My obligatory does are now out of the way and both buck tags are available. MD requires hunters to harvest 2 antlerless deer before a second buck can be taken. I thought I had my second doe last week on the MZ opener when I took a second antlerless deer with my bow -- however, when I checked it in, it counted as a MZ kill because it was during the "buck's" portion of the season. This week, it's does only and bow kills count as bow kills and that leads to my story . . .

On Thursday evening, I had set up about 20 or so yards from a cut corn field with the predicted wind blowing into the field -- perfect. However, the wind decided to switch 180 degrees from time to time blowing my scent directly into where I expected deer to appear. Then, a couple of guys decided to take a walk in the woods about 60 yards away. They were talking non-stop the whole time--right on the deer trails leading towards me. They left about 1/2 hour before sunset. The night before, in a different location, a man exercised himself and his two dogs about 40 yards from my location directly on a main deer trail where both of his dogs AND HE urinated! But I digress . . .

Just before 6:00pm, a large doe and two youngsters came out below me into the field. She was feeding directly away from me, but the 2 younger deer worked their way along the field edge. Eventually, both of the younger ones wandered by with-in bow range, but I wasn't looking for immature deer. For some reason, she suddenly decided to join the two younger ones and started feeding back towards me. I don't have many shots to the field, but she finally made it to one spot clear enough for a shot. She was at 40 yards. I held my 40 yard pin right behind her shoulder and touched the release -- just as she took a step! [:@]

The arrow hit further back than I wanted and looked and sounded like a gut shot. She and the others took off and the two smaller ones appeared on other side of some cover, but I didn't see her . . . at first. Then she appeared, with her head down and my binoculars confirmed my suspicion that the shot was too far back. Then she stumbled and caught herself. She turned to the right and then fell over dead never moving again. It was over fairly quickly. When field dressing her, I discovered that I had completely missed the stomach and intestines -- and the arrow was clean except for blood. Apparently, I hit the large artery that runs under the spine and she expired quickly. She was BIG!

I practice a good bit at long range and am very accurate with broadheads at 40 yards which is why I will take a shot up to that range. However -- even with my success story --it shows the problems that can occur with longer shots. It could have been disastrous. However, this time it worked out well and now I just need a few bucks to cooperate!