The Lost Wallet Buck
bm22 and I had a lease in Tilden for 4 yrs. Lance would always make a few trips each year as a guest. This year I told him to take out a cull buck. We all split up for an evening hunt. That evening I killed my first buck with a longbow. It was special to me as I killed the deer with a bow given to me by Jim Hickman the year before he died. I hit the deer a bit back and was worried about the hit. It turned out to be a good shot as I found the deer the next day within 20 yds of the hit. I wrote a story about it and it was published in the TBOT news letter.
I met up with Brandon bm22 after I did not find blood where I hit my deer. I call him my third son as I hunted with his dad and him when he was just a little kid a bit younger than my two sons. His dad and I have not hunted together in yrs but Brandon and I have made several hunts and been on some leases together.
Brandon and I met up with Lance who was on a blood trail. He said that he had a good hit so it was decided to track his deer first and then go after mine. The blood trail started out great with quite a bit of frothy red blood. The deer jumped over a few catus patches and there was blood sprayed everywhere. After a bit the blood started to peter out. We had tracked the deer much farther than any of us had anticipated.
I turned to Lance and said "You know what this looks like?" He said "It looks like the doe that I hit in one lung back when we hunted in Fredricksburg on Draper's place." I said "Yep". Lance is one of the best trackers that I have ever hunted with. Brandon and I are no slackers and it taxed all of us. We tracked that deer for around 3-4 hrs if I remember correctly and I figure at least 1/2 mile. It was dark, cold and we all wound up with mesquite and catus thorns in all parts of our bodies.
We got to a catus flat and had lost the blood. Sometime wandering around trying to pick the blood back up Brandon says I lost my wallet and it has $50 in it. Brandon was at that age when $50 was a chunk of change. So now we are looking for blood and a wallet. We got a bit split up during this period.
I looked and saw two eyes low to the ground about 25 yds away. I told the other two "I got eyes over here but I think its a coon but I'll check it out." When I was about 15 yds away the deer stands up and we are staring each other down. I yell "Guys hes over here!" Lance says "Shoot him!" I had a spider web of mesquite between me and him but I had no choice and I figured he was fixing to haul outta there. Well I figure there has been a time when all of us has held a small flash light in our bow hand and attempted to shoot. Fun, right? I shoot and my arrow hit everything between me and the deer and everything past him between him and Mexico.
Well the deer did not appear to like that very much. He started off at a good trot. He was too bad off to run full tilt but he darn sure was not walking. I knew that Brandon and Lance were off my left shoulder but I could not see them for all of the brush. I yell "I missed. He's headed your way!". Brandon had spotted the deer and was shining the light and yelling "There he is SHOOT! SHOOT!"
Lance yells "Duck! Get out of the way!" I cannot see any of this. I can only hear from my position. Brandon ducked. Lance shoots over the top of Brandon. I hear Lance's bow go off. The deer is running through a maze of mesquite. I expect to hear Lance's arrow bouncing off of all of the brush between him and the deer. Time slows down and I remember thinking dang its taking that arrow a long time to hit something. Next thing I hear is Lance's arrow hitting the deer with a water melon thunk. The deer is double lunged and it runs about 15 more yds and I hear it crash in the brush and Lance and Brandon screaming.
Lance had made a 25 yd shot on the deer in the dark as Brandon shone the flashlight while crouching down in front of Lance. The deer had indeed been one lunged on the first shot. We figure the arrow hit the deer as it was spinning away from the shot.
Brandon never did find his wallet...........
bm22 and I had a lease in Tilden for 4 yrs. Lance would always make a few trips each year as a guest. This year I told him to take out a cull buck. We all split up for an evening hunt. That evening I killed my first buck with a longbow. It was special to me as I killed the deer with a bow given to me by Jim Hickman the year before he died. I hit the deer a bit back and was worried about the hit. It turned out to be a good shot as I found the deer the next day within 20 yds of the hit. I wrote a story about it and it was published in the TBOT news letter.
I met up with Brandon bm22 after I did not find blood where I hit my deer. I call him my third son as I hunted with his dad and him when he was just a little kid a bit younger than my two sons. His dad and I have not hunted together in yrs but Brandon and I have made several hunts and been on some leases together.
Brandon and I met up with Lance who was on a blood trail. He said that he had a good hit so it was decided to track his deer first and then go after mine. The blood trail started out great with quite a bit of frothy red blood. The deer jumped over a few catus patches and there was blood sprayed everywhere. After a bit the blood started to peter out. We had tracked the deer much farther than any of us had anticipated.
I turned to Lance and said "You know what this looks like?" He said "It looks like the doe that I hit in one lung back when we hunted in Fredricksburg on Draper's place." I said "Yep". Lance is one of the best trackers that I have ever hunted with. Brandon and I are no slackers and it taxed all of us. We tracked that deer for around 3-4 hrs if I remember correctly and I figure at least 1/2 mile. It was dark, cold and we all wound up with mesquite and catus thorns in all parts of our bodies.
We got to a catus flat and had lost the blood. Sometime wandering around trying to pick the blood back up Brandon says I lost my wallet and it has $50 in it. Brandon was at that age when $50 was a chunk of change. So now we are looking for blood and a wallet. We got a bit split up during this period.
I looked and saw two eyes low to the ground about 25 yds away. I told the other two "I got eyes over here but I think its a coon but I'll check it out." When I was about 15 yds away the deer stands up and we are staring each other down. I yell "Guys hes over here!" Lance says "Shoot him!" I had a spider web of mesquite between me and him but I had no choice and I figured he was fixing to haul outta there. Well I figure there has been a time when all of us has held a small flash light in our bow hand and attempted to shoot. Fun, right? I shoot and my arrow hit everything between me and the deer and everything past him between him and Mexico.
Well the deer did not appear to like that very much. He started off at a good trot. He was too bad off to run full tilt but he darn sure was not walking. I knew that Brandon and Lance were off my left shoulder but I could not see them for all of the brush. I yell "I missed. He's headed your way!". Brandon had spotted the deer and was shining the light and yelling "There he is SHOOT! SHOOT!"
Lance yells "Duck! Get out of the way!" I cannot see any of this. I can only hear from my position. Brandon ducked. Lance shoots over the top of Brandon. I hear Lance's bow go off. The deer is running through a maze of mesquite. I expect to hear Lance's arrow bouncing off of all of the brush between him and the deer. Time slows down and I remember thinking dang its taking that arrow a long time to hit something. Next thing I hear is Lance's arrow hitting the deer with a water melon thunk. The deer is double lunged and it runs about 15 more yds and I hear it crash in the brush and Lance and Brandon screaming.
Lance had made a 25 yd shot on the deer in the dark as Brandon shone the flashlight while crouching down in front of Lance. The deer had indeed been one lunged on the first shot. We figure the arrow hit the deer as it was spinning away from the shot.
Brandon never did find his wallet...........
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