Set up in a 17 ft. Ladder stand off the side of a logging road through my lease that the deer would walk down. Around 8:30 a.m. a spike walked from my right to left moving from behind me to in front and past me into a quartering away shot. I let the arrow fly with the deer at 27 yards. The arrow went in 2/3 back in the ribs and the deer jumped / kicked and bolted forward literally slamming into a pine tree and climbing it. He then flipped over backwarks in the air, jumped up and ran into another much smaller tree that had been bowed over by a skidder about 5 yards away. After hitting that tree he fell over dead. Distance traveled after the shot was about ten yards forward to one tree and about five yards to the next. I was shaking so bad afteer I shot, I had to sit down for a while to regain my composure before I fell out of my stand.

Then I got stupid.... I remember thinking ( in a funny way )"WOW, that wasn't so hard. What's all this blood trailing and tracking stuff about." I was relatively young, about 25,and stupid. I hit a great shot, that entered 2/3 back on the left side, and just barely exited in front of the shoulder on the right. I had a great damage path. The deer died within 15 seconds of the shot. He may not have died as much from my shot as he did from the way he slammed into the two trees, knocking himself silly.

But I remember it like it was yesterday, even-though it was about 16 years ago. I was shooting a PSE Polaris Express, and Easton 2213's. That was my first compound bow and my first bow deer. And the last time I did not have to worry about a blood trail....LOL