11pt

I was out this evening in a stand that always produced some pretty good action. It was windy and I hadn't seen anything so I thought the night was going to be a wash. All of a sudden I heard splashing in the water behind me and I turned around to see a doe with a basket 8 on her tail. I already shot a smallish buck , so I figured I would try for the doe. I grabbed my bow and then she ran the other way with the buck following. I thought she had seen me or something but a few minutes later here she comes again. I thought the same buck was with her but I did a double take and realized this was a completely different buck and he was HUGE!!!! I didn't count his ppoints since I just knew he was a shooter.

I was standing at this point and ready to shoot. She was going to lead him right past me when I heard crashing and it was the smaller buck running in trying to run off the big one! The doe ran off and the two bucks were staring each other down not 25 yds from my stand (no shot). They made a couple bluff charges at each other but it was obvious who would be the winner. I even got to hear the big one snort wheeze at the little one. First time I've heard that in the wild. I can say that just having the only seat in that theater tonight makes all the hours in a stand worth it.

Anyway, when the big guy started to move off I figured he would follow the doe, so I found the first opportunity and drew. He stopped just short of an opening so I held until he moved again when I let the arrow fly at about 30 yds. It was getting dark, but it looked like a good hit. The buck did a mule kick and ran about 75 yds when he slowed to a walk and disappeared into the brush along an old railroad bed.

I sat in my stand another 15 or 20 minutes before I even moved. I then left all of my stuff and climbed down and walked the opposite direction from where the buck went. I went home and called a friend and it was at least 2 hours before we got back out there. We even walked the long way around the field.

First I found the FRONT half of my arrow with blood, bits of stuff?, and white hair on it. Pass through right? We then quickly found the trail. It started slow but then I found the back half of the arrow with blood all over it. Then the blood really gushed for a while. Then it just petered out when he headed back out into the open field. After that we just headed home and will look for him in the morning.

Now hindsight is 20/20 and it would be easy to say at this point that I should have done something else, but what the hell?????? If it looks like a good hit and you find good blood after waiting 2 hours would anyone have done anything different? I don't like playing the "woe is me"card but why can't I be that guy that hits a deer in the back leg and watches it fall over 30 seconds later. I hate that guy.