The Morning of 11-6

It was kind of a funny morning. I got up late and so I was running late. As I was looking out my kitchen window, I see a deer (couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe) run across my field and into the woods right where my stand is. I figure, ok well I'm not going to see that deer because I'll scare it as I walk in.

Weather: The weather has shifted. The wind is now out of the south and it's a strong wind. It's a bit cold but not really too bad.

So I'm walking out to my deer stand and I start going into the woods and sure enough I hear a deer head deeper into the woods. Figured it was the deer that I saw run across the field. Oh well.

So I climb up my deer stand and just get stilled in and I'm thinking...ok...I'm not going to see anything. Well of a sudden I hear a noise and I look up. There stands a 8 point buck looking right at me about 15 yards away. He walked in on the same trail that I just walked in on. He stopped and looked at me. I was perfectly still. Then he put his noise down to smell the trail. I stood up and drew the bow back. Just as I did he started to walk forward. As I got the bow all the way back, he stopped and looked up at me again. Then he decided he should maybe turn away. So he did. But he did it real slow. As soon as he got turned around and took one step, there was a good opening so I lined up the sight and took the shot. The arrow was on a good line. It hit the deer right behind the rib cage on the right side and it was just angled perfect.

The deer jump and ran off to his left. I knew I hit him and I thought I hit him in a pretty good spot. I know you're suppose to wait a while to let them sit down. So I told myself that I would wait about 30 minutes. But I couldn't wait any longer. I had only waited about 5 minutes. So I started to get down. I was lowering my bow down. It was almost on the ground. Just as I did, three does came flying up the other trail to my right. One doe almost ran right into my bow which was now hanging from me by a string. So I decide to raise my bow in case something else was going to come running by. While after about 5 - 8 minutes the does started to walk off to the North.

So I got down and started to look for my buck. I went to the place where I shot him.......and there was no blood. Not even a drop. So I started to head in the direction he ran......nothing. I started to circle around.......nothing. I back tracked and heading down the other trail thinking maybe he ran Southeast at first and then ran Southwest - thus scaring those does to me........nothing. Ok, I was starting to get frustrated. I thought I'll go home and get my wife to help me look. I started to walk out the on the trail I came in on and just as I almost got to the field's edge I saw blood.

I started to follow the blood trail. As I walked it started getting heavier. That was a good sign. I walk about another 30 yards and there he was. He was in a small opening right on the field's edge. From my stand, he was about 60 yards away. The arrow had hit behind the right rib cage and came out just on the inside of the left shoulder. It was a good shot.