HuntingNet.com Forums - Finally Got Him

Well it's been nearly 20 years since I've hunted so had alot of equipment to buy but it's now paid off. I've been hunting hard since bow season opened here on Oct. 1. Most of the time I get to hunt 2-3 days a week but haven't been seeing anything but hogs and turkeys. This last weekend I decided to scout a different WMA that I've never been to before. After a couple hours I had found several fresh rubs and a couple of hot scrapes so the next morning I put my climber in a tree near the best looking scrape. A little after daylight a big doe comes by but, she's about 200yds away but hey, that's more deer than I've seen from a stand all year! Then about a hour later, I see a deer passing through the tall grass about 30-35 yards away but no clear shot. I can see he's got a small rack and there's another deer behind him. Well they both pass by, and are now about 50 to 60 yards away so I get out my can call and give it a shot. They both turn around and when they clear the grass I can see the first one is a 4 point (3 on one side with a single on the other side) and the other deer is larger with a nice rack that looks to be at least 7 points. The 4 point walks over to the scarpe and just stands there broadside to me at 18 yards but I wait for the larger deer to come in closer. I decided to go for the larger of the two so after making that decision, I no longer looked at his hornsor eyes as this was the most horns I'd ever seen from a stand, but waited until he stood where the other buck had been standing. When he turned to smell the scape he was slightly quartered away at 18 yards. I drew back very quitely and amazingly steady, then let the arrow fly. I hit him between the last 2 ribs with the arrow passing through both lungs and sticking in the dirt behind him. I watched him make that famous jump mule kick so I figured it was a decent shot. I saw him run, what I later determined with my gps as 46 yards and pile up in the tall grass. Now the shakes started, almost uncontrollable! After waiting about an hour just to be sure, I got down, found my arrow and determined it was indeed a pass through and tracked him via the blood trail which was very sparse. I shoot the trophy ridge undertaker and it did the job but sure would have liked a better blood trail. Turned out he was a good 10 pointer.