Karma
10-23-2005, 12:35 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 200
Karma
Got out for the first time Thursday. Got down in near some thick cover, stayed in the tree until nearly full dark, and then bushwhacked my way back to the truck. When I put the bow in the case, I noticed I no longer had a quiver. It was a new detachable model I got for an elk hunt New Mexico. I went back Saturday morning, found my stand, and then walked out the way I would have used the land in the dark. I walked within two yards of the quiver, standing up against a blowdown with the fletching showing, about 200 yards from the stand. The bracket had broken, not come loose. It was so thick in there that I wouldn't have seen it laying down.
That afternoon I went to a different place, where an oak flat meets a thick creekbed. I got up over twenty feet with the climber and settled in. Then it started to rain... hard. Then very hard. Just as it was getting almost too dark to shoot, a doe came meandering along, feeding on acorns. I had what we old timers still call a "doe permit" that I intended to fill, so I came to full draw three times. She never took the next step, or cleared the tree, or turned to present a shot. She started feeding uphill, away from me. I blatted softly and she turned, walking parallel along the ridge, at about my height. At last shooting light, she was about 35 yards with some cover. I followed my friend "Dr. Dave" Samuel's maxim: shoot! I sqeezed the release, heard some noise that sounded like I hit some branches, and she gave a little hop and headed uphill. I knew I had to check right away because any blood trail wasn't going to last in the rain. I took a compass reading on the shot and gathered my stuff. Another doe blew about 40 yards away. As I started down, she started blowing again and kept at it. I didn't think she'd made me; I had the wind and was behind the tree. I thought, Something's up. Just maybe I got lucky. I got up to about where I thought she was but didn't find the arrow or blood. I was about out of light but saw something white down below me. I started down and there she was. My shot had deflected and entered high, just in front of the left hip (yep, hip), passed under the spine, and exited leaving a huge hole. She was covered with blood. I backtracked her and found a large pool of blood, and my arrow, about 10 yards away. She had probably laid down shortly after I shot her; I got the femoral artery that runs along under the spine. She didn't go 30 yards. If she had fallen facing the other way, I wouldn't have seen her belly and legs. Nice young doe, dressed 130 lbs. Love those Muzzy 125's and, like I said, karma.
That afternoon I went to a different place, where an oak flat meets a thick creekbed. I got up over twenty feet with the climber and settled in. Then it started to rain... hard. Then very hard. Just as it was getting almost too dark to shoot, a doe came meandering along, feeding on acorns. I had what we old timers still call a "doe permit" that I intended to fill, so I came to full draw three times. She never took the next step, or cleared the tree, or turned to present a shot. She started feeding uphill, away from me. I blatted softly and she turned, walking parallel along the ridge, at about my height. At last shooting light, she was about 35 yards with some cover. I followed my friend "Dr. Dave" Samuel's maxim: shoot! I sqeezed the release, heard some noise that sounded like I hit some branches, and she gave a little hop and headed uphill. I knew I had to check right away because any blood trail wasn't going to last in the rain. I took a compass reading on the shot and gathered my stuff. Another doe blew about 40 yards away. As I started down, she started blowing again and kept at it. I didn't think she'd made me; I had the wind and was behind the tree. I thought, Something's up. Just maybe I got lucky. I got up to about where I thought she was but didn't find the arrow or blood. I was about out of light but saw something white down below me. I started down and there she was. My shot had deflected and entered high, just in front of the left hip (yep, hip), passed under the spine, and exited leaving a huge hole. She was covered with blood. I backtracked her and found a large pool of blood, and my arrow, about 10 yards away. She had probably laid down shortly after I shot her; I got the femoral artery that runs along under the spine. She didn't go 30 yards. If she had fallen facing the other way, I wouldn't have seen her belly and legs. Nice young doe, dressed 130 lbs. Love those Muzzy 125's and, like I said, karma.
