....that's how far a doe was that I missed this weekend! Sunday morning, I get to my stand about 30 minutes before first light. At about 7:45, I see a big doe with 2 yearlings in tow walking down the trail I'm set up on. She walks up and is quartering toward me when I draw my bow and wait. When she is directly broadside to me (and very close), I put my 10 yard pin on her lungs and hit the release. All I see is a mass of brown hair jumping and my arrow in the ground. At first I think I hit her but there is no blood on my arrow and she stops after running 25 yards (behind several trees of course). She starts huffing and stomping looking around and I get a good look at both of her sides, a clean miss. I replay the shot in my mind and I can see the arrow go right underneath her.


After I get out of the tree at the end of the morning hunt, I pace the distance from the tree (it was too close for my rangefinder)and it's 8 yards. Being 5 yards up in a tree, that's a pretty steep angle (60 degrees or so) and I remember reading that for close shots you need to put the 40 yard pin on the deers vitals or you will shoot right under it. I guess I experienced that first hand

At least it was a clean miss and it wasn't a big buck!