through the carbon shaft partially, as I could see the arrow flop down where it had been biting at it.
By this time I already had a second arrow on the string, and was waiting to see what would happen. The blood that was accumulating on the ground said the wound was mortal, but the coon's behavior said it wasn't going down fast or easy.
Meanwhile the second raccoon climbed the tree right next to my target's. At this point I contemplated taking the second one, but it was a very high angle shot, and I didn't to risk either pinning that one to the tree 15ft up, or pinning them both with the same arrow.
I started moving around the tree, assessing what I might do, and trying to wait out the one I shot.
After about 10 minutes from the initial shot it finally lost its hold and fell down from the canopy.
Again, all the bright red blood had me shaking my head that this animal was still not ready to give up.
All the blood aside, I knew it was the fletched end of my arrow that was delaying the process.
As I came around the tree, to my surprise it had a hollow in it, and the mortally wounded raccoon had crawled inside to take refuge about 7 feet above the ground.
I did not want it to die up in the hollow, so I reached up with my second arrow and poked it.
This elicited a snarl that actually surprised the heck out of me.
This did the trick though. The coon crawled up out of the hollow, now about 10 feet up. I moved into position for another broadside shot, and planned angle wise so I didn't have to shoot straight up and might actually recover my arrow.
I got it lined up and once again picked a spot and perfect hit! Right behind the elbow into the chest cavity and this time a total pass through like butter. My arrow lodged tip first in a smaller tree behind where I shot. I would retrieve it by knocking it down later.
1 more minute and the tough coon fell down to the ground.
The second raccoon was long gone by now.
I gutted the dispatched coon and examined the inside of the chest cavity. My fletching had indeed partially plugged the first hit, massive as the blood loss was to my eyes on the ground, there was even more blood flooded inside the body cavity. The heart was also lacerated. This was perhaps from the second arrow? Can't be sure.
Anyway, even though I left the woods today with "only" a raccoon, it was exhilarating.
This big ol' raccoon is now on ice, waiting to be skinned out and cooked.
I will tan the hide, flesh out the skull etc also.
Faith was a joy to carry and shoot today. I was shooting full length Beman Centershot 400s with 3x5 shields, 50g insert and 125g Magnus Stingers. The first arrow was a 2 blade Stinger, the second arrow a 4 blade Stinger. I think the 4 blade really did the trick on the second shot.
Here she is, big female coon:
More pics and story there:
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=141132
Topic: Hope and Faith Sarrels of 2014 (Read 11479 times)
