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This is Trish with her first bow kill!
Another happy bow hunter!
10 Point Down! By Jason Niemetz
10-30-14 - I hunted with my buddy Steve and his son Jacob. I put them in one of my ladder stands in what is truly one of my best locations. I moved down the field edge about 100 yards and used my climber where I could sit over a nice community scrape and hope for the best. Jacob has never shot a deer before so I really wanted him to have an opportunity. That ladder stand has been dink buck city all season long and quite frankly I felt like it was as much of a sure thing as you could get. I wasn’t wrong....7:30 in the morning I hear a shot from their crossbow. I see one deer running way down below them, but with that I assumed it was the deer that they had shot at. A minute or two goes by and this little 6pt comes right to me from their direction and heads out over the scrape and across the field. Now, normally I wouldn’t even have picked up the bow, but Steve texted me at the shot and told me they hit one and if it comes by me to shoot, he didn’t think it was a good hit. So, I looked for damage on the deer, didn’t see any, but shot anyway.....I missed!
We wait in our stands until 9am and then Steve comes over to me and we start trailing this deer. Turns out it was indeed the one Jacob shot. They never saw the one running away from them down below(it’s a thick clearcut with open patches here and there). We follow this watery blood trail for over a half mile before it dries up. As soon as I saw the blood I knew it wasn’t a good hit....watery blood is almost always a brisket hit. The buck never stopped, never bedded, never did anything but keep on walking. As long as he doesn’t get infected he’ll heal right up.
So, now I’m soaked with sweat, hungry and have to get back on stand for the rest of the day....it’s only 11am. So we hang out together for a few minutes and explain to Jacob different kinds of blood sign and that sometimes deer aren’t recovered and the importance of making a good shot, etc, etc, all the while trying like heck to make sure he’s not down on himself....which wasn’t really working out for us. They climbed back up and so did I....at 1:30 Steve tells me Jacob is ready to go(he’s 13) and he doesn’t want to burn him out and they take off. I wish them well and they head home.
So, I’m up in my climber thinking about the morning. Before light I had a big deer come in right behind me and work a scrape on the field edge for a few minutes, then move out into the field where I could see his body, but not his rack, contrasting with the golden soy bean backdrop....he was a huge deer! He hits the big scrape I’m sitting over and heads over towards Steve and Jacob.....walks within feet of their tree and heads into thick cover. It’s way too dark to even think about shooting, but he’s close enough to them to see a big beam on his head but not much else.
The day goes on with some weird weather. Wind in my face, then at my back. Sun comes out and it rains, sun gets covered by clouds and the rain stops. Wind picks up to 20mph gusts for 20 minutes and then dies off to dead calm for an hour....just weird weather. I don’t generally make a weather observations other than nice or crappy weather so I really noticed it today.
Anyway, I was contemplating getting down since about 2pm. I kept telling myself that I can’t kill them from home and stuck it out. My feet were soaked and frozen. My back was stiff and tight from behing wet and now freezing. I couldn’t get my hands warm at all. I was rather miserable for a while. I needed to winterized camp either last night or Saturday night after this hunt and if I left the stand I could do that and be home for dinner! Well I never did climb down early....
6:10pm or thereabouts I have a doe come up the log road to the corner of the field and walk up the field edge about 100 yards and then start feeding. Then she walks up another 50 yards and feeds. She’s close to 200 yards from me and I need to clear my throat....so I do, quietly as I can. Then I move my head and quess what’s staring at me? You got it....the buck that’s about to die! We have a stand-off for a bit and he decides that doe is more important than whatever made that noise in that tree. He follows her trail, stopping every 10 steps or so to look at me. When he’s not looking I’m getting ready. He’s going to give me ONE shot and it’s at 30 yards. His head passes behind a tree, I draw, he steps into the field and stops, my pin settles, the release trips and it’s on it’s way! He loads up, his chest was almost in the dirt and he pushes away from the sound and my arrow....the arrow is right where it was supposed to be, but his shoulder isn’t there anymore, it’s his neck! The arrow pierces and he hauls off. I’m sick, but I see blood dumping out of him as he runs. I can’t believe how much he moved. I just can’t believe it. I’m stunned. He’s out of sight.
As I’m sending my wife a text I hear that most glorious of sounds every bowhunter loves to hear.....he crashed! OMG, he crashed! Thank you Lord!
I slowly packed up my gear, pulled my hooks, took off my binos, lowered my bow and climbed down. I left my stand on the tree, grabbed my bow and headed for my atv parked a few hundred yards way and went to the truck to drop stuff off, get my better light and essential ‘after the shot’ stuff and headed back in.
I drive up the log road he entered the field from and stop at the field edge. I see where he tore off from and there’s blood immediately. I follow an easy trail in a “C” shape and it stops at 3 big pools of blood....and then I find no more! What? I made circle after circle looking for more blood. Finally, I decide to back track and realize he doubled back at those pools of blood and went straight away.....he wasn’t far. There, in between two old, limbless wind-blown logs, there was a white spot. I approach and cannot believe how big he is. Now, I didn’t know what buck I was shooting, I knew he was a good deer, but I didn’t know that I knew him! I haven’t seen him since August on camera. Then, just a few days ago in the middle of the night he hit that scrape I was sitting over. Now he’s hanging in the backyard! He was on my list!
10-30-14, 6:17pm
10 point
167 pounds dressed
Bowtech Carbon Knight
2-blade Rage
Blackhawk Vapor C/A/A 350 sticks...28"
We wait in our stands until 9am and then Steve comes over to me and we start trailing this deer. Turns out it was indeed the one Jacob shot. They never saw the one running away from them down below(it’s a thick clearcut with open patches here and there). We follow this watery blood trail for over a half mile before it dries up. As soon as I saw the blood I knew it wasn’t a good hit....watery blood is almost always a brisket hit. The buck never stopped, never bedded, never did anything but keep on walking. As long as he doesn’t get infected he’ll heal right up.
So, now I’m soaked with sweat, hungry and have to get back on stand for the rest of the day....it’s only 11am. So we hang out together for a few minutes and explain to Jacob different kinds of blood sign and that sometimes deer aren’t recovered and the importance of making a good shot, etc, etc, all the while trying like heck to make sure he’s not down on himself....which wasn’t really working out for us. They climbed back up and so did I....at 1:30 Steve tells me Jacob is ready to go(he’s 13) and he doesn’t want to burn him out and they take off. I wish them well and they head home.
So, I’m up in my climber thinking about the morning. Before light I had a big deer come in right behind me and work a scrape on the field edge for a few minutes, then move out into the field where I could see his body, but not his rack, contrasting with the golden soy bean backdrop....he was a huge deer! He hits the big scrape I’m sitting over and heads over towards Steve and Jacob.....walks within feet of their tree and heads into thick cover. It’s way too dark to even think about shooting, but he’s close enough to them to see a big beam on his head but not much else.
The day goes on with some weird weather. Wind in my face, then at my back. Sun comes out and it rains, sun gets covered by clouds and the rain stops. Wind picks up to 20mph gusts for 20 minutes and then dies off to dead calm for an hour....just weird weather. I don’t generally make a weather observations other than nice or crappy weather so I really noticed it today.
Anyway, I was contemplating getting down since about 2pm. I kept telling myself that I can’t kill them from home and stuck it out. My feet were soaked and frozen. My back was stiff and tight from behing wet and now freezing. I couldn’t get my hands warm at all. I was rather miserable for a while. I needed to winterized camp either last night or Saturday night after this hunt and if I left the stand I could do that and be home for dinner! Well I never did climb down early....
6:10pm or thereabouts I have a doe come up the log road to the corner of the field and walk up the field edge about 100 yards and then start feeding. Then she walks up another 50 yards and feeds. She’s close to 200 yards from me and I need to clear my throat....so I do, quietly as I can. Then I move my head and quess what’s staring at me? You got it....the buck that’s about to die! We have a stand-off for a bit and he decides that doe is more important than whatever made that noise in that tree. He follows her trail, stopping every 10 steps or so to look at me. When he’s not looking I’m getting ready. He’s going to give me ONE shot and it’s at 30 yards. His head passes behind a tree, I draw, he steps into the field and stops, my pin settles, the release trips and it’s on it’s way! He loads up, his chest was almost in the dirt and he pushes away from the sound and my arrow....the arrow is right where it was supposed to be, but his shoulder isn’t there anymore, it’s his neck! The arrow pierces and he hauls off. I’m sick, but I see blood dumping out of him as he runs. I can’t believe how much he moved. I just can’t believe it. I’m stunned. He’s out of sight.
As I’m sending my wife a text I hear that most glorious of sounds every bowhunter loves to hear.....he crashed! OMG, he crashed! Thank you Lord!
I slowly packed up my gear, pulled my hooks, took off my binos, lowered my bow and climbed down. I left my stand on the tree, grabbed my bow and headed for my atv parked a few hundred yards way and went to the truck to drop stuff off, get my better light and essential ‘after the shot’ stuff and headed back in.
I drive up the log road he entered the field from and stop at the field edge. I see where he tore off from and there’s blood immediately. I follow an easy trail in a “C” shape and it stops at 3 big pools of blood....and then I find no more! What? I made circle after circle looking for more blood. Finally, I decide to back track and realize he doubled back at those pools of blood and went straight away.....he wasn’t far. There, in between two old, limbless wind-blown logs, there was a white spot. I approach and cannot believe how big he is. Now, I didn’t know what buck I was shooting, I knew he was a good deer, but I didn’t know that I knew him! I haven’t seen him since August on camera. Then, just a few days ago in the middle of the night he hit that scrape I was sitting over. Now he’s hanging in the backyard! He was on my list!
10-30-14, 6:17pm
10 point
167 pounds dressed
Bowtech Carbon Knight
2-blade Rage
Blackhawk Vapor C/A/A 350 sticks...28"