Well guys I finally got it done I got my Earn a Buck sticker last night by harvesting this fine beautiful doe:



Here's the story:

Originally I was going to hunt the new 80 but when I got over there the wind and stand location just weren't right. So I had to quickly decide where to hunt because I hadn't brought my "run and gun" set with me. After thinking about it for a little bit, I decide to go hunt my ladder stand. This would be the first time that the stand or even that part of the property would be hunted. At 3:30pm I was crossing the alfalfa field to get to my stand hoping not to bump any deer bedded in the woods. By just a little after 4pm I was strapped to the tree and waiting for deer to come by. At about 6pm I heard something walking in the leaves slightly behind me and off to the left. Slowly I turn my head and saw a doe walking towards the field. While watching the doe, I slowly came to my feet and took my bow off the hanger. I was hoping she would work her way toward me but instead she proceeded to enter the field giving me no shot opportunity. While watching the doe on the field edge I hear another deer running down the hill and catch a young deer joining the doe on the field edge. Shortly after I hear slow steady steps in the leaves where the other two deer just came from. A large doe appears from behind some trees and brush. I think about taking the shot then but the window of opportunity is too small as she continues to walk behind some more trees. When she goes behind these trees I take the opportunity to draw my Tomkat back and securelyfind my my anchor points. After the doe takes a couplepast the tree I touch off my release. I see the arrow hit slightlyfurther back then I would have liked but see blood instantly as she takes off. I mentally mark the last place that I see her.Once I nolongersee or hear her I call my brother who is only a couple of miles away working on the farm. I quietly tell him that I just shot a doe and heis stoked and tells me that he will be over as soon as he is done feeding the cows. Around 7pm my brother calls and says thathe is on his way over. I pack up and head down the steps of the ladder as my brother is pulling into the field. I meet him where I think the point of impact is. I look around for the arrow but can't find it. My brother exclaims that he has foundbright red bubbly blood. We follow the blood trail but soon it is getting too dark and we leave to get some lights to continue tracking. After weget our lights we go back to the last spot that we found blood.After going about another 20yds I find my arrow laying on the ground covered in blood and fulling intact. At this point I am pumped. We continueto follow the blood trail and at times it seems to vanish. We can't believe that we haven't foundsince she has lost so much blood. What really dumbfounds us is she starts heading up hill. The only good thing for us is that she really starts pumping the blood out. Finally about 10yds from the edge of the soybean field we find her expired.Even though we waitedfor over an hour, she never even bedded down. We think that she possibly didn't even know she dying and was heading to the soybean field to eat. After closer examination I found that I hit her liver and one lung. After a slow start to the season I am finally privileged to harvest a fine doe which now allows me to pursue and harvest a buck Good luck to you all and most importantly don't take any shortcuts and stay SAFE!!!