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I decided to get out a little earlier on Saturday evening in hopes of
arrowing a doe early and hopefully leave plenty of time to hunt for the big boy
for the rest of the evening. The doe cooperated, with a couple
showing up by 3:30. In my haste to get to my blind, however, I opted to
just wear my shorts and t-shirt, covered only by my Brush Country mesh
jacket. It was rather warm inside the blind, so it seemed like a logical
choice. One thing I didn't consider, though, was the biting flies!
They harassed my legs as I waited for the does to enter my shooting
window. As one of the does made her way into position, I turned on the
camera, attached my release to the string and readied for the draw. The
doe had wandered out of position, and in the meantime one of the flies was
particularly vicious. I swatted at the fly, and my release clanked against
my chair and the does were gone!
Later in the afternoon, two more does returned. My problem now was that
my camera battery was running out of juice, and I had left my charger at
home! I knew that I only had a few minutes, if that, of battery power
left, so if I was going to capture the shot on video it would have to be
quick. The camera was set into position, and I knew exactly where the deer
would have to be in order to get a shot. That allowed me to keep my lcd
viewfinder closed to save every last bit of precious battery.
One of the does worked into position with her head down, quartering slightly
while feeding on the corn I had strategically placed in the grass.
I reached up and turned on the camera, then quickly attached my release to
the string and began to draw. Everything was flawless until a limb on my
Hoyt Striker creaked at a most inopportune time, causing the doe to focus her
attention right at me inside the blind. I was now at full draw with the
doe looking right at me.
Click on the image above to see a video clip of the shot.
I knew that I shouldn't take a shot at an alerted deer, but I also knew my
camera would be running out of battery at any time. I decided that I could
pull off the fifteen yard shot since the doe was alert, but not overly
nervous. I touched the trigger on my release, sending my Epsilon arrow
toward the deer. Before she could react, the Jak Hammer slammed into her
shoulder, causing the deer to turn and crash through the brush. I watched
as the deer disappeared with several inches of the arrow protruding from her
right shoulder. I felt like it was a good, double lung shot, and expected
to find a rather easy blood trail. It was 5:35. The camera had died
shortly after the episode. I didn't wait more than fifteen minutes before
exiting the blind so that I could use the remaining few minutes of daylight to
at least pick up the general direction of the trail. As I approached the
spot where the doe was standing, I could find no trace of blood, hair or
hide. I entered the brush where she had entered and still found
nothing. I wandered around the area for fifteen minutes, unable to find
any sign. I was beginning to get really concerned. I felt like the
arrow had penetrated far enough through the shoulder to hit vitals, but began to
wonder if I was wrong in my assumption. Had the arrow stopped dead in the
shoulder bone? Darkness was fast approaching, and I wanted to find some
sign before resorting to flashlights. Somehow, out of sheer luck, I
managed to stumble into my white fletched arrow that had fallen out of the
deer. Examination of the arrow revealed that it appeared to have good lung
blood about two-thirds up the shaft of the 29 inch arrow, and yet I could find
no blood on the ground around the arrow, though the dusk made it difficult to
see.
I returned to the cabin where my wife had prepared some backstrap from the
doe I had shot last weekend. We quickly ate while Martin rigged up a
makeshift battery charger from the cordless spotlight to put a charge on my
camera battery. We were able to get enough juice to watch the video and
confirm the hit, as well as what appeared to be a small spot where the arrow had
apparently come out just a small bit on the opposite shoulder. Martin and
I then returned to look for the deer. I took Martin to the arrow, which I
had left in place, and he quickly found blood leading up to and then away from
the arrow. It seemed to be a pretty good trail, but as we approached a
large prickly pear bush surrounded by dead limbs from a mesquite, the trail
seemed to vanish. Several freshly broken sticks inside the tangled brush
revealed that the doe must have gone over and through the mess! I found
several drops of blood on leaves above my head, but we couldn't find where the
deer had landed on the opposite side. We looked for over 45 minutes in
that one little area. I was getting discouraged, but finally Martin found
a few drops of blood on a trail about 20 yards from the last blood. I
fancy myself a fairly good tracker, but pale in comparison to my brother's
senses when it comes to finding a downed animal. He took the lead and we
followed a spotty, yet consistent blood trail until I shined my light up and
spotted the deer under a mesquite tree!
I was more than a little relieved to find her. I had been questioning
my shot selection, know that I probably shouldn't have released an arrow at a
deer that was looking right at me. The shot was a little forward, hitting
in the right shoulder and exiting at the front of the left shoulder. The
next trick was trying to figure out where we were in relation to the truck, and
more importantly, which way we needed to go to get there. Martin walked
ahead, using the soft glow of the Laredo lights to the south to find the truck,
then figuring out a path to best drag the deer back to the truck. This was
a big doe! We both felt like it had the potential to top the 84 pound doe
that I arrowed last weekend that was currently leading the Los Cazadores.
After dragging the deer for sixty yards to the truck, I was even more convinced!
I gutted the doe back at the cabin and, upon Martin and Jeanette's urging,
decided to let it hang overnight so I could drive it to Cotulla to have it
weighed. With temperatures in the low 40's, the weather would be cool
enough to let it hang until morning light.
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