I hunted a spot last night that we usually leave alone until early October. We've seen some nice bucks in the area over the years and want to make sure our season allows bucks before we disturb the area. We usually set up along an old stone wall that boarders a creek and heavy bedding area. The beauty of the spot is that multiple white oaks parallel a 50 yard section of the stone wall, making it a magnet for deer in the fall.
I hadn't been into the area since last year so I wasn't sure which oaks were dropping, if any. As I slipped in I could hear the oaks bouncing off the stones and forest floor well up in front of me! Nice!
Once I got settled in the flurry of squirrels began, providing continual entertainment. About half an hour into the sit I noticed some movement up the ridge from me, as a young buck slowly moved down in my direction. Acorns are an amazing food source and I can't help but notice the trance like affect they have on the deer. They rarely look up and are content feeding from spot to spot, listening and moving to the sound of the nuts falling to the ground. Here's a short video of the first buck coming down and then moving off.
Not long after, a second young lad fed down the hill towards my stand. This buck thought he was the man and would stop to make a scrape every 10 minutes....what a show he put on!
A few more deer came and went as it got closer to dark. I even had a beautiful red fox stroll by my stand at one point. As the evening was slowly winding down I could hear a lone deer moving in from my left. The first one that had come from that direction. It was a nice mature doe, all by herself and feeding right in front of me. I drew on her once but she was moving all over the place trying to find the next acorn. At one point she fed completely away, removing all chance of any opportunity. I sat back down figuring any opportunities that evening were gone. With around 20 minutes left in shooting light I noticed the doe that had moved off 40 yards or so had swapped ends and was heading right back to me. She ended up presenting a nice 18 yards shot, that I couldn't pass up.
The first thing that came to mind after the shot was the watermelon sound when the arrow zipped through her. She kicked her hind legs a bit and ran up the hill and out of sight. The second thing that had me concerned was that I didn't hear her crash? I brought my binoculars up studying the arrow stuck in the ground. The white feathers were crimson red! But again, I didn't like the hollow sound of the hit and in the back of my mind....why didn't she crash? :confused:
I sat quietly for 30 minutes before I slipped down. The arrow looked good but had a few pieces of matter on it that again, I questioned. I trailed her slowly for about 30 yards. When I shined my light up ahead I saw a set of eyes looking back at me. It was obviously her, so I backed out quietly.
I knew my shot was pretty good, but I've also been at this long enough to never trust my eyes on a hit, too many things come into play. I grabbed my buddy and we slipped quietly back in 2 hours later. The big girl was lying quietly right where I had last seen her, her head down
Here's where everything got kind of weird. My arrows had entered and exited a touch back going through the liver. We also noticed another entry and exit wound low in the brisket. Someone else must have shot this deer sometime earlier in the day.....maybe that night. The wound was clean and showed both an entrance and an exit right in the front part of her chest, not 3 inches apart. No blood, just in and out of the tallow. If you look closely at the photo you'll see the wound low in her chest. I have no doubt that she would have healed up just fine and the deer gave no indications of being hit. A great night overall and a big thanks to my buddy for taking time from his family to stomp around in the woods in the dark!
Topic: A Nice Evening on Stand....with a weird ending (Read 913 times)
