Well, since you boys asked - I’d hunted that morning (Saturday) on the corner edge of a field that I’ve killed several good bucks from over the years. Saw nothing but does. Headed back to the truck around noon, pounded a Cliff bar and some Monster fuel and decided to drive to a spot I’d scouted during Turkey season - it had lots of deer trails and sign converging near a choke point. I’d never hunted it before. Took over an hour of bushwhacking to get to it from my truck.
I set up in a tree with good coverage and some clear lanes. Winds were pretty strong - 12 to 15 mph all afternoon. Tree swaying the whole time. Wind let up around 5PM. Not too long after, I caught movement to my left at about 45 yards. A flash of antler, but I couldn’t tell if it was a shooter. I tried to get on him with my binos but it was too thick and he was moving. Seemed like he was going away at first, then he started angling toward me and moving parallel to my location. I saw where it looked like he might cross a shooting lane in front of me at about 35 yards. I’d ranged it earlier in the afternoon. He kept on coming. As he was crossing behind a tree, I came to full draw and held. Then he finally popped into view and I could see his horns for the first time. He stopped broadside and I drilled him. Saw the impact on his lungs. He bolted and I heard him breathing hard about 30 seconds later. Then silence. But no crash. I climbed down and went to the point of impact. Nothing. No blood. No hair. No arrow.
I headed in the direction he ran looking for any blood trail. Nothing for 50 yards. Arrow must have popped out around there because blood trail just exploded. Bright red lung blood. Pints of it everywhere. I scanned the woods and saw him laid out about 20 yards from me. And so began a very long night out of the woods.
