The big medium voltage project at work wrapped up on Wednesday, New Years eve. I was exhausted from the long hours put in on the project and didn't make it to midnight. I slept in late on Thursday and the loaded the car and headed to west Texas to hunt land owned by my wife's boss. I went to west Tx rather than my east Tx lease because in east Tx I face antler restrictions ans does are no longer legal out there. I set out with the intention of putting meat in the freezer and my chances in west Tx were much better. Having not filled a tag yet and the season ending on Sunday I was not going to be picky. This was to be a meat hunt and I planned on taking the first shot presented.
I got to the land north of Abilene in the early afternoon after the four hour drive. I got unpacked, changed,and headed out to hunt. I went to a stand overlooking a pasture were I had seen deer opening weekend. I did see deer moving at the far end of the pasture but nothing nearby. Friday morning was the same, deer far off. So I moved to a ground blind close to where I saw them for my evening hunt.
After sitting for an hour and a half Friday evening in temperatures that were in the mid 70s and winds gusting to 20-25. I was quickly getting disheartened. I didn't think I would see anything in those conditions. Five minutes after my first thought of giving up, this 1.5 year old 5 point walked in from my left. With my freezer empty and two days left in the season I didn't hesitate. He walked behind some brush, I drew and let fly when he cleared the brush at 20 yds.
I was rather disappointed in the performance of the 2 blade Rage. It hit ribs going in and exiting however the arrow hung up and it was sticking out the far side of the deer when he ran off. This was my 8th bow killed deer in 4 seasons of bowhunting and I never failed to have a complete passthrough with the arrow stuck in the ground. I did however have a very good bloodtrail to follow.
When I shot this deer he was a 5 point. When I found him he was a half rack fork horn. He ran about 80 yards through the nastiest thickest briar patch on the property. He crashed into a couple of trees along the way and broke half his rack off. He didn't shed them, he broke it off. There is a stump left on his head.
I was very confident in my shot placement. After the hit I headed back to camp to get a lantern to trail the deer in the fading light. It was dark when I got back to the ground blind but with the ample blood trail the only hard part of the trail was the thick, thick briar patch. ( I am still very scratched up!). I made the recovery in a short time and soon had him back at camp.
I looked on Saturday morning and never found the other half of his rack or my arrow.
I would have passed this guy early in the season but not this late with my freezer empty. I thought my season was over because of the project at work. Then with the high winds and unbelievably high temps I didn't think it would happen. I'm glad I stuck it out.
Last chance score on a small Rob buck
