Got an arrow in a nice one
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:05 pm
I commissioned a custom longbow early in the year and had practiced until I felt good with it. The first trip out I had a dozen does and a huge bodied old old ten point come in to the feeder. Eventually he gave me a quartering away shot and as the arrow buried up to the fletches I just knew it was a dead deer. He ran off showing obvious signs of distress, and I gave him a couple of hours. The game camera watching the feeder had worked flawlessly and captured him early as he fed before daylight, then prancing around chasing does, and then with fletches hanging out of his side as he ran off. Those older deer can be very tough and I didn't want to take a chance of bumping him by looking too quickly. When I took up the trail blood began very sparse but got better and better. Several yards along his trail the arrow was laying there covered in blood where it had pulled through the opposite shoulder. I felt confident and kept trailing. At almost a hundred yards the deer turned 90 degrees into the thicker trees and stopped, leaving a big pile of blood ...and then nothing. I searched from 10am until dark and never found as much as another speck of blood. I returned three times that week to look for buzzards or some other sign but nothing. I was crushed that I had killed a magnificent buck and he went to waste. I hung up the longbow in favor of the compound with its sights and ease of accuracy.
A few weeks later I was in a different spot and back at it, and my does went on alert looking just downwind of the stand. I knew there was a buck out of view watching the ladies and to my surprise he walked through my scent and hopped into the feeder enclosure. With the compound I was 100% confident and sent the arrow through both lungs as he stood slightly quartering away. He made it farther than I anticipated, but went down about a hundred yards from the feeder. Now I can relax and keep practicing with the longbow to continue to improve that skill. I might get a shot at a cull deer before season ends, but at any rate with frequent practice I should be ready for next season when it gets here.
A few weeks later I was in a different spot and back at it, and my does went on alert looking just downwind of the stand. I knew there was a buck out of view watching the ladies and to my surprise he walked through my scent and hopped into the feeder enclosure. With the compound I was 100% confident and sent the arrow through both lungs as he stood slightly quartering away. He made it farther than I anticipated, but went down about a hundred yards from the feeder. Now I can relax and keep practicing with the longbow to continue to improve that skill. I might get a shot at a cull deer before season ends, but at any rate with frequent practice I should be ready for next season when it gets here.