One more hunt...

[Kegbelly]

...with my crossbow this season. Taking off work tomorrow and hoping to get a 2nd shot with the 380. Might hunt the archery-only Nat'l Refuge a time or two but our gun season opens Saturday the 22nd and that's what I'll be toting from here on out. Season started out good, got a nice boar hog on day #2 but it's been pretty slow ever since. That's how it goes sometimes but hey I'm batting 1000 so far Maybe I'll have some good luck tomorrow

[Fletch2]

Good luck

[xcaliber]

Good luck John.

[Cossack]

Hang in there. Went 5 sits without seeing a hair, then 4 bucks showed simultaneously. Sometimes ya just gotta put in the time.

[retrieverman]

Good luck!

[W.Miguire]

hang in there. luck will change

[bubba]

Good Luck....

hope you see something .................................

[paulaboutform]

Best of luck to you John. Put all that practice to good use!

[vixenmaster]

Best of luck to ya. I went out every day but one since last Sat. used my ML fer 4 days. Passed on a 5-8 pt opening Firearms Sat. 15th. Have not saw another deer. Took Marie Laveau Weds. n Thurs. mornings. Its fixen to get real wet n nasty here plus high winds. I will go back out on Mon. n Tues. last 2 days of Firearms season here

[bgarchery]

Hopefully you reply with how your hunt went!
We'll keep our fingers crossed that 380 gets to rip one out!

[Kegbelly]

Well I guess you'd call today a good luck/bad luck thing...Good luck being I had a solitary doe come across the back corner of the field I was on, had just a second to zap her with the rangefinder, 32 yards. Picked the bow up about the time she stepped off the field into some brush. Lost sight of her in the brush left of the field but she was headed toward a clear lane so that's where I aimed. Put my 30 yard pin on the clearing and when she trotted into view I fired. Now the bad luck...I misjudged how much she had angled toward me and she was more like 22 yards. I hit her but I hit high...caught her right through the spine and she dropped like a sack of taters and let out the saddest sounding series of bawls I ever heard. Hell my buddy was at another stand up the trial and heard her carrying on and thought I'd shot another hog. And she's nowhere near dead, in fact she's trying to drag herself to cover with her front legs. Damn that hurt me something fierce to see. I jumped out of the shooting house fast as I could and finished her off. Not quite the way I had envisioned things, certainly not my idea of a quick, clean, humane kill I felt terrible. There was no joy in that harvest. I guess if you hunt long enough that kind of thing happens but it sure makes a guy feel low.
So we got her field dressed and brought out and iced down, then hung around for the afternoon hunt. I wanted to hunt my ladder stand where I've seen deer but I deferred and let my buddy have it. He's having a bad season so I tell him to take my ladder, got a good chance of seeing something. So at 1:45 he nails a nice big body 7 point. He shoots a wheeled bow with zombies I made for him, 445 grains at 345 fps with 125 grain Rage heads. Blew right through it at about 24 yards but he hit a little high, hardly any blood trail. He called me for help so I packed up and ended my hunt early, we ended up tracking that guy nearly 200 yards but we got it. All in all I guess it was a good day, we both scored on the last quiet peaceful day before the guns start popping so we did what we set out to do.
Thanks all for the good luck wishes!
My doe, luminok glowing behind her

My buddy's buck. He's a big fellow, makes an ATV look small

[j.krug]

Good luck and safe hunting to you kegbelly.

[W.Miguire]

I can feel what you felt on your doe, when it happened to me the first time. I did not know deer could make such noise . the next time it wasn't so bad . it will happen again if you continue to hunt . best of luck on your next hunt.
W.M.

[paulaboutform]

Awww, dang John! I'm sure sorry that happened. I've gone through it with two deer, a hog, and one bear through both shoulders. It sticks with you. That's over the course of about 35 years. I know this doesn't make you feel better but you're not alone....and I know it sucks.

[vixenmaster]

Congrats on the bellowin Doe n congrats to yer friend on his 7 pt.