Saturday Afternoon Success
10-27-2003, 12:39 PM
#1
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Join Date: Sep 2003
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Posts: 356
Saturday Afternoon Success
So I’m out Saturday afternoon for a nice hunt here in northern NJ. Nice weather, about 63 degrees, slight breezy, milky clouds. I have permission to use my buddy’s stand so I take advantage of this act of kindness. I’m up and secure by 2PM. Nothing happening for two hours, except for squirrels and chipmunks. Just sitting in the stand enjoying the nice fall afternoon and thinking of things I have to get done around the house on Sunday.
At about 4PM a squirrel down below goes crazy and runs up a nearby tree. It’s squawking like mad. I was thinking to myself it couldn’t have seen me because I didn’t cough or move or anything. I sit there and watch this squirrel for a minute or two and then realize it’s actually looking away from me so it had obviously not been alarmed by me. I start to get hopeful that it has reacted to something else. Sure enough, out from behind me where there is a thick canopy of small trees, comes a small doe. Behind her, another small doe.
I draw back, put my pin on her at about 13 yards, she stops to look behind her at the other doe and I release. Whack! Not where I wanted to hit her. It landed about 12 inches behind where I had aimed. More on this later. I got a decent hit on her, she kicked, fell, bounced off several trees, crashed thru bushes, barked, etc. I saw where she was headed and marked the last known area I saw her. I know to always give the deer at least 30 minutes, but I get down anyways because I see my arrow and I am tempted to inspect it. Upon approaching my arrow on the ground I notice it is not covered in blood, but instead it’s only half of my arrow! I then see some droplets of blood, then hair where it brushed up against an old rusted barbed wire fence, then more blood, then globs, then just a red carpet of blood. This is promising! I follow the trail of evidence. I didn’t even have to put my head down to follow the trail because I could look 6 feet ahead of me and clearly see the path. I actually had blood 3 feet to my left and 3 feet to my right so I know the deer was pumping out blood on both sides. I then look ahead and see the deer down. It ran maybe 40 yards. Best thing was it ran directly towards where my truck was parked and was only 15 feet from the edge of the dirt road and only another 10 feet shy of the tailgate of my truck. Only if more deer were this well trained! I think I hit the liver.
So, back to my shot placement. I have been practicing all summer and also took advice from another poster to only shoot once per day during the season to direct more attention to making that ONE shot count. I shoot from my son’s second floor bedroom window once per day to anything from 10 yards out to 20. Never a doubt and I have been right on the money for the past 2 months. I’m thinking perhaps my shot deflected off a small branch that I did not see or maybe the bow string, upon release, caught up against my jacket sleeve and that jerked the bow a tiny bit. I also think maybe I just plainly forgot to anchor myself between my right ear and jaw bone. Could be, but I tend to think it might have been the sleeve of my jacket. Any comments on why? I know I didn’t peek!
At about 4PM a squirrel down below goes crazy and runs up a nearby tree. It’s squawking like mad. I was thinking to myself it couldn’t have seen me because I didn’t cough or move or anything. I sit there and watch this squirrel for a minute or two and then realize it’s actually looking away from me so it had obviously not been alarmed by me. I start to get hopeful that it has reacted to something else. Sure enough, out from behind me where there is a thick canopy of small trees, comes a small doe. Behind her, another small doe.
I draw back, put my pin on her at about 13 yards, she stops to look behind her at the other doe and I release. Whack! Not where I wanted to hit her. It landed about 12 inches behind where I had aimed. More on this later. I got a decent hit on her, she kicked, fell, bounced off several trees, crashed thru bushes, barked, etc. I saw where she was headed and marked the last known area I saw her. I know to always give the deer at least 30 minutes, but I get down anyways because I see my arrow and I am tempted to inspect it. Upon approaching my arrow on the ground I notice it is not covered in blood, but instead it’s only half of my arrow! I then see some droplets of blood, then hair where it brushed up against an old rusted barbed wire fence, then more blood, then globs, then just a red carpet of blood. This is promising! I follow the trail of evidence. I didn’t even have to put my head down to follow the trail because I could look 6 feet ahead of me and clearly see the path. I actually had blood 3 feet to my left and 3 feet to my right so I know the deer was pumping out blood on both sides. I then look ahead and see the deer down. It ran maybe 40 yards. Best thing was it ran directly towards where my truck was parked and was only 15 feet from the edge of the dirt road and only another 10 feet shy of the tailgate of my truck. Only if more deer were this well trained! I think I hit the liver.
So, back to my shot placement. I have been practicing all summer and also took advice from another poster to only shoot once per day during the season to direct more attention to making that ONE shot count. I shoot from my son’s second floor bedroom window once per day to anything from 10 yards out to 20. Never a doubt and I have been right on the money for the past 2 months. I’m thinking perhaps my shot deflected off a small branch that I did not see or maybe the bow string, upon release, caught up against my jacket sleeve and that jerked the bow a tiny bit. I also think maybe I just plainly forgot to anchor myself between my right ear and jaw bone. Could be, but I tend to think it might have been the sleeve of my jacket. Any comments on why? I know I didn’t peek!
