So here's the story... With bird season on the horizon and no deer hanging I went to work early yesterday so that I could leave at 3. Scampered out of there and basically ran to my stand - sweating like a HOG by the time I got up there. I was overlooking a trail coming out of heavy cover but the more I looked at it the more I doubted that I would be able to draw my bow without getting busted if a deer came up the trail (into the wind). I had barely stopped sweating when I heard a deer chewing acorns - pop pop crunch... I looked around until I saw an ear, then an eye, then the shape of a small deer coming up the hill behind me, coming out of some other trail farther downhill than the one that I was watching. The deer walked up the hill through semi-open woods behind my stand and I never had a sensible chance at a shot because of the angle and because of cluttered shooting lanes (I hadn't figured deer would come from there). No sooner had the first deer gone by that three more followed - a doe and two small yearlings - again no ethical shot because of branches! Hadn't these deer read the manual??? I thought that I had them all figured out! I figured if four deer came that way I might see more in the 90 remaining minutes of legal hunting time, so I made the call to open up a shooting lane where they were going. I sprayed my hands and boots with ScentKiller and got down quietly as a mouse, then I broke off branches in the main shooting lane about as quietly as an elephant! I sprinkled a cup of Rut-N-Apple pellets at the base of a tree at the side of the shooting lane in the hopes that a deer might stop to sniff/eat it. Scampered back up into the stand and sat down and shut up - sweating my nuts off again.
I didn't know if all of my noise and sweaty scent would screw me over for the night, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that sweet sound of acorn crunching not long after! I saw a nice doe coming veeeeeeeeeeeery slow and cautious, right along where the other deer had come. Her tail and the way she was stepping told me that she was nervous as hell, so I did my best to freeze and keep my breathing quiet as I good. MAN did she make me wait. A few times I thought that she had snuck off, but then I'd hear another step. When she finally came into view she was a tad farther than the other deer had been, and was walked away from me up into the shooting lane that I had just broken open, presenting a fairly obtuse angle shot at about 20 yards. No time to wait in hope of another step to a better shot angle - she would have stepped behind cover again. So I drew a mental line though her left lung and heart, which put me at a point halfway back of her rib-cage. I drew, anchored and let fly. Then a funny thing happened.
Time basically stood still.......... I heard the arrow whistling through the air, watched it fly, watched it hit her, all in slow motion, but clear as day. For a split second I even thought that something was wrong with the shot - the arrow was just going TOO slowly and loudly! As soon as the arrow hit her though, time exploded back to full speed and she was off. I listened to her go for a few seconds (couldn't see her) and then silence............. None of the thrashing death-throes that the hunting videos describe. That made me nervous. Alone, first archery deer, next-to-no previous tracking experience, fired 5 yards farther than my comfortable range, didn't hear a death thrash... That made me nervous that she had gone a long way. With about 30 minutes of good light left I decided that it was not a good idea to wait the usual 20 minutes to let her bleed out, but better to chance it and go quietly and look for my arrow and/or signs of blood trail. I took a bearing from the stand to where she was standing when I shot, then lowered my bow and put my pack on and went quietly down the tree. I walked to where she had been standing and took the same bearing to look for my arrow if it passed through. No arrow........ Now a bit MORE apprehensive. The videos always show a well-bloodied arrow with buddy saying "excellent - complete pass through with lots of nice red arterial blood"........ Looked around - no blood. Sinking feeling in my guts. Took out flagging tape, GPS, headlamp and powerful hand spotlight and got down on my hands and knees and followed her escape route. 2 feet from her first jump mark I found the first tiny spray of blood. Ah, good. But still, such a tiny drop! What if it got dark? The first drops of rain started....... s**t! I ripped a piece of tape off and marked the spot, then continued. Another drop. More tape. A few more feet. A bigger drop. Bright red blood - good sign. Another piece of tape. Another foot. A big red splash. More tape. Hope building. This continued for about 15 yards as I laid down what was, in retrospect, an excessive flagging tape trail, but I found the process of marking every drop reassuring so I persisted. Also, when I had a hard time finding a drop I would walk back and look at my tape-trail - the "path" that it made seemed to make it easier to predict where she might have gone. When I couldn't find the next drop I would stand back and look at my trail of flagging tape, which seemed to give me a "sense" for where she might have gone next.
At this point I was reaching the edge of a clearing so I figured I'd better stand and take a look. I had left my bow to concentrate on tracking, and I didn't want to jump a wounded deer. I was only to my knees when I saw her lying on her side, immobile, less than 10 yards from me. Checked my watch - 10 minutes since the shot. Quietly, I retreated to get my bow and pack from where I had shot her. I sat on a stump for a few minutes, then took a few photos of my tracking efforts. I nocked another arrow and walked towards her, prodded her eye to make sure she was dead then retraced my steps to make a little video (good laugh - I'll post it below). The arrow had broken a rib on the way in, which must have slowed it down a lot, and gone through the left lung, heart and juuuust poked out (tip only, not the deployed blades) inside of her left shoulder on her chest. She was dead on her feet. When she fell she broke the rear third of the arrow off so the rest was inside her.
Being careful not to cut myself I got the broken shaft and broadhead out of the way first so as to avoid carbon slivers or cuts on the broadhead. I then gutted her quickly. BTW, the Butt-Out worked PERFECTLY - made cutting and tying the colon a 10 second job. Highly recommend it, even though some say it's a gimmick - it's a TIME-SAVING gimmick, and when you're alone in the woods with a dead deer and it's getting dark.... The gut-hook unzipped her easily and then I splilled her guts out and cut around her diaphragm, pulled our her lungs and reached as far as I could to cut off her windpipe. Grabbed a quick self-timer pic.
I then took out my suspension relief strap/deer drag and put her forelimbs and head into it, tightening it so that she was on her back/side. Clipped it to the loop on the HSS harness at my tailbone and started hauling. INCREDIBLE. It was an easy haul, even carrying my pack and bow, including over deadfalls etc... At each deadfall I stepped over it, then reached back and lifted her head off the ground to get it over the log, then leaned into it and she slipped right over. Back at the cottage I threw a rope over a sturdy branch, hauled my pulley up with gambrel attached, hooked her up and lifted her. I then split her chest open and put a stick in to force her open, and cleaned up the end of the trachea etc... I then went inside for a beer and let the Atlantic breeze blow through her body cavity. After my beer and a granola bar for supper I lined up the car to illuminate my work with the high-beams but the rain was starting, so I wrapped her in a tarp and went and called my butcher to see if he was around. I tossed her in the car with all windows open to keep letting the wind cool her off and went and registered her, then went to the butcher's place and we skinned it in his garage.
Needless to say, I am THRILLED with the way this hunt turned out. Although I was in the wrong tree I made a last-minute adjustment that paid off big! I was pleased with the way that the tracking went and the clean and quick kill - she was down 25 yards from where I shot her. All the gear worked great.
OK, so here is the little video. What the hell, if you can't laugh at yourself, what's the point? Just call me Jim Shockey - cool, calm and collected! lol! It's called "My first archery bow, uhhhhhh, no, my first archery DEER, yeah, DEER!".
-DW
I didn't know if all of my noise and sweaty scent would screw me over for the night, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that sweet sound of acorn crunching not long after! I saw a nice doe coming veeeeeeeeeeeery slow and cautious, right along where the other deer had come. Her tail and the way she was stepping told me that she was nervous as hell, so I did my best to freeze and keep my breathing quiet as I good. MAN did she make me wait. A few times I thought that she had snuck off, but then I'd hear another step. When she finally came into view she was a tad farther than the other deer had been, and was walked away from me up into the shooting lane that I had just broken open, presenting a fairly obtuse angle shot at about 20 yards. No time to wait in hope of another step to a better shot angle - she would have stepped behind cover again. So I drew a mental line though her left lung and heart, which put me at a point halfway back of her rib-cage. I drew, anchored and let fly. Then a funny thing happened.
Time basically stood still.......... I heard the arrow whistling through the air, watched it fly, watched it hit her, all in slow motion, but clear as day. For a split second I even thought that something was wrong with the shot - the arrow was just going TOO slowly and loudly! As soon as the arrow hit her though, time exploded back to full speed and she was off. I listened to her go for a few seconds (couldn't see her) and then silence............. None of the thrashing death-throes that the hunting videos describe. That made me nervous. Alone, first archery deer, next-to-no previous tracking experience, fired 5 yards farther than my comfortable range, didn't hear a death thrash... That made me nervous that she had gone a long way. With about 30 minutes of good light left I decided that it was not a good idea to wait the usual 20 minutes to let her bleed out, but better to chance it and go quietly and look for my arrow and/or signs of blood trail. I took a bearing from the stand to where she was standing when I shot, then lowered my bow and put my pack on and went quietly down the tree. I walked to where she had been standing and took the same bearing to look for my arrow if it passed through. No arrow........ Now a bit MORE apprehensive. The videos always show a well-bloodied arrow with buddy saying "excellent - complete pass through with lots of nice red arterial blood"........ Looked around - no blood. Sinking feeling in my guts. Took out flagging tape, GPS, headlamp and powerful hand spotlight and got down on my hands and knees and followed her escape route. 2 feet from her first jump mark I found the first tiny spray of blood. Ah, good. But still, such a tiny drop! What if it got dark? The first drops of rain started....... s**t! I ripped a piece of tape off and marked the spot, then continued. Another drop. More tape. A few more feet. A bigger drop. Bright red blood - good sign. Another piece of tape. Another foot. A big red splash. More tape. Hope building. This continued for about 15 yards as I laid down what was, in retrospect, an excessive flagging tape trail, but I found the process of marking every drop reassuring so I persisted. Also, when I had a hard time finding a drop I would walk back and look at my tape-trail - the "path" that it made seemed to make it easier to predict where she might have gone. When I couldn't find the next drop I would stand back and look at my trail of flagging tape, which seemed to give me a "sense" for where she might have gone next.
At this point I was reaching the edge of a clearing so I figured I'd better stand and take a look. I had left my bow to concentrate on tracking, and I didn't want to jump a wounded deer. I was only to my knees when I saw her lying on her side, immobile, less than 10 yards from me. Checked my watch - 10 minutes since the shot. Quietly, I retreated to get my bow and pack from where I had shot her. I sat on a stump for a few minutes, then took a few photos of my tracking efforts. I nocked another arrow and walked towards her, prodded her eye to make sure she was dead then retraced my steps to make a little video (good laugh - I'll post it below). The arrow had broken a rib on the way in, which must have slowed it down a lot, and gone through the left lung, heart and juuuust poked out (tip only, not the deployed blades) inside of her left shoulder on her chest. She was dead on her feet. When she fell she broke the rear third of the arrow off so the rest was inside her.
Being careful not to cut myself I got the broken shaft and broadhead out of the way first so as to avoid carbon slivers or cuts on the broadhead. I then gutted her quickly. BTW, the Butt-Out worked PERFECTLY - made cutting and tying the colon a 10 second job. Highly recommend it, even though some say it's a gimmick - it's a TIME-SAVING gimmick, and when you're alone in the woods with a dead deer and it's getting dark.... The gut-hook unzipped her easily and then I splilled her guts out and cut around her diaphragm, pulled our her lungs and reached as far as I could to cut off her windpipe. Grabbed a quick self-timer pic.
I then took out my suspension relief strap/deer drag and put her forelimbs and head into it, tightening it so that she was on her back/side. Clipped it to the loop on the HSS harness at my tailbone and started hauling. INCREDIBLE. It was an easy haul, even carrying my pack and bow, including over deadfalls etc... At each deadfall I stepped over it, then reached back and lifted her head off the ground to get it over the log, then leaned into it and she slipped right over. Back at the cottage I threw a rope over a sturdy branch, hauled my pulley up with gambrel attached, hooked her up and lifted her. I then split her chest open and put a stick in to force her open, and cleaned up the end of the trachea etc... I then went inside for a beer and let the Atlantic breeze blow through her body cavity. After my beer and a granola bar for supper I lined up the car to illuminate my work with the high-beams but the rain was starting, so I wrapped her in a tarp and went and called my butcher to see if he was around. I tossed her in the car with all windows open to keep letting the wind cool her off and went and registered her, then went to the butcher's place and we skinned it in his garage.
Needless to say, I am THRILLED with the way this hunt turned out. Although I was in the wrong tree I made a last-minute adjustment that paid off big! I was pleased with the way that the tracking went and the clean and quick kill - she was down 25 yards from where I shot her. All the gear worked great.
OK, so here is the little video. What the hell, if you can't laugh at yourself, what's the point? Just call me Jim Shockey - cool, calm and collected! lol! It's called "My first archery bow, uhhhhhh, no, my first archery DEER, yeah, DEER!".
-DW
