I got a little opening day redemption this morning. Last year, the first deer I shot at with a trad bow was on public ground and I made a poor shot at dawn. The setup was good, the shot was easy, and I hit a doe too far back. Sign looked promising after a wait, but ran out and I never recovered her. This year, same area (different tree), same scenario. A fawn and doe came down the hill, I was going to have another sub-15 yard shot early in the morning. I let the fawn walk through the hole, drew when the mama got close, and gave a little noise to make her stop in the hole. I anchored and executed a pretty good shot. I think she dropped slightly at the shot, but to my eye it looked pretty good.
When I climbed down, that's when shit got interesting. At the shot, she mule kicked and ran as hard as she could across an open area. I heard her make it to the brush on the other side, then...nothing. I checked the arrow, and it looked good.
I started tracking and wasn't finding a lot of blood. I wasn't too shocked because of how hard she ran. But the blood never really got better. I pushed on, slowly through the brush, literally finding drop here, drop there. After slowly going through the brush maybe 40 yards, I was really confused. Blood sign sucked, but the shot looked good to me. The arrow looked good. She never stopped, never bedded, and never opened up. Finally, I marked last blood and made a pass 20' in front of last blood where I could see past some of the thick stuff, and there she laid just over the bank. That's my exit.
The entrance was higher than I thought, with the exit looking nearly perfect. I got both lungs, and that deer hardly bled until she was 10 yards from crashing. After I saw her I finally found good blood in that last 20' or so. I don't think I've ever seen a lung-hit deer leave so little sign. The Cutthroat I shot her with was my first single bevel deer. The sound it made hitting her was interesting. More of a "shuff" sound than a crack or a whack. It's crazy to me to think how much blood there had been if I hadn't got a pass-through. Maybe next to nothing? Oh well, all's well that ends well, right? The freezer is stocked and the pressure is off. Good to get the first deer with the new bow, too. I doubt I'll be carving notches into it, though.
When I climbed down, that's when shit got interesting. At the shot, she mule kicked and ran as hard as she could across an open area. I heard her make it to the brush on the other side, then...nothing. I checked the arrow, and it looked good.
I started tracking and wasn't finding a lot of blood. I wasn't too shocked because of how hard she ran. But the blood never really got better. I pushed on, slowly through the brush, literally finding drop here, drop there. After slowly going through the brush maybe 40 yards, I was really confused. Blood sign sucked, but the shot looked good to me. The arrow looked good. She never stopped, never bedded, and never opened up. Finally, I marked last blood and made a pass 20' in front of last blood where I could see past some of the thick stuff, and there she laid just over the bank. That's my exit.
The entrance was higher than I thought, with the exit looking nearly perfect. I got both lungs, and that deer hardly bled until she was 10 yards from crashing. After I saw her I finally found good blood in that last 20' or so. I don't think I've ever seen a lung-hit deer leave so little sign. The Cutthroat I shot her with was my first single bevel deer. The sound it made hitting her was interesting. More of a "shuff" sound than a crack or a whack. It's crazy to me to think how much blood there had been if I hadn't got a pass-through. Maybe next to nothing? Oh well, all's well that ends well, right? The freezer is stocked and the pressure is off. Good to get the first deer with the new bow, too. I doubt I'll be carving notches into it, though.
