Best with a bow

[Limbshot]

Well due to busy schedules and about 100 other things beyond my control, my time in a stand has been extremely limited. I was fortunate to take a doe back in late October. I took Monday and Tuesday off since today was a holiday (thank you to all Veterans by the way) so I could have four consecutive days out. Saturday was my youngest's birthday so I had Sunday-Wednesday. Sunday morning I saw a gorgeous 10 that I drew on at 40 yards but couldn't get to stop and never took a shot. Saw a few more deer later but nothing too exciting. Monday I had to sit on the sidelines with a sick child. Returned to the woods Tuesday morning on the same farm and saw a lone doe and was thinking about how I needed to get my firearm stand set down on the family farm for the weekend. I left the woods and headed down to Pulaski County. Got there and went and set my climber in my usual area, once again the area was full of sign so I set the stand and snuck out. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I decided to sit a stand on our small foodplot. The temps were far from ideal, but the wind was good so I sat patiently. As it got late I was already making plans for where to sit in the morning when suddenly, at 5:10, it sounded like a herd of elephants coming down off the ridge to my south. I turned to see a good rack and big body pushing through thick brush. When he stepped into our old roadbed I knew he was a “shooter.” He turned walking west, perfect. I drew on him before he entered my shooting lane and he stopped and aggressively made a scrape, kicking dirt about 10 yards behind him. Then he started walking again, as he entered the lane, I grunted and he slammed on the breaks. I settled the pin and the arrow flew true. The deer bolted fifty yards up onto a shelf on the ridge then fell down, got up and fell again, four more times, then I finally watched him go down for the last time. I started shaking like crazy. I left the area and backed out for an hour. I returned and immediately found my arrow and was shocked to find 2/3 of the shaft with blood up to about the half way point (that would give me 14 inches of penetration). I was unable to locate a good blood trail, so I decided to back out and come back in the morning. I returned Wednesday morning and first went back to the stand, got a good line on the last place I saw him and decided to try that before trailing. I got down, walked the line up the steep part of the ridge to the flat, and as I came over the flat, there he was 20 yards in front of me. I was excited to say the least!!! Upon inspection of the shot, my arrow was an inch forward from where I was aiming and it hit the near shoulder shattering that bone and then still entered 14 inches into the ribcage taking out both lungs. We have been on our farm since 1992 and this is the biggest archery deer we have taken as a family and is my personal best with a bow as well. Also worth mentioning, we run 6 cameras on the farm three within 200 yards of where I shot him and we have ZERO pics of this dude, yet my buddy and his son that hunt with us in youth season had this guy at 40 yards (in our bigger food plot about 100 yards to my west), but couldn't get things together for a shot!!! He ended up taking a young 8 about 30 minutes after this guy came through. There you have it, I was fortunate to close the deal on my current personal best deer. Always remember, it only takes one animal to completely change a hunt, and it can all change in the blink of an eye. It was less than a minute from when I saw this deer to when I put an arrow into his ribs!!!

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[Limbshot]

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[SAMCRO]

Good deer, and good kill.

[Limbshot]

Wow, was that actually sort of a compliment from Samcro to Limbshot? Somebody make this day down!!!

[RB]

Great story and great deer. Congrats.

[Limbshot]

Thanks Dave! Definitely a day I won't soon forget!!!

[SAMCRO]

Wow, was that actually sort of a compliment from Samcro to Limbshot? Somebody make this day down!!!

"Mark", not "make", dipchit.

[RB]

[Limbshot]

Ahh, that feels much better. I honestly have no idea what happened with my fingers on that one because I was totally thinking "mark!"

[PoisonSnake]

X "makes" the spot.

Congrats on a fantastic deer.

[SAMCRO]

Ahh, that feels much better. I honestly have no idea what happened with my fingers on that one because I was totally thinking "mark!"

Your fingers were probably busy twiddling your clitoris.

[Limbshot]

Not mine, but somebody's...

[SAMCRO]

When I read this thread title, I expected it to be about SAMCRO.

[Limbshot]

LMAO, jackass.