mauser06

i made my rookie mistake this year. 1) was shooting at a semi alert deer 2) was aiming a little higher then i need to.

i dont know for sure if the deer was kicked up or what. my buddys knew where i was hunting and figured they would squirrel hunt surrounding areas and try to get deer moving. i had 2 does come through and couldnt get a shot. then the same 2 does came back through..no shot. then a lone doe came through a couple minutes later..no shot. about 20 seconds behind her was a shooter buck. he came through on the trail of the doe nose to the ground trotting(mid oct i dont know if he was curious and checking or what) got to my shooting lane at 20yds..i was already at full draw..Bahed at him..released the arrow the second he stopped. but i remember him looking dead at me as the arrow flew dead at him. the lighted nock told me flight was perfect and it was going dead center of the lungs. perfect..i was jumping for joy inside before the arrow made its contact. then i watched the buck duck as the arrow was flying. caught him really high and above the spine and lungs. i waited a half hour and couldnt sit any longer. i thought i was going to fall out of my stand. i snuck down and gathered my gear. went to the shot site and found the arrow..only 3 inches missing. uht oh. ok well theres 4 or so inches of blood..maybe i got 7 inches of penetration. left..gathered up buddys..calmed down a bit. came back atleast another hour later. now dark but we had flashlights and coonhunting lights. spent the night trailing him. 400-500yds later it finally dried up. following pin drops to start. the next day i gathered up 6 buddys. 7 of us combed the area high and low within nearly a mile in thr pouring rain. no deer. he lived im sure. think i seen him a week later in the field. then in rifle season my buddys missed a buck that wouldnt run really fast. then the late season someone killed what i heard was a NICE 9pt with a 14" spread with nice tines and mass. thats exzactly what i estimated him to be. 14-16" spread 8-10pt( i KNEW i counted 5 pts on one side) with good tines and mass. bummed out..would been my first deer with a bow and my first good buck.

another thing i learned this season(this was my first season with a bow) was:

scent control is critical ..got winded a couple times before i even seen the deer!

find MORE hunting spots..i didnt think id get to hunt nearly as much as i did and overhunted my few spots way to much

if possible walk surrounding properties..that late season i found out that 1/4mile from where i shot that buck and hunted hard my buddy found the biggest feeding station he has ever seen. dont think the owners hunt..they got a hugggge mansion and i think they just feed the deer and turkeys. but that also caused me not to see a whole lot of deer.

still dont know if my buddys pushed that deer to me or not. i called them within a half hour of the shot and they were home cleaning the barn already so i dont know..they had a good walk to the truck. but either way that buck was semi alert and definently tried to duck my arrow..if i was higher in the tree that would got me a better angle too..i was practically in line with him. and aiming lower..for the heart..would also helped