The Equinox Claims It's First Victim
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The Equinox Claims It's First Victim
Our crossbow season opened yesterday (10/1/09). I went down to the farm and sat all day in my blind. Had a doe come in behind me yesterday morning and bust me. This was probably around 7:30 AM. Sat there for the rest of the day and watched squirrels, and a little red tail hawk that kept terrorizing the squirrels.
Finally had deer start showing up at around 5:45 PM yesterday afternoon. Had 2 does come in and start feeding on the corn up toward the main pile I had (where I had an open shot). While they were working their way toward me, I spotted another doe, bigger than the 2 that were there already. Kept watching her to try to get a shot. Heard something down the hill and looked and there was another doe coming up the hill toward the corn. Finally, the bigger of the first 2 does that had come in must have gotten a whiff of me, because she started getting kind of antsy. She moved up the hill like she was going to cross over the saddle, but then turned and dropped back down right into my big shooting lane. She was angling toward me so I kept waiting for her to turn a little and give me a better shot. I wasn't moving, but all of the sudden she looked dead at me and stood there looking at me. I knew I was busted and that was going to be as good of a shot as I was going to get. Put the crosshairs on her shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The Lumenock I had on the arrow was blazing a big red light toward her shoulder in a flash. I head the "smack" of the arrow and she headed down the hill. I eventually heard her go down a little piece down the hill.
I sat there for about 10 minutes and then went down and started looking for my arrow. Couldn't find it where I hit her at, so I started going off in the direction she had gone, trying to pick up the blood trail. A little piece down the hill, I saw the Luminock shining. Got the arrow and found the blood trail. Only problem was that she wasn't laying much blood. To cut out the time of trying to follow the sparse blood trail, I went over to where I had though I had heard her go down at. Topped a little bit of a rise and there she was.
Before I had gone down the hill following the trail, I swapped out the memory card in the camera. She had been standing almost in front of it when I shot, so I was hoping that I had a picture of the arrow in flight or her taking off or something. No such luck though. The camera still caught a couple of images of me still sitting in the blind and then when I came down to find the arrow/trail.
Here's how she was when she hit dirt.
And then the "money" shot.
It was supposed to be pretty warm last night and then rain this morning, so I came on back last night. Got back up here at 10:30 PM and watched the weather and confirmed it wasn't going to be cool enough to let her hang overnight. I got her skinned, quartered, partially deboned, and put in a cooler of ice water to keep overnight. I think I finally got in the house this morning about 1:15 AM.
The bow performed flawlessly!!! I hit that doe in the left shoulder with her angling toward me. The broadhead went through her shoulder and partially through her right back leg, cutting the skin a little on the outside. That's some freaking penetration! The lack of blood though was due to the high entrance wound and really no exit hole. The arrow had come back out the entrance hole about 20 yds after I hit her. Total, she may have traveled about 80 yds after the shot, but it was in a semi-circle.
The Equinox claims it's first victim and I've got some good fresh meat now!
Finally had deer start showing up at around 5:45 PM yesterday afternoon. Had 2 does come in and start feeding on the corn up toward the main pile I had (where I had an open shot). While they were working their way toward me, I spotted another doe, bigger than the 2 that were there already. Kept watching her to try to get a shot. Heard something down the hill and looked and there was another doe coming up the hill toward the corn. Finally, the bigger of the first 2 does that had come in must have gotten a whiff of me, because she started getting kind of antsy. She moved up the hill like she was going to cross over the saddle, but then turned and dropped back down right into my big shooting lane. She was angling toward me so I kept waiting for her to turn a little and give me a better shot. I wasn't moving, but all of the sudden she looked dead at me and stood there looking at me. I knew I was busted and that was going to be as good of a shot as I was going to get. Put the crosshairs on her shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The Lumenock I had on the arrow was blazing a big red light toward her shoulder in a flash. I head the "smack" of the arrow and she headed down the hill. I eventually heard her go down a little piece down the hill.
I sat there for about 10 minutes and then went down and started looking for my arrow. Couldn't find it where I hit her at, so I started going off in the direction she had gone, trying to pick up the blood trail. A little piece down the hill, I saw the Luminock shining. Got the arrow and found the blood trail. Only problem was that she wasn't laying much blood. To cut out the time of trying to follow the sparse blood trail, I went over to where I had though I had heard her go down at. Topped a little bit of a rise and there she was.
Before I had gone down the hill following the trail, I swapped out the memory card in the camera. She had been standing almost in front of it when I shot, so I was hoping that I had a picture of the arrow in flight or her taking off or something. No such luck though. The camera still caught a couple of images of me still sitting in the blind and then when I came down to find the arrow/trail.
Here's how she was when she hit dirt.
And then the "money" shot.
It was supposed to be pretty warm last night and then rain this morning, so I came on back last night. Got back up here at 10:30 PM and watched the weather and confirmed it wasn't going to be cool enough to let her hang overnight. I got her skinned, quartered, partially deboned, and put in a cooler of ice water to keep overnight. I think I finally got in the house this morning about 1:15 AM.
The bow performed flawlessly!!! I hit that doe in the left shoulder with her angling toward me. The broadhead went through her shoulder and partially through her right back leg, cutting the skin a little on the outside. That's some freaking penetration! The lack of blood though was due to the high entrance wound and really no exit hole. The arrow had come back out the entrance hole about 20 yds after I hit her. Total, she may have traveled about 80 yds after the shot, but it was in a semi-circle.
The Equinox claims it's first victim and I've got some good fresh meat now!
The Only Purpose Of Bread Is To Hold Meat!
Common Sense Isn't Common Any More..........
"Salad isn't food. Salad is what food eats." --- Ellwoodjake
I'm a second-hand vegetarian. Deer eat vegetables, I eat deer.
Common Sense Isn't Common Any More..........
"Salad isn't food. Salad is what food eats." --- Ellwoodjake
I'm a second-hand vegetarian. Deer eat vegetables, I eat deer.
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Re: The Equinox Claims It's First Victim
Great story and pictures! Congrats on the Equ's first blood!Big58cal wrote:The Equinox claims it's first victim and I've got some good fresh meat now!
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"Team DryFire"
Vixen, Micro 315, HHA Optimizer, Boo & VixenMaster strings, Munch Mounts, Dr. Stirrup accessories.
Sent from a mobile device - So spelling and grammar may be questionable!
---
"Team DryFire"
Vixen, Micro 315, HHA Optimizer, Boo & VixenMaster strings, Munch Mounts, Dr. Stirrup accessories.
LOL! What's sad is that it's been like that since I set it last year, and I never noticed it. Guess I need to fix that, huh?BigDogKahuna wrote:Sweet! Now when you kill one this year let us know...Just kidding.
Thanks folks! It was good to get out again and not have to worry about wearing hunter orange or freezing my butt off. The last year I got to bowhunt was probably 10-12 years ago. The bad thing is that I've gotten used to neck shooting deer with a gun and haven't had to follow a blood trail in quite a few years. To say I was out of practice is an understatement!
As for finding the arrow without the Luminock, I don't know. The main reason I put them on this year is the dark fletching on the arrows. I knew I would be able to follow them without something like that. The arrow was propped fletching side up against some stuff, so I'm guessing that I probably would have found it because I was about 5' from it when I looked up and saw it. I was headed straight toward it anyway.
I wasn't much in the mood to hunt last year, so I didn't kill a deer. That was probably the first year in 20+ years that I haven't gotten at least 1 deer. We ran out of meat and I forgot how much I missed the deer meat. Don't have to worry about that now for a little while anyway.
I want to thank all of you all that have helped me on here. After getting the bow, I knew next to nothing about them. All of you all have helped me more than you'll ever know. I especially want to thank New Guy, Groundpounder, & Boo for their products. All 3 combined to help make this year a success for me.
The Only Purpose Of Bread Is To Hold Meat!
Common Sense Isn't Common Any More..........
"Salad isn't food. Salad is what food eats." --- Ellwoodjake
I'm a second-hand vegetarian. Deer eat vegetables, I eat deer.
Common Sense Isn't Common Any More..........
"Salad isn't food. Salad is what food eats." --- Ellwoodjake
I'm a second-hand vegetarian. Deer eat vegetables, I eat deer.
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CONGRATS, thats a good one, I see ya back there had to look a little but I found you
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1.75x5 Burris scope
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