I told you I was takin' her out last night!

At 6:10 p.m., a group of does which had skirted my standby 150 yardsran back towards my stand to escape the approaching farm truck they heard coming over the hill... and to the saftey of the pleading grunts they had been lifted their way assuring them if they needed an escape route that this was a safe haven... [8D]

They barreled through at almost a full run, slowing just slightly to jump a small drainage ditch. A couple very loud voice grunts finally caught their attention after having eased the Diamond to full draw; one mature doe slammed to a halt offering the only shot of the group: half her shoulder could be seen in front of a large oak which covered the back half of her shoulder and all of her ribs.

I held an inch off the tree trunk, counting on the rock-solid stability of the new Marquis to deliver the accuracy I knew it could... In the blink of an eye, I watched the A/C/C slam through both shoulders, breaking her down and causing a very crippled second and a half death run which ended with a much-too-loud crash. I knew instantly what had happened: She had made it to the river 50 yards in front of my stand dividing the refuge and the farm I was hunting... Great.

I slowly climbed down and found my arrow shaft lying amidst huge splotches of bright red blood. I followed the heavy trail up and over the ditch bank and looked 10 feet down to see my prize lying in the bottom of an almost dry river bottom. Thank goodness this wasn't one of my typically huge Illinois does and the fact that Matt / PA and I have worked on getting our butts in shape this summer! Still, manhandling her straight up 10 feet of dirt riverbank was about all this bowhunter could muster!



It won't be long...