WillBates
Member
A little late getting this on here. I headed into the stand Sunday night around 3:30 P.M. I was pretty excited with this stand set b/c of how many shooters i've seen in this spot and still hadn't been able to make it happen. Anyways I snuck in to my stand. I had a good WNW wind, which is ideal for that set. I made a promise to myself earlier in the season that I wouldn't hunt or be around this area until the last few days of October. I got into the stand and started a rattling sequence, grunting before and after with my flextone. The wind would gust off and on making it hard for me to hear anything, let alone let any deer know of my calling. At around 5:50 P.M the wind died down. When this happened I heard leaves crashing. I turned to the right and looked behind my stand and saw a good mature doe coming. I grabbed my bow and waited. She came to 10 yards. As she walked behind a giant cottonwood tree, I drew back. To my luck I hit my draw arm on my safety line and got only to half draw. By this time she cleared the tree and seen me fighting my harness.
She then ran 50 yards back the way she came without a snort. I grabbed the "Can call' and bleated to her a few times to calm her. This drew her back in to 38-40 yards. She stood in this spot for about 10 minutes. Then out of no where she gets run into by another doe. To my shock a definite shooter was pushing these does the whole time and I was completely oblivious. He started to push the does down towards a ravine away from me. As he turned away I gave him a snort wheeze. He immediately snapped his head in my direction, folding his ears back and licking his lips. Then I gave him a loud buck growl and long steady grunts. The buck then took 5 steps and looked back in my direction. He did this about 8 times. Every time he would stop, I would give him a grunt to keep him interested. He then committed and walked right for my shooting lane. As he walked through the edge of it in the thick brush I drew my bow. I could see him coming into the lane completely broadside. As I was about to shoot he turned straight at me giving me a hard quartering too shot. This is where it got interesting. So far this year I've taken perfect shots from 60 to 15 yards all being double lung. Figuring I could squeeze the grim reaper broadhead between his shoulder and the higher right part of his brisket, I could get the lungs and heart. So I let it fly. The arrow then looked like it bounced off of him. To my horror he turned and ran up the ravine. He walked very slow and with his tail between his legs. I felt sick and was pissed at myself. Of all the deer I have drew early on, this is the one that didn't stay broadside. I lost sight of him and immediately called bow huntin buddy Ryan. He suggested we wait, so I backed out. He wanted to wait until morning. I pressed him that we should at least go look at the arrow since it was practically next to the stand. So at 8:30 PM we headed in. Found my arrow glowing red thanks to the nockturnal nock. The broadhead had dissapeared. It broke off inside the insert at the screw, with only 3 inches of blood and hair on the arrow. With that being said I thought it was game over. He was either going to live or die a mile away. Ryan then happened to see a spot of blood on the trail he left on. Then when we looked down the ravine, the spot turned into a spray, and then the spray turned into a gravy trail. After following good blood for 60 yards, we found a baby pool sized area of blood. I took a few more steps past that and he was dead in the ravine. He ran 80-100 yards, and was probably dead by the time I got into my car to leave. The broadhead missed its mark and entered his lower throat and hit his main artery, sliced his esauphagus, and buried into his spine. I feel very lucky and humble to have found this deer. I've defintely learned my lesson on drawing early and making quartering too shots. He was scored at 161 1/8 by my buddy and boss micah. He would have gone into the 170s if it worn't for a couple broken points and loosing the front part of his left main beam. He also has 11 scorable points. A BIG thanks to Ryan and Micah for the help and scoring. He is currently being mounted by Dans Wildlife Creations in Atlantic, Iowa.
And THANK GOD I didn't shoot that doe.
She then ran 50 yards back the way she came without a snort. I grabbed the "Can call' and bleated to her a few times to calm her. This drew her back in to 38-40 yards. She stood in this spot for about 10 minutes. Then out of no where she gets run into by another doe. To my shock a definite shooter was pushing these does the whole time and I was completely oblivious. He started to push the does down towards a ravine away from me. As he turned away I gave him a snort wheeze. He immediately snapped his head in my direction, folding his ears back and licking his lips. Then I gave him a loud buck growl and long steady grunts. The buck then took 5 steps and looked back in my direction. He did this about 8 times. Every time he would stop, I would give him a grunt to keep him interested. He then committed and walked right for my shooting lane. As he walked through the edge of it in the thick brush I drew my bow. I could see him coming into the lane completely broadside. As I was about to shoot he turned straight at me giving me a hard quartering too shot. This is where it got interesting. So far this year I've taken perfect shots from 60 to 15 yards all being double lung. Figuring I could squeeze the grim reaper broadhead between his shoulder and the higher right part of his brisket, I could get the lungs and heart. So I let it fly. The arrow then looked like it bounced off of him. To my horror he turned and ran up the ravine. He walked very slow and with his tail between his legs. I felt sick and was pissed at myself. Of all the deer I have drew early on, this is the one that didn't stay broadside. I lost sight of him and immediately called bow huntin buddy Ryan. He suggested we wait, so I backed out. He wanted to wait until morning. I pressed him that we should at least go look at the arrow since it was practically next to the stand. So at 8:30 PM we headed in. Found my arrow glowing red thanks to the nockturnal nock. The broadhead had dissapeared. It broke off inside the insert at the screw, with only 3 inches of blood and hair on the arrow. With that being said I thought it was game over. He was either going to live or die a mile away. Ryan then happened to see a spot of blood on the trail he left on. Then when we looked down the ravine, the spot turned into a spray, and then the spray turned into a gravy trail. After following good blood for 60 yards, we found a baby pool sized area of blood. I took a few more steps past that and he was dead in the ravine. He ran 80-100 yards, and was probably dead by the time I got into my car to leave. The broadhead missed its mark and entered his lower throat and hit his main artery, sliced his esauphagus, and buried into his spine. I feel very lucky and humble to have found this deer. I've defintely learned my lesson on drawing early and making quartering too shots. He was scored at 161 1/8 by my buddy and boss micah. He would have gone into the 170s if it worn't for a couple broken points and loosing the front part of his left main beam. He also has 11 scorable points. A BIG thanks to Ryan and Micah for the help and scoring. He is currently being mounted by Dans Wildlife Creations in Atlantic, Iowa.
And THANK GOD I didn't shoot that doe.
