Saw 2 does and another one I couldn't tell what it was. Took a shot at one of the does. I know it's 20-22 yds to where the deer was standing. Put the 20 yd crosshair on her, squeezed the trigger, and watched the arrow sail right underneath her. Don't ask me what happened. The only thing I can figure is that it was destiny.
At 10:35 AM I saw 2 bucks headed toward the saddle in the ridge I was on. Both looked to be about the same size, but I didn't get too good of a look at them. The first one started up over the saddle and stopped in a shooting lane. I put the 30 yd triangle in the scope right behind his front leg and squeezed the trigger. Just as the bow went off, the dang thing took a step forward.
The Luminok was shining and I could see that the arrow was going to hit a little far back, and then I heard the "pop" of the hit. The deer ran off about 10-15 yds, stopped and stood for a little bit. I was hoping he was going to drop, but that didn't happen. He walked on off around the back side of the ridge. I hate it when deer go back there after a shot because it's thicker than the hair on a cat's back and steep. Figured since the shot was pretty far back I'd wait an hour and then go check things out.Found my arrow and it smelled of a paunch hit, just as I suspected. Went up to where he stood at and found a bunch of dark blood, so it looked like I may have clipped the liver also. Slowly trailed around the hill and jumped him up. I backed out and went back to the blind to wait a little longer. After another 3+ hours I took the track up again. Jumped him up again, so I sat down and waited another hour. During this time I had the binoculars out picking everything apart. I finally found him about 40 yds out in a bunch of thick stuff. I was figuring that he was maybe an 8 pt, but I could pick out bits and pieces of his rack and saw that he wasn't an 8. He was a freaking BEAST!! Finally about 4:30 PM, I decided that something had to happen, soon! It was up in the 80's yesterday, so I knew if I left him overnight the meat would spoil and the coyotes would get him. I'm a meat hunter, so that really wasn't an option.
As slowly and quietly as I could, I picked my way on down the hill, glassing as I went. Finally spotted him bedded, but I couldn't tell if was facing me or not. Stalked on a little closer and could tell he was facing away. I got down to about 20 yds, stepped out from behind the tree to try to thread an arrow through the mess to him. Just as I stepped out, he raised his head up. Put the crosshairs on him and squeezed it off. The deer jumped up, made about 2 hops and went down for good! My arrow had gone a little high (probably clipped a limb), cut a path between his shoulder blades and then went through his neck getting the wind pipe and jugular vein. Looked at my watch and it was 5:05 PM, 6 1/2 hours after my initial shot. It would have been a whole lot easier if he had just not taken that 1 step.
Got him field dressed and drug a little ways and knew I wasn't going to be able to get him out before midnight. Climbed back out, grabbed my pack, and went back to the truck to get some help. Conned my uncle into helping me. It took 2 hours of scratching, clawing, cussing, fussing, falling, and sweating to get him back up to the top of the ridge. After that, I could get the 4 wheeler to him to get him on out. Finally got back up here to the house a little after 10 PM. Got him skinned, deboned, and cooling out in ice water by 3:30 AM this morning. Needless to say, I was a little tired.
The beast turned out to be a main frame 10 pt, with 2 extra points for a total of 12. There's one about 8" long coming off the left main beam, and a hook coming off of the right G2. He was only about 14" wide inside, but the rack is thick and tall. Not only did the beast have a good rack, but he was heavy too, weighing in at 172 lbs.
And he felt every bit of it on the back side of that ridge!With everything that went on, I forgot to get any pictures of me and the deer or the deer and the crossbow.
If you said you're related I'd probably believe you. I'm too crippled up to pull off what you did. I would have had to have gotten help. You did it alone...you're a bad dude! Congrats on a memorable deer. Gary
