After going 0 for 5 last season and making a poor shot on a doe a couple weeks ago, I was beginning to feel cursed! Ok... cursed in a strong word. I felt like for whatever reason, I just couldn't make it happen. Well, it finally happened tonight and I feel... blessed!
After church I took a good ole' Sunday afternoon nap while watching the Cowboys and Vikings. Woke up about 2:30, got some coffee and headed out. I decided to hunt a stand that's in a big burr oak tree on the edge of a soybean field. I took a panoramic pic with my iphone several weeks ago...
There is a creek right behind the stand with a trail coming up out of it and right under the big burr oak.
The bean leaves have dried up and the deer are no longer hitting the field, but I've discovered they love those big burr oak acorns and they have been hitting them hard. I hunted the stand last Tuesday and had two does and their fawns start to come it but they winded me. It was absolutely calm that night but my scent just drifted down to them. Tonight there was a steady south wind which made it perfect as they always approach from the south or east (behind the stand up out of the creek).
About 5:00 I had been sitting and decided to stand up as the magic hour approached. I looked behind be before getting up and spotted a doe on the other side the creek. I carefully stood and looked over my right should between a big fork in the tree and saw the two fawns in the creek bed. After about 5 minutes they made their way up the bank right under my tree. They were big healthy fawns and I decided I would take momma if I got a shot. She finally appeared with the fawns but stayed stayed behind the tree eating acorns for several minutes. She stayed on the creek bank behind me but slowly moved to my left enough that I had a shot. When all six eyes were finally preoccupied (that is stressful!), I drew.
There was a small cluster of leaves between me and her vitals but at 5 yards, I was confident I could punch through them. I focused on one of the leaves and dropped the string. I didn't see the impact due to the leaves but I heard the smack!
She bolted forward to my south and as she ran I saw the hit was pretty high, but with the steep angle I hoped it would do the job. Seconds after I lost sight of her I heard a crash, but I wasn't convinced she went down. I knew the direction she ran would take her back across the creek so I figured what I heard was here crossing.
I got down and found my arrow snapped off just a few feet from impact...
What I saw didn't encourage me. There was meaty sludge on the arrow... looked like backstrap. So I started looking for blood and there was virtually none. I followed her trail 15 yards and found one drop. So... I decided to back out and give her some time. I drove home, had some dinner and hung out with the family. I texted my buddy Neal whose place I am hunting and we agreed to meet at 8:45.
I got there about 8:30 and started looking. No blood. I decided to walk back into the woods towards the creek and in the direction I heard the crash. Fifteen yards in I reached the creek and thank the Lord... there she laid!
She hadn't gone 50 yards. The rest of my arrow laid nearby.
The exit wound ended up looking perfect...
After a year long draught, it was a deeply satisfying moment...
(It was last day of muzzleloader, hence the orange hat!)
Topic: Blessed with Doe (Read 511 times)
