First contact. Arrowed first trad deer.

[LittleBen]

Just arrowed my first trad deer. Small spike buck. **** was quartering away, 10 yds. Looked a little low and steeply quartering. Not sure how much penetration I got. Didn't seem like alot. Waiting till noon to track.
Wish me luck. More later.

[JMG]

Good luck,,,keep us posted.

[LittleBen]

Originally posted by LittleBen:
Just arrowed my first trad deer. Small spike buck. shot was quartering away, 10 yds. Looked a little low and steeply quartering. Not sure how much penetration I got. Didn't seem like alot. Waiting till noon to track.
Wish me luck. More later.

[John146]

Good luck. Take your time.

[DEATHMASTER]

Take it slow you will find him.

[VictoryHunter]

Awesome! Take it slow and when in doubt air on the side of caution.

[OBXarcher]

4-6 hours is my gut rule. Go very slow and look hard. A follow shot may be needed.

This luck, keep us posted.

Good luck!

Bisch

[Mudd]

I'll be watching your thread for some hero shots.

Keep us posted please!!

I hope everything ends up with your deer in hand.

I wish you the best of luck to you!

God bless,Mudd

[far rider]

Good luck! Hopefully we'll see some pics later.

[cahaba]

Good luck. Can't wait to hear the outcome. I think its going to be good!

[joe ashton]

Go slow, be patient, post pictures.

[Gen273]

I am pulling for you, don't give up.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Hands and knees if you have to. The tiniest speck may be the one that leads you to it.

[dirtguy]

Good Luck!

[LittleBen]

WOW! It was a long day!

Anyway, I sat in my blind running through every scenario, trying to imagine that arrow as the deer trotted off. Had bright yellow feathers and a blaze orange cap dip on the arrow so I saw pretty clearly that the arrow was sticking out of the deer a solid 12-18" ... that's generally not awesome.

I finally came to the conclusion that based on the angle and my shot placement, I'd have either a gut shot (if I got little penetration), or if I got 10" + of penetration I'd get at least on lung, and  maybe the heart.

So, a little more back story ..... After the shot the deer had trotted off, not ran, and just like alot of gut shot deer, stopped for nearly a full minute at about 30yards, behind a thicket ... I could see the yellow fletching, not the deer.

I decicided to wait until 10am, 2 hours after the shot, and look for blood at the first spot the deer stopped, and also see if the arrow was there. I figureed any signs of a gut shot and I'd back out till evening.

[LittleBen]

So I stepped out of the blind and CREPT in the direction the deer had headed, everyone's words echoing in my mind. Literally one step at a time I made my way to where I thought the buck had stopped. At first nothing (this area is so full of deer theres no hope in tracking prints, there are just too many. So I following the most apparent trail, on foot at a time eventually coming up onto this:
 

There wasn't much blood, but it was bright red, so  I kept on tracking very very slowly, taking two steps then looking around for a few minutes. Basically like still hunting.

Another 8 yards and I found where he had actually stopped, it turned out the first spot was just where first blood hit the ground. This is what he left when he stopped for 30-60seconds:

 

[LittleBen]

Now I knew I was in business. Everything about this scene said lung/major artery/ and maybe heart.

I kept following the blood which out of no where peters out, just as the buck heads into a well established bedding area ...
 

 

[LittleBen]

At this point the roller coaster of emotions was starting to get to me. One minute I'm sure it's a great shot, the next I'm down to my last drops of blood.

As I creep into the bedding area, the buck, which had been following a pretty straight course, all of a sudden stops and turns to the left, heading down a shallow hill.
 

Now I KNEW I had him! He was taking the very easy downhill route, and was winding side to side like he was unsteady.

I was excited! Then all of a sudden I pick my head up and notice something at the foot of the tree ahead ...
 

a little closer ....
 

There he was!!!!! I could hardly believe it! He'd gone less than 100 yards with solid blood on a shot I thought was marginal at best ... maybe not even a fatal shot.

[LittleBen]

So I throw my fist up into the air to proclaim my success, walk up to the deer ... and to be honest, my first thought was "it's a f****** kangaroo? .... no it's a kangalope"