I got into my blind yesterday (Monday) around 7:00 am. Jumped two does from the pile and didn’t see anything else all day except 14 turkeys. At 5:00 pm a doe came in. After 15 minutes she began looking down into the ravine. Two or three times a minute she would jerk her head up and stare, then go back to feeding. I grabbed my binoculars and scanned the bottom. I saw feet briefly. I scanned ahead where I expected the deer to go and saw nothing. I started looking for and ear, antler tip or anything to help me find it. Finally I saw the white belly hair and the dark top of a deers back in a small gap between the trees. He stood there for 20 minutes before moving forward. When I saw his antlers, there was no doubt that I wanted to take him if he gave me an opportunity. I swapped the binoculars for my crossbow. He took another ten minutes to travel 30 yards. The doe walked away from the pile heading away from the buck and after walking ten yards, she squatted and pissed. Never seen a doe do that...her cooter must’ve been 3” from the ground. As she walked into the ravine, the buck advanced cautiously. When he was ten yards behind my pile, he stopped broadside, then alternated between looking at the pile and looking at her. I figured he was going to follow her so this was as good a shot that I was going to get. I aimed for 35 yards at the heart. At the shot, he exploded out of there and ran straight downhill. The creek bed has about a six foot drop on its sides and is about 8-10 feet wide. He cleared it with no problem then broke hard right and went back the way he came. I got out of the stand and was shocked that I couldn’t find my bolt, no hair or blood. I followed his imprints in the maple leaves and mud to the creek. I had to go downstream to find a place to cross and get to the other side where he landed. Still no blood! Followed his scuff marks in the leaves and after 50 yards from where he was standing when I shot, found a drop of blood. Only 4 more drops over the next 20 yards. I backed out and went back in the morning. He was only 30-40 yards from last blood. I hit both lungs and took out the top of his heart. The shot was at an extreme downhill angle and the broadhead went in high, took out the top of one lung, clipped the top of the heart and lower part of the other lung.The broadhead hit the opposite shoulder and never exited. That why there was very little blood. All of the blood was inside the body cavity. I looked at his rack, took a picture of his balls, a few more of him, then sent them to Giles. Tug the deer, checked him in, then got him out of the woods with the help of my friend. Gutted him at the truck then straight to the butcher. I recovered him at 11:00 am (had to wait for my hunting partners to finish their morning stands). It was 56 degrees when I got him to the butcher and it was 34 degrees overnight so I’m sure he’ll be just fine. I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I was to find him. Great memory for sure. Now I’m the kitchen bitch at camp for the next couple of weeks. Might go out with a camcorder for a few sits. Good luck to those still enjoying their season!
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