Opening weekend I ended up shooting a doe at a perfect broadside shot, at 17 yards and felt it was a good well placed shot. As it turned out Bowwiz and I ended up searching for 6 hours for her. Not a drop of blood could be found, making the search a grid pattern search with special emphasis looking in really thick areas of cedar and mequite, instead of following a blood trail. Now I heard the doe drop about 40 yards from my popup so thought this was going to be a slam dunk but I guess she got up after the crash and ran off.
Two days later she was found about 75 yards from my popup by the ranch hand with an arrow entering just behind the knuckle and sticking out her rear flank. My guess was after searching where she was eventually found we headed into the other pasture where the going was tough and must have kicked her out unknown to us and she ended up falling under the oak tree not far from where I heard her crash at.
Losing an animal is enough to make you sick but upon checking the arrow I found the BH tip bent over and the BH collor bent about 15 degrees. The shot was well placed but the arrow hit a rib and ended up being deflected to the rear. I figured it to be a fluke and just one of those things that happens.
Next week I take a shot at a doe at 15 yards at another of my setups. She drops on the spot. Good news yes but bad news also. This arrow entered just behind the knuckle once again and sure enough hit a rib only this time got angled upwards until it struck the spine and dropped her. Upon checking the BH out once she was cleaned I found the tip curled over once again and the collar of the BH bent again. I was lucky to have had this one angle up or I could have been faced with much the same as the week before.
The BH was the Wenzel Woodsman. I suppose if I hadn't hit any bone I would have been alright but have since gone to the Muzzy Phantoms. Much the same as the Stingers but bigger cutting and bleeder vanes. they have a stronger more chiseled point to them and stronger steel in them also. I hope this change fixes my problem. I didn't take any LDP of the doe as it would look like I shot her while standing under a tree as she used a branch to bed down for the morning as the arrows was sticking out of her with feathers pointing to the ground. She wasn't my first bow kill using trad equipment but was my first with this recurve that Kevin_B made. If I had ended up losing this deer due to the BH bending upon impacting bone I am afraid I may have hung up the recurve and went back to my compound. I am so glad that I ended up getting her and figuring out what was happening.
Two days later she was found about 75 yards from my popup by the ranch hand with an arrow entering just behind the knuckle and sticking out her rear flank. My guess was after searching where she was eventually found we headed into the other pasture where the going was tough and must have kicked her out unknown to us and she ended up falling under the oak tree not far from where I heard her crash at.
Losing an animal is enough to make you sick but upon checking the arrow I found the BH tip bent over and the BH collor bent about 15 degrees. The shot was well placed but the arrow hit a rib and ended up being deflected to the rear. I figured it to be a fluke and just one of those things that happens.
Next week I take a shot at a doe at 15 yards at another of my setups. She drops on the spot. Good news yes but bad news also. This arrow entered just behind the knuckle once again and sure enough hit a rib only this time got angled upwards until it struck the spine and dropped her. Upon checking the BH out once she was cleaned I found the tip curled over once again and the collar of the BH bent again. I was lucky to have had this one angle up or I could have been faced with much the same as the week before.
The BH was the Wenzel Woodsman. I suppose if I hadn't hit any bone I would have been alright but have since gone to the Muzzy Phantoms. Much the same as the Stingers but bigger cutting and bleeder vanes. they have a stronger more chiseled point to them and stronger steel in them also. I hope this change fixes my problem. I didn't take any LDP of the doe as it would look like I shot her while standing under a tree as she used a branch to bed down for the morning as the arrows was sticking out of her with feathers pointing to the ground. She wasn't my first bow kill using trad equipment but was my first with this recurve that Kevin_B made. If I had ended up losing this deer due to the BH bending upon impacting bone I am afraid I may have hung up the recurve and went back to my compound. I am so glad that I ended up getting her and figuring out what was happening.
Thanks for training it bro....you did an excellent job on her. I'll do my best to get all five tags filled with her this year.
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