This evening, I shot my first deer with a bow. I made a ton of mistakes, but it was an awesome experience. I tracked her in the dark for an hour and a half. I am pretty cut up from the briars as my property is heavily wooded and pretty thick in places.

I thought I made a good shot at around 30 yards. She hung out at my feeder with her fawn nubbin for about 10 minutes and never presented an opportunity to shoot. I don’t know how this happened, but she never gave me a broadside shot while she was eating. She started to walk away, that’s when I popped her.

I ended up getting a double lung shot and pass thru. Shot side was a bit high, but exit was about right. She didn’t leave much of a blood trail, but the Rage opened her up pretty good. Maybe I was expecting more blood?

She ran into some thick briar stuff, it was miserable. She ran north, then west, then southwest, then west, then north, then northeast, then north, then she finally ending up heading northwest. I had to stop every 2-3 feet and find blood drops. My biggest mistake was going in too early...I’ll never do that again. I actually saw her get up and start walking...that alone added another 45 minutes to track her down. Next time, I’ll be way more patient.

Once I had tracked her for 150 yards, I lost her blood trail and it appeared she was headed NW. she was now out in the open, but grass is hard as heck to track a blood trail. It’s so much easier to track when there are leaves. For some reason, once I lost her trail, I remembered something I read here...go to water. Before they die, deer want water. I walked a 100 yards and found her at my pond. Can’t believe I found her, I’m so grateful.

Got her back to my cabin, gave the Lord thanks, then had a beer...I’m exhausted.