I KNOW I drilled that deer. My snapshot says so. It's the one thing in my shots over the years that I do. I really SEE the arrow disappear. I've only not seen it once in all the deer I've killed. I ALWAYS see the shot. I have help on the way, but I head back after an hour to start looking.
I look for blood. None. I can see "digs", so I know which way he went. It's the way he almost always came from. I decide to not go in the area to look for blood. Instead, there's a ditch up the road that he'd have to cross if he headed north. If no sign in the ditch, then I'd hit one of several trails 70 or so yards behind the area where I corn and he'd have to cross that.
I ease up the ditch. No sign. Check all trails coming into it. No blood. I get about 70 yards and there's a big trail that dumps into the ditch. I figure to follow it and box the area and see if I can find blood. If not, my help will have arrived by then and I start following his tracks. Should find blood within 50 yards. As I turn off the ditch to start the back part of the square, I stop. Dang, there he is. Stone cold dead right at the edge of the back trail, just before he'd get in the ditch. It's done.
He probably went about 70 yards. Was dead on the run and probably before I got my bow back in the holder. He must have been quartered just enough to cause the arrow to go back instead of straight through. My snapshot was dead-on. I DRILLED him right where I was aiming. He must have never got his body square to me when he moved that leg forward.
He scored 151 even. He was just over 20 outside, which surprised me. Short tines hurt him. I had him at 148 to just under 150. 151 was a surprise.
With my two 'San Angelo bucks, I have about 460 inches at the taxidermist.
I hunted the deer about 35 full days. 1/2 day Saturday and 1/2 day Wednesday would be considered a "full day. That's 70 hunts. Most out of the same blind. These "pen" deer are so easy. Blind burnout? I don't worry about it. I hunt aggressively and go where the deer that I'm hunting is frequenting. This was one of the hardest deer to kill that I've ever hunted. It's a miracle that he lasted that long without breakage. He had good mass, and that might have helped. His little point between the right 2 and 3 was chipped and that might have cost him an inch, but everyting else was in tact.
Here's my two corn lines. The one on the left is where he was standing when the RAge hit him. He was right at 18 yards.
Next year, unless something changes, I'll be after Brother John. He's pretty secretive, also. The key will be to get him before he breaks. I have some ideas.
I'll post some LDP's tomorrow after I resize them
I look for blood. None. I can see "digs", so I know which way he went. It's the way he almost always came from. I decide to not go in the area to look for blood. Instead, there's a ditch up the road that he'd have to cross if he headed north. If no sign in the ditch, then I'd hit one of several trails 70 or so yards behind the area where I corn and he'd have to cross that.
I ease up the ditch. No sign. Check all trails coming into it. No blood. I get about 70 yards and there's a big trail that dumps into the ditch. I figure to follow it and box the area and see if I can find blood. If not, my help will have arrived by then and I start following his tracks. Should find blood within 50 yards. As I turn off the ditch to start the back part of the square, I stop. Dang, there he is. Stone cold dead right at the edge of the back trail, just before he'd get in the ditch. It's done.
He probably went about 70 yards. Was dead on the run and probably before I got my bow back in the holder. He must have been quartered just enough to cause the arrow to go back instead of straight through. My snapshot was dead-on. I DRILLED him right where I was aiming. He must have never got his body square to me when he moved that leg forward.
He scored 151 even. He was just over 20 outside, which surprised me. Short tines hurt him. I had him at 148 to just under 150. 151 was a surprise.
With my two 'San Angelo bucks, I have about 460 inches at the taxidermist.
I hunted the deer about 35 full days. 1/2 day Saturday and 1/2 day Wednesday would be considered a "full day. That's 70 hunts. Most out of the same blind. These "pen" deer are so easy. Blind burnout? I don't worry about it. I hunt aggressively and go where the deer that I'm hunting is frequenting. This was one of the hardest deer to kill that I've ever hunted. It's a miracle that he lasted that long without breakage. He had good mass, and that might have helped. His little point between the right 2 and 3 was chipped and that might have cost him an inch, but everyting else was in tact.
Here's my two corn lines. The one on the left is where he was standing when the RAge hit him. He was right at 18 yards.
Next year, unless something changes, I'll be after Brother John. He's pretty secretive, also. The key will be to get him before he breaks. I have some ideas.
I'll post some LDP's tomorrow after I resize them
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