Deer Hunting Stories
 

I am working on a project for an English class. I am compiling a number of my favorite hunting stories. I have gotten a few from the old guys at the local outdoors store but was wandering if anyone has a really good one to add. It can be funny or serious. Whether it is about a successful hunt or anot so successfulone with a good story behind it. Thanks a lot for the help.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

The morning was October28, 2006 the morningwas a bit on the cool side. I had made plans with my brother to hunt on this morning. He got to the camp around5a.m. an was looking forward to the morning hunt. I told him that I had been seeing alot of does an somegood bucks the day before.We loaded ourclimbing stands on the ATV an started toward our location for the morning hunt. We were driving across the clear cut anwere over lookingthevalleys on each side. The fog waslow in the valleys andwas about half way up from the top of the ridges. I leaned back on the four wheeler an pointed towards the fog an told him that it was going to be a good morning. We arrived at our location an got comfortable in our stands about 30 minutes before daylight. The morning started out with a few does an some smallbucks. The morning changed about9:05 am, I look back to my right an there stood a buck that look to be about 19 inches wide. The buck was looking around an saw the does an smaller bucks feeding just below my location. He started down to where we were, he ran everything off that was there,then he started eating acorns. I waited for the perfect shot anten minutes later he offered an I took advantage of the oppurtunity. The buck fell about 40 yards from where I shot him, he was a healthy nine point with an18 1/2 inch spread the weight was around 200lbs.

We loaded theATV down with my brother an I an our bows an gear an two deer stands an a 200lb whitetail buck,that smelled something terrible. The ride back to the camp was slow, but it had been a morning that we never be forgotten.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

At 6 AM I got to the spot on the side of the snowcovered (foreshadowing) road where I would head into the woods. By 6:30 I was at my spot spreading fake doe pee all over and de-scenting myself for the 6th time that morning. By 7 I was wishing I had dressed warmer... it was 12 degrees out and below zero with the wind chill. I had on under armor tops and bottoms and jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt and a moderately lightweight coat with hat and gloves, definitely not enough to be warm... I guess I hadn't anticipated it being that cold... or I forgot how cold 12 degrees can be when you're sitting still for hours on end. Not to mention that all my deer hunting clothes were in Ohio at my parents' house while I was in Iowa.

At 7:23, 4 does walked in right across where I hoped deer would be going. Against my better judgement, I didn't even pull my gun up and take aim, I just watched as they crossed through about 50 yards from me.

At 8:05 some idiot hunter started blowing on a "buck call" that sounded a lot like a wounded cow. He blared that darn thing every 5 minutes for the next hour and a half.

By 8:30 I was wishing I would have shot one of the does despite their small size, then I could be on the way back to the car with my deer and be done freezing my tail off.

By 9:30 I had some unkind words for myself for letting the does pass through.

By 9:45 I was literally shivering because I was so cold. I curled myself up into the tightest ball I could to try to stay warm.

At 9:55 I decided to walk around for a bit to try to regain feeling in my feet, hands, butt and thighs. After 5 minutes I realized that was a waste and went back to my spot. I had been sitting down for about 15 minutes when I heard something over to my left.

There he was... the biggest most beautiful buck I have ever seen in my entire life and ever hope to see again about 120 yards from me running in my general direction. He kept looking back over his shoulder as if something had spooked him or was chasing him. I tried to slip off my glove on my shooting hand, but couldn't get it to come off, so I kind of shook it off as fast as I could and brought my trusty Remington 20 guage up to my shoulder. The buck came to a stop in a clearing 30 yards directly in front of me. I took aim, held my breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. BAM!!! A direct hit in the shoulder right where I was aiming and he took off running like a derby horse out of the gates.

I jumped to my feet and took off after him trying to stay relatively close. About 150 yards later he kneeled down and started breathing really heavy. I put a couple more shots into him to finish him off and stood there staring in amazement at what had just happened. I pinched myself to see if it was real. I counted his rack and was even more surprised to find 13 points!

I field dressed him and then began dragging him back to my car. It took me a full hour and a half to get back to my car dragging this monster up and down hills through brush and woods.

Another hunter was just coming back to his truck, and he helped me load the buck onto the back of my 1997 4 cylinder Chevy Cavalier. He was amazed at its size saying he'd been hunting there for 15 years and had never seen a buck that big. I tied him down to my trunk/frame/spoiler (the only use I've ever discovered for a spoiler on a non-racecar).

I then attempted to drive up the previously mentioned large snow-covered hill in my front wheel drive car with an extra 250 lbs on the back axle. (as you can see the buck dwarfed the back end of my car hanging off both sides simultaneously) After the 3rd time getting stuck halfway up the hill, I backed up as far as I could up the preceding hill and gave it all I had reaching 50 MPH by the bottom of the big hill in 12 inches of snow ontop of a dirt road (kind of like a winter version of Dukes of Hazzard) and finally made it up and out!

The drive home was awesome, I stopped at 2 different gas stations (basically to show off and get gas and to get a bandaid since I had sliced my knuckles while field dressing the big guy) on the way and made it home a bit after 12:00. We took a bunch of pictures and then I went over to a buddy's place to start getting it ready to be processed.

We (my buddies Josh, Andy and I) figured the buck weighed about 250 field dressed, my biggest deer by over 100lbs and they both said it was one of the bigger bucks they had ever seen. We had some beers and worked on the deer for a bit.

Sunday I spent a good part of he day mounting the rack and re-living the hunt as hunters are known to do for months to years following a successful hunt.

A 13 point buck on opening morning 4 hours into season while hunting on public land I had been to once before.

The only bad part was knowing that at 23 I had probably shot the biggest buck of my my life!

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

My First Deer:

I began deer hunting when I was 8 years old, but it took me 5 years to kill my first deer. The morning of the hunt was just like every other hunt that I had experience at the time. Very boring and slow. I was hunting during a Youth hunt in WestBay WMA in south central Louisiana. My dad had scouted the area the weekend before and had placed me in a nice area with alot of sign. My dad had to work this particular saturday, this would be the first hunt that he would not take me on. My older brother would take me. I was 13, so I was old enough to sit in the tree alone, my brother walked me into the location of the stand 2 hours before daylight. The youth hunts can be crowded so you need to get to your spot early. He then turned around and walked back to the truck to sleep. He would come back to get me around 10 am. I sat all morning on our homemade wooden climber, barely 10 feet off the ground. The year before I had fallen out of the tree, so I was still reluctant to climb very high. After sitting for what seemed liked days, I seen an orange vest headed toward me. I started my descent and met my brother on the trail. We walked back to the truck which was parked off the main road on a small fire break. When we got back to the truck, we ate a few snacks and started talking about the strategy for the afternoon. Then suddenly my brother quickly told me to grab the gun. I looked down the trail and saw a doe and a small buck standing roughly 30 yards away just staring at us. I grabbed my dad lever-action 30/30 and franctically tried to find the small buck in the scope. My brother whispered "Shoot! Shoot!". Then he hollared "Wait!". Startled, I looked up to see a larger buck standing behind the smaller buck staring at us. I then focused on the larger buck and shot. The dropped in its tracks, flopping on the ground. My brother quickly ran up to the deer and slit its throat. We than drug the deer about 60 yards back to the truck. As we both looked the deer over, he became very stiff. He then STOOD UP IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK! He stood up and jumped right out of the back of the truck. He ran about 20 yards and dropped. Me and my brother, both startled, just looked at each other. Scared to go near the deer, I shot the deer again in the neck to finish the job. The buck turned out to be a nice 8 point buck with a 17 inch inside spread. My first deer, my first buck. Needless to say, my dad was sad that he missed the whole experience, but glad that I got my first deer and that I had an incredible story to go along with it.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

The first deer that me and my friend tried to field dress by ourselves, without a hunting veteran, turned out to be quite an adventure. My first deer was free, the hunting veteran would teach the rookies by dressing the deer for us, then we were on our own, but we were usually able to get one of them to tell us what to do.... but not this time.
It took us an hour to dress this buck, and enough memories that will last a lifetime. This was my buddies first buck, and my first time cleaning a buck. somehow I did alot of the cutting. Ok, first, we cut the the manliness off. I said, here's the knife for your buck, but somehow he talked me into doing it. After that part, the rest wasn't too bad until we got to the pelvis, just REALLY slow cutting!!! I also got volunteered to pull the innards out, which was fine, I let him cut around it as I pulled. It smelled a little, but not too bad. After about a half hour or so, my friend had enough, and had to take a break to vomit... which I thought was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing for awhile.
We had never dressed a deer without either a hatchet or pelvis saw to separate the bone and pull the innards down through. I bet I spent at least 20 minutes trying to cut the butt out, to finish pulling the innards, it just wasn't going very well. At one point, I put my hand in the pelvis, and put pressure on the wrong part, and ended up getting urine sprayed on my arm (I freaked), it was now my friends turn to laugh.
The good news is, we finally got the job done, and it was quite the learning experience, but I'm sure there were no more deer in the area due to our noise.
And I'm now the proud owner of a pelvic saw :)

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

Well I can't tell it like mybrother-in-law does because I just heard it from him and wasn't there.

I'll summarize:

One of the guys on the hunt shot a doe. After waiting awhile for it to bleed out he decided to go follow the blood trail. It was a rather strong trail so he was sure he'd find the deer just over the next rise. As he crested the hill the blood just stopped. As my Brother-In-Law puts it everytime he repeats to me the story "It was like the deer was air-lifted out on Mercy Flight." Back to the story, so the guy calls his buddies on the radio to ask for help tracking this deer which has gone missing. They start in a grid search pattern and only a few minutes one of the others spots the deer laying dead in some tall grass. Across the radio comes "I've found him lying dead right over here." So the shooter makes his way overabout 5 mins later and the are standing around admiring the deer when all of a sudden the deer jumps up and kicks the guy that found it in the shin. Before the deer makes 3 steps away the guy that found it pulls out his pistol and caps the deer in the back of the head finishing it off. A little lesson to be learned if you find a deer apparently dead, you might want to poke it with a stick or your gun and make sure it is good and dead. Might save you a badly bruised shin and the humilation of being the butt of a lot of jokes.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

Ok this story is a little more on the serious side.

My First Buck

Two years ago my brother-in-law (Eric) convinces me I should go and at least observe a turkey hunt. He's been hunting for over 10 years and even though myself being at 28, I had never been on a hunt of any kind. I'm immediately hooked and take my safety courses and have my license well ahead of the upcoming deer season. I spend the whole season ground hunting (ground blinds, stalking, and a little driving/posting.) I'm using a borrowed break action gun that we like to not so affectionately referr to as the widowmaker as it has likezero recoil dampening tech built into it and after a few shots it will take you arm off and tends to shoot about 5 inches lower then the sights show at 50 yards. Most of the season I don't have much luck even seeing many deer. Not till Thanksgiving morning when my neighbor invites us to hunt his brothers place10 minutes up the street does my luck change. I tell him the gun I use is atEric's house so he says no problem and lends me his browning 2000semi auto12 gauge with a scope. What a treat that was to use a decent gun and my first chance with a scope. So as the snow is coming down I'm setup in a group of pines along a good rubline waiting for some action, when all of a sudden a pair of does comes busting through the woods and stop about 40 yards away from me perfectly broadside. I knew this is the chance (although thinking back I should have probably waited to see the buck that was probably chasing them). So I pick up the gun and get the doe in my sights aim right for the vitals and gently squeeze the trigger. Pefect shot right through the heart, the deer seemed to vault10 feet in the air. In my inexperience I take a second shot as the deer starts running (missing of course) and 40 feet later the deer collapses and lays floppingon the ground. Notwanting to lose the deer and being inexperienced and impatient from mycurrent location I crack off a third shot hittingthe deer in the spine at the base of the neck and instantly killing it. After that day I never carried the widowmaker again.

So wasn't this story called the first buck? So for the rest of the season I don't get any more chances, but I feel pretty confident at least I harvested a deer my first season. 2nd year time for some serious buck hunting (i've picked up a permanent and self climber tree stand in the offseason). Opening day of archery first couple hours a doe walks right in to me I misjudge the distance and shoot under her. I get down get my arrow and head back into the tree. 30 mins later a 4 point buck walks right in the same route (I'm loving this stand location right then) I let the Buck walk right in to half the distance of my missed shot and let an arrow fly and shoot inches over the back of the buck. I'm a little upset on missing but then again I'm seeing deer and getting chances unlike my brother in his stand. A few days later in my climber on another property 4 doe come crashing in and one gets right in range but is facing me. Suddenly out of the corner of my eyes I spot the 8 point that was chasing them. I wait for what seems a lifetime and get a walking broadside shot at about 35 yards (now whatever you do, shoot the distance correct I tell myself) I lead the buck ever so slightly, but ever too much and my arrow nearly shaves his chin and number 3 gets away. At this point I'm part upset at my aim, but happy because the previous seson I never let an arrow fly. The following week after opening archery I'm out again this time in a little sugar shack, when in the distance I see a whole herd of doe, then a 6pt and an 8pt buck start circling a doe. At this point the last weeks experience has cooled my nevervousness and impatience, so I wait for about 45 minutes till the 8pt is only about 14 yard away and behind a large tree, as he steps out from behind the tree I have the perfect ambush and let fly and to this day I cannot justify what happened and how I totally missed for the 4th time.

I know this story is a bit long, but here comes the good part. Opening day of Gun Season. We are out hunting my dads 100+ acres which borders thousands of acres of state land. We decide to sit all morning and let the guys on the public lands scare the deer to us. We take the atv out to the back of the property with my climber at about 4am. After about an hour of fighting with the climber on a tree that is really a bit to big I'm in the air about 15 feet and sweating and exhausted. My brother who was helping me takes off to find a place to sit and wait for light. 30 mins later I try to climb again when I get back some strength and it starts to lighten. Finally I reach about 30 feet or so and decide thats high enough and wait for light. As light approaches I notice a network of tiny branches that obscure almost all my shooting lanes. I proceed to break off tiny branches for the next 30 mins and then I hear the shooting begin. Shot after shot and I'm not seeing any action. My brother told me he actually counted at least 70 gun shots. Then about 9:30 I hear a very close shot and since I'm near our property line I figure some one on the state land not to far from the border as well just bagged one. 5 minutes after that I see movement from the direction of the shot and start thinking oh great I'm going to have to kick some hunter off my property. I'm just about to yell out when I realize, "hey thats no hunter it's in fact the biggest buck I've seen". The one nice thing is all those missed bow shots have taught me patience so I wait and wait for what seems an eternityand the buck eventually gets within about 20 feet in front of me and looks right up at me. I'm frozen and can swear he can see me. After a minute he steps onto the atv trail 15 feet ahead of me and turns to follow the trail. At this moment he made a fatal mistake and I did not miss a 5th deer that season. My new Mossburg 12 gauge pump gun threwa shotright behind his front sholder and once again right through the heart. I was so close I could see the entrance wound form immediatly after I squeezed the trigger and I knew I had delivered a kill shot. The buck ran off and just as he was getting out of my sight I suddenly saw him collapse and roll a few times down the side of a gentle sloping hill and lost sight of him. I radioed my brother and told him to make his way back towards me and to watch for my 10 pointer. While I waited I noticed a noise which at first I thought was a woodpecker, but later realized it was my legs shaking my stand. Finally I could wait no longer and started my painstakingly slow decent and right as I got near the base of the tree I hear of the radio, "Nice Buck, you sure know how to get a good for your first ever." My brother never did get any deer that season. His first season in many years being shut out. I only did get that one deer that year, blew one more long shot at a doe with my shotgun that was obscured by a lot of brush. I'm anxiously awaiting next season though and also my trophy/1st buck head mount to be ready for pickup from the taxidermist. I hope to be as good and lucky in 07.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

One other quickie.

My Brother-in-law's first archery deer

Once again second hand story, I'll summarize. Eric was hunting the edge of a field and this doe comes within range. Right as he lets fly thearrow the deer moves. At first he thinks he missed, but then the deer turns its head and Eric realizes that his arrow is sticking straight out of the back of the does head. Franticly Eric realizes he has no arrows left with him with hunting tips. The deer continues to graze as if nothing happened. Eric hurries to radio his hunting buddy, Ed. "Um Ed I wonded a deer, and am out of arrows get here soon and help finish this deer off, and btw you are going to have to see this to belive it. As Ed shows up the doe has just finally laid down and succumbed to it's injuries. Ed just shakes his head and his comments are as follows, "Eric you are the luckiest hunter I've ever seen, just exactly how and whydid you do that?"

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

This is my post so I figured I would contribute one of the stories my dad gave me.

He had gotten in the woods early on the second Saturday of the season. He had seen a number of deer already the first weekend but nothing that he really wanted to shoot. He had been watching this nice buck all year and had him down to being in either of two spots. He sat in the spot he thought was the better one and it turned out that it was the wrong one. This Saturday he was at the other spot. Before he went to the woods he dowsed himself with cover scent. When he got out to the woods he set up scent bombs in strategic locations. He got to the brush where he was going to sit before daylight. He sat there and waited and waited and waited. He sat there all morning long and did not see a single deer. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 11:30. He decided that he would just sit back, have himself a cigar, and just enjoy being outside before heading back for lunch. Well he stretched out on a log and had the cigar about half waydown when he hearda twig snap. He glanced to his right and, as he put it, he saw a freight train of a deer coming full steam right at him. He fell off of the log when he was reaching for his gun. He had enough time to raise to one knee,shoulderhis gunand get off a shot. After the first shot the deer turned 90 degrees and headed off towards another patch of brush. Dad got time to aim this time and droped the nice 10 pointer he had been watching. Turns out that the first shot had just grazed the skin on the deers right shoulder. Moral of the story is that if all of the scents and camoflage fales, light up a cigar. The deer will come running.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

The monday morning following firearms opener in Minnesota, 2005. I was perched in a permanent wooden box stand in a plot of mature pine trees with my trusty 870 express at the ready. It was a cool, but not cold day with significant wind, 20-25 mph coming from the northwest.
About 8:30 or so, I get an itch in my throat and have to cough. I slowly lower my mouth to the inside of my coat and cough. As I look up there goes a nice 8 point buck bouncing down the trail directly to the front of me leading straight away from me. I readied my 870 in the hope that he would stop of at least slow down enough for ashot.He slowed a little and I took a shot when he was roughly 90 yards or so away. Ithought right away that I had missed, but decided to get dow to check anyways.
My buddy about60 yards up the way in another box stand takes a shot before I can get down. I wait a coupdl extra minutes and then get down.
My buddy calls me saying that he took a shot at a doe that was trotting through the woods away from me after my shot, but was unsure if he hit or not given how dense the undercover was.
We meet up on the trail in front of my stand go to check for sign of any hit for the buck and find nothing. We begin back toward my stand, as I was going to pick up my pack before I help him lookfor sign on the doe. My buddy begins back toward his stand, I lean my shotgun against one of the trees that my stand is supported by and start up the ladder. I get to the top and low and behold there is a doe not more then 10 yards behind my stand looking at me. I have a .357 on me, but at the moment realize that I forgot to load it earlier in the morning. I stand there looking at her for about 3-4 minutes before my buddy gets to wondering what is taking me so long, so walks over to my stand. When he gets closer, I slowly signal that there is a deer right behind me. Since we still had a couple tags for does, he takes aim, pulls the trigger and click. He had not chambered a round. The doe still did nothing, so my buddy chambered a round and dropped her with the shot.
Not my greatest moment hunting for the obvious reasons. [&o]

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

A Time to Kill
Senseless killing does not become a man, and it does not become a hunter. A man should kill for good reason and should understand his reasons before he is faced with the necessity of killing.
As the father of three small boys I must help them become men. As part of that process I am teaching them to hunt. A man may one day have to kill. A hunter will certainly have killing to do.
This is not another lesson in hunting ethics. This is not a moral lecture. This is one hunting father’s struggle to come to terms with the necessity of raising boys into men who are able and willing to kill when the time arrives, because they have thought it through and know where they stand on the subject.
My boys may be privileged one day to look down the shaft of an arrow at a deer whose life they have chosen to take. Or they may be forced to look across the sights of a gun at a man who intends their family harm and whose life they are required to take. In either case I want the reasoning part done in advance.
I believe that a boy can ask two questions about any killing and that the answers will help direct his actions. (1) What am I protecting? (2) For what am I providing?
When wasps entered my attic and made a nest twice the size of a large pie plate I crawled up there and sprayed them with a petroleum distillate (gas), slaughtering them by the hundreds before they could attack.
As a boy I slaughtered hundreds of rabbits with a friend whose family depended on the sales of their meat to make ends meet. We shed rabbit blood to provide grocery money for my friend’s family. Other families depended on the inexpensive meat to feed their own family. We provided for both needs by killing.
In both situations I did not kill for the fun of it. I did not kill out of anger. I killed to protect and to provide. Needless killing is the work of a destroyer, not a provider or a protector. I do not permit my boys to kill songbirds just to do it. I encourage them not to kill without a reason. I encourage them to ask the questions: (1) What am I protecting? (2) For what am I providing?
We live in a day when people kill their unborn children for the sake of convenience. Yet they will not kill a diseased mouse in their own pantry. I want my boys to be men who know the worth of human and animal life. I also want them to be men who possess the courage to kill when it is time to kill.
(My thinking on this subject was influenced by Bob Schultz, author of the timeless classic: Boyhood and Beyond, (some of these words are his words, which, being timeless, I have made my words) as well as by the "Good Book" and a few years of thoughtful living, fathering, hunting and killing!)

This is not my work. I found this and thought it might apply to you. Please make sure you cite the work from the book underlined.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

Ok...here is the story of my first buck and deer ever with a bow.

Today (October 15, 2003) I got my first buck with a bow ever. I first bought the Parker Hunter Mag, December 26, 2002 and instead of immediately going hunting I decided to practice all year. I didn't go hunting last season because I knew that I wasn't ready. This would have been unfair to the deer if I had only wounded them because I did not know about shot placement. So practice I did. I would practice in my back yard shooting until I was tired, I would practice off of my roof, and in my deer stand. I even got stuck in a tree practicing my climbing stand. After what seemed like an eternity the season finally arrived. I went out Oct 1, then Oct 9, 10, 11 with no luck. Wednesday, October 15, 2003 I tried some new land that belonged to the Corps of Engineers and IDNR. I didn't see anything Tuesday afternoon, plus I had left my release in the truck so I went out Wednesday again after work.
The Story:
I got to the parking lot about 3:45. By the time I had all my hunting gear, and my climber it was 4:15. I walked into the site about 3/4 of a mile where I found an oak grove. I climbed up the tree to about 25 feet. Then I started rattling and calling both with the primos bleet, estrus can, and the buck call. I aggressively rattled and called several times. About 5:00 I stood up and looked around. About 50 yards away was a field that backed up toward to a levy and beyond that the Mississippi river. At the edge of the field I saw a small flicker. Looking closer I saw two deer. I had just stopped rattling and calling with the buck and doe call 5 minutes earlier. The bigger buck, a six pointer, was chasing around a smaller one--I think a yearling spike.
Seeing the two deer I immediately I grabbed my bow and got ready to shoot. These two deer were running and stopping, running and stopping. Teasing me about 50-55 yards away from my stand, and no where near any decent shooting lanes. When I first saw the deer, my heart jumped into my throat, but luckily I was able to calm myself down. I grunted softly to them, and then something spooked them towards me. The 6 pointer ran into a shooting lane at 40 yards and stood behind a tree. I waited until he took one step out and sighted in and as the buck left the shelter of the tree. All I had was a neck and shoulder shot.
The buck was quartering away, looking at something that he didn't like. I took the shot and blew through the deer so fast that I thought I missed. It looked like it went right over his neck, but what I saw was the buck duck his neck after he was shot. I grabbed another arrow and heard the other buck blow. I thought for sure that my hunt was over and I lost an arrow, but as I looked I saw what appeared to be a buck spraying blood. The buck was standing with his head down towards me and it looked as though someone had turned on a red fire hydrant. Literally handfuls of blood were pouring out. The buck did his death wobble and that was that. From the time of the shot till where he fell was less than 25 FEET.
I am a rookie and have heard about unethical hunters stealing someone else’s kill, and as I was watching the buck I saw a man moving towards my buck. I made that climber slide down that tree. I jumped out the last 6 feet and ran to where my buck was. This is where the rookie part of being a bow hunter comes in. I get to were the buck is and his head is down, I think good I can tag him and dress him, but he raises his head, but ten minutes later he expires. This is when I find out that what the deer were being spooked by was another hunter on the ground. They saw him and didn't know what it was, but were suspicious.
So now I am about a mile from my truck in heavy timber and it's now 6:15 pm and getting dark. The other hunter walks over to me and asks if he could help drag him out. This was really nice of him and it turns out that he is from Australia and it too was his first time hunting deer. Anyway it was to dark to see to field dress him so we dragged the deer out. It takes us up to an hour to drag him out, and that's with another friends help the last 500 yards.
This buck is approximately 1 1/2 years old (one of my bow hunter friends told me) as a 6 pointer, and field dressed weight at 160 lbs. Not bad for my first deer.
I hit him in the jugular with a muzzy 145 grain b.h. that left a hole that I could easily have put 2-3 fingers in at the same time. The arrow entered his neck on the left side about a 1/4 of the way down from his spine and 4 inches from his shoulder. The arrow exited 3 inches below his mouth, and upon inspection it did indeed take out his jugular.
All in all--this was my first deer, my one shot first with a bow. I was using the carbon express terminator hunters, Muzzy 145 grain b.h., and the Parker Hunter Mag. I'm hooked for life.
Tonight my wife and I skinned the buck, and I quartered it where it sits in my fridge for the next three days to be processed. I'm doing this so that I can get the full experience of the hunt.
Paul Merioles

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

If the blood was spurting out, you probably hit either the common or external carotid artery.
The jugular vein is a low pressure vessel and won't spurt blood out but would rather leak blood resulting in it running down the neck and dripping to the ground. Also, venous blood is darker in color where as arterial blood is brighter red like you described.


Great story, not trying to pick on you, it's just that I've heard a lot of people make the same mistake of confusing the carotid artery with the jugular vein and it's a pet peeve of mine.

RE: Deer Hunting Stories
 

either way the deer is dead, and yes...the blood was coming out in buckets. Dead Deer Right There (DDRT)