This morning started out with my wife telling me I had to get to the bank today. With that in mind i pretty much said screw it and slept in. After taking care of that I was faced with a dillema, I was thinking about checking out a spot on some public land a coworker had told me about, but I also wanted to sit a spot that has been in the back of my mind for a while now. I opted to sit the local spot because I figured if I was to shoot one on the public, I would play hell getting it drug out. Would rather buddy hunt that some other time.
This spot is actually a couple hundred yards from one of redclouds stands. His stand is on a brushy travel route that leads into a big open flat. i wanted to sit in the flat because it offers a great view of pretty much everything around it. He hasnt been seeing anything from that stand and I was determined to figure out where they are working through.
I had to cross a creek along the way, and as I stepped through the brush on the opposite bank i spotted a deer moving away from me along the edge of a pasture. It wasn't spooked so I just waited until it entered the woods and was out of sight before continuing.
Along the way, I spotted numerous scrapes that have been worked recently. some of which have some decent sized tracks in them. There are a couple nice bucks out there, Either redcloud or myself should be able to get one of them.
I got to the open flat without bumping anything, and after a little looking around, found a cluster of 4 trees right in the middle of the flat. The smallest of which was the perfect size for my climber. the other three offered a fair amount of cover.
I climbed up to about 25 feet, hung my bow and was just sitting down with my range finder to get some yardages to a few landmarks, when I heard leaves crunching to my left. I turned to see a deer coming up from behind and to the left of me, on a path to go past me and right straight out in front of me.I thought it was a nice fat doe as it trotted by at about 30 yards. It stopped in some brush and fiddle farted around for a few minutes before continuing on its way. then to my amazement it stopped and turned, completely broadside, right in front of me, in the only clear lane I had in that direction, and started to nibble at some multiflora branches.
O.K.....
...If your gonna make it easy...
I still hadn't checked yardages, so I guessed it was at least 35 yards possibly more. I drew back, put my 30 yard pin behind its shoulder and let one fly...
...THWACKKK...
It dropped where it stood.
WTF.. there is no way I spined it... It was at least 35 yards. i got the range finder out and sure enough it was at 39 yards. shot should have been plenty low.
As I watched I realized it was moving all 4 legs, it wasn't spined. But it couldn't get up. What the hell did I hit?!
After about 15 - 20 minutes it stopped moving, and as I was watching it through the binos I realized it was actually a button. Fine with me.
I got down and went to check it out. it was laying on the impact side, and I didn't see an exit, but there was blood everywhere. Was a freakin horror show.
I flipped it over to see my arrow still in its side, in the exact spot I was aiming.
The shot broke 2 ribs, got both lungs and punched through the opposite shoulder which is what stopped the arrow from passing completely through. Turns out there was a small exit in front of the shoulder. When it flopped over it broke the arrow off and I thought the broadhead was still in it. It must be laying out there somewhere in the blood bath, I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.
Pics coming next.
This spot is actually a couple hundred yards from one of redclouds stands. His stand is on a brushy travel route that leads into a big open flat. i wanted to sit in the flat because it offers a great view of pretty much everything around it. He hasnt been seeing anything from that stand and I was determined to figure out where they are working through.
I had to cross a creek along the way, and as I stepped through the brush on the opposite bank i spotted a deer moving away from me along the edge of a pasture. It wasn't spooked so I just waited until it entered the woods and was out of sight before continuing.
Along the way, I spotted numerous scrapes that have been worked recently. some of which have some decent sized tracks in them. There are a couple nice bucks out there, Either redcloud or myself should be able to get one of them.
I got to the open flat without bumping anything, and after a little looking around, found a cluster of 4 trees right in the middle of the flat. The smallest of which was the perfect size for my climber. the other three offered a fair amount of cover.
I climbed up to about 25 feet, hung my bow and was just sitting down with my range finder to get some yardages to a few landmarks, when I heard leaves crunching to my left. I turned to see a deer coming up from behind and to the left of me, on a path to go past me and right straight out in front of me.I thought it was a nice fat doe as it trotted by at about 30 yards. It stopped in some brush and fiddle farted around for a few minutes before continuing on its way. then to my amazement it stopped and turned, completely broadside, right in front of me, in the only clear lane I had in that direction, and started to nibble at some multiflora branches.
O.K.....
...If your gonna make it easy...
I still hadn't checked yardages, so I guessed it was at least 35 yards possibly more. I drew back, put my 30 yard pin behind its shoulder and let one fly...
...THWACKKK...
It dropped where it stood.
WTF.. there is no way I spined it... It was at least 35 yards. i got the range finder out and sure enough it was at 39 yards. shot should have been plenty low.
As I watched I realized it was moving all 4 legs, it wasn't spined. But it couldn't get up. What the hell did I hit?!
After about 15 - 20 minutes it stopped moving, and as I was watching it through the binos I realized it was actually a button. Fine with me.
I got down and went to check it out. it was laying on the impact side, and I didn't see an exit, but there was blood everywhere. Was a freakin horror show.
I flipped it over to see my arrow still in its side, in the exact spot I was aiming.
The shot broke 2 ribs, got both lungs and punched through the opposite shoulder which is what stopped the arrow from passing completely through. Turns out there was a small exit in front of the shoulder. When it flopped over it broke the arrow off and I thought the broadhead was still in it. It must be laying out there somewhere in the blood bath, I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.
Pics coming next.
