I went home to WV for a week of bow hunting last week with my family. I was able to take a really special deer this time.
To start off the story, a few months back, my dad found some Herter's Farbenglass arrows in the basement. He shot those back in the late 1960s. He asked if they would spine out to any of my bows...turns out they shot perfectly out of my mid 70s Bear Grizzly. So I cleaned them up and fletched them with 5" yellow banana cut feathers and tipped them with some Zwickeys Black Diamond Eskimos (donated by a fellow tradganger).
I told Dad I wanted to kill one with that set up. We hunted hard, seeing very few deer. On Tuesday night, hunting from the ground on a beautiful ridge in fresh snow and single digit temps...I got my chance. A deer showed, but due to the contour of the ridge, I could only see the top 3rd of the deer. I realized my arrow should carry the arc of the hill and drop right in the boiler room.
I concentrated on looking "through" the hill. I released and that beautiful yellow arrow spun perfectly clearing that hill and dropping out of site to that perfect "thump" of a good hit! I watched as the deer bolted down the hill and watched it go down. My cousin worked his way to me and we started tracking as it was now dark. We could not find the arrow which was concerning. We had good blood and proceeded, following the trail about 65 yards to a bed - this is where I thought I had seen it go down.
We moved another step and heard a deer bust out and run just ahead of us. A little dejected, we headed out of the woods. The blood was really good, so we had confidence but really wished we could see the arrow for "evidence."
I went back to that spot and in the daylight, noticed my arrow about 10 yards off the deer's trail. It was coated in good blood. What a confidence boost that was.
My dad met me and we re-tracked and found a lot more blood. We returned to that bed and quickly found another, then a burst of blood. I found another bed and before I could look further, my dad said "I see him!" At the end of the trail was a small spike. But because of the equipment used, and sharing the find with my dad - this was a GIANT of a trophy to me!!! Dad was a bit emotional, as was I. These pics show where we found him, then 1 after the long drag to the truck.
Thanks for reading and tagging along.
...not sure why my pics came through small and I'm working from my phone. After the holiday I'll use my laptop and post more, and larger, photos.
Topic: Really special deer - *posted better, larger pics (Read 1006 times)
