Congrats! My motto is "sometimes it is better to be lucky than good". Sounds like you were in the right place at the right time with just a little luck thrown in. I had a similar experience two years ago. End of the muzzleloader season, it was raining and just about sundown. I got up out of my stand and started walking around. A doe pokes her head out of a hedge row about 100 yards ahead of me. I stop and wait. She walks out, stands there and I shot her. She bolted back into the hedge row and out of sight.I walked up to where whe was and sure enough, there was hair and blood in the weeds. Then I start to worry. She ran into some thick and nasty stuff, it was raining hard, and it was getting dark. That was the only time that I actually thought that Icould possiblyloose a deer. Fortunately it was a good hit and she didn't go but 50 yards but she was hard to find and the blood trail was washing away fast. It was a long drag back but worth the effort.

Be careful with that smokepole! Gotta make sure that you don't let excitement get to you.