Don't have a lot of time to say much right now....have a few things to get done before tonight's predicted rain storms. Hunted from one of my Double Bull blind yesterday. I'll start with these pics.
Where we found the arrow this morning.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Bloodyarrow3.jpg)
A little better look at it.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Bloddyarrow2.jpg)
That looks encouraging. :pray:
I told you so....... :bigsmyl: Hope to see a story and pics later tonight.....gotta hunt before this storm hits!
David
My favorite fletching color :)
:campfire:
BRB.. don't have time to read the story right now got things to do...lol
God bless,Mudd
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Big Doe? Or big buck? Looks good either way. Congrats! :thumbsup:
Something is not right about that arrow, but I just can't put my finger on it... :rolleyes:
:thumbsup:
Looking good. I hope to see some more picts and the rest of the story.
Hmmm. seems you got it a little bloody. But on what??? :campfire:
Since he is not telling the story about the way that arrow got bloody, is it OK if we make up our own? :saywhat:
I think he was shooting opossums...
God Bless,
Nathan
We are going to start calling you "Blind Boy" Bill.
Looks like it hit something before that tree, hope the storm doesn't wipe out the trail.
Is that lung paint I see?
:coffee:
Happiness is a painted arra :) After seeing your trailcam pics I can only hope it's one of those bruisers ;)
Which one will it be? :coffee:
:readit: Ain't there rules about dragging this stuff out!!! :jumper:
tap-tap-tap
Sounds like a good story coming !
:campfire:
Looks like a good hit Bill. Hope every thing is going good for you an Laura. I realy enjoyed taken you an your wife bear hunting. I just got back from Portage . We had 4 good weeks of bear hunting an one great week of bear trapping . We had 100% on the moose. Lots of birds on the move but they are geting realy skidish .
okay okay okay!!!!! WE cant take the wait anymore :jumper: :jumper: :jumper:
Apparently Bill must be losing his memory...he forgot all about us! Just leave us hangin like this....IS NOT GOOD :banghead:
Hello Bill Hello, anyone there? BILL WAKE UP!!! :campfire: :coffee: :deadhorse:
I like it better when ya just tell the story!! :smileystooges: So please when ya start this one, finish!! Shawn
I think he's feedin' us a load of double bull...
Sorry for the delay. I was going to do this last night but fell asleep on the couch after dinner.
Well, here goes...As some of you know from a previous post I missed a really nice doe from on of my two Double Bull set ups last week. It seems like when you have two set up the deer seem to know when you are at one or the other so, the chess game I love to play was starting to get old. Laura and I went out on the 13th and she had a "feeling" about where I should be sitting so I went with her intuition.
We left the house about 1/2 hour later than usual simply because the deer activity seemed to be more towards the latter end of the afternoon. I arrived at my blind at about 3:40 PM. I got settled and decided that I would eat my snack, 2 apples, before I got my black shirt and face mask on. I was still just "getting comfortable" when I heard deer approaching. I checked my watch at it said 4:05. I peeked thru an opening in the blind and found myself looking directly into the sun but I could see a deer off to my right (West) about 12 yards away. It stood a while and just looked around. As it rounded the thick pines I had put the blind in I could see it was one of the four pointers that frequented this area but more typically in the mornings along with an 8 pointer with a medium rack but a large body. However, after a few minutes I could tell he was by himself.
At first he just stood behind the thick pines and I could really only see him if he moved his head or flicked his tail. He was on a trail that if he stayed on would take him another 100 yards or so towards Laura. He seemed to be heading that way and then turned and headed back towards me. Then he did something I didn't understand at the time. He looked directly at the blind as if he were looking right at me and he froze. I had never been detected in the blind before with the mesh down but I felt like he could see me.
Then he circled in front of the blind and was in range, maybe 25 yards, but I was not comfortable shooting that distance with the mesh down. I found that the depth perception was not certain even though the sun was out and the skies were clear.
He did a semi-circle around me and stopped after 180 degrees. He stood around a while and then followed the same path around me and stopped directly in front of the blind and looked right in again. This same pattern went on no less than 6 times. Since it was so early and he was more uncertain than he was jumpy, he would occasionally stop and preen or scratch himself, but something about the blind was bothering him. I felt that if he didn't spook his big buddy might show up or one of the monster does that also seemed to favor this series of trails. I secretly wished he would move off towards Laura but the thought of her killing two bucks before I got any deer caused a lot of ambivalence.
Finally he seemed to commit to coming in closer and I got ready for a shot. He needed to take a few more steps and it would be a 10 yard shot. His shoulder was still partially covered by the pine limbs I had left in place to conceal the blind. He put his head down to smell the Trophy Rock and just as quickly as his nose touched the rock he swung his head and gave the blind a quick look and he jumped back and stopped about 20 yards out behind the thick pines. I looked at my watch....almost 5:00 PM. This had been going on for almost an hour! By this time I was angry and ready to kill or I just wanted him to leave as there was plenty of time for other deer to show up.
Then I heard two more deer coming down the original trail he had come in on in back of me. Actually two tom turkeys walked right by us and he got distracted by their presence which seemed to calm him down. He finally started back on the trail he had originally walked in on when he first showed up. His nerves were settled but, again, something about the blind made him hesitant to commit to feeding in front of it and when he did he stayed out of range.
I had a slight opening in the blind that I used for observation. If he would walk out the same way he walked in I thought I might be able to get a shot. So I turned in my seat and could see a small but clear opening in the blueberries on that side of the blind. If he stepped into that opening I knew from Muzzy Stump Shoots that I could get an arrow thru without any problem.
He made his move and stepped into the spot I had just described. Before I even had much more time to think about it the arrow was on its way. However, it hit him a bit farther back than where I was aiming. He jumped, walked about 20 yards and just stood there, apparently not aware of his mortal condition. I tried to peek thru the blind but the sun was still in my eyes and the mesh made good visibility nearly impossible. The only part of him I could make out clearly was his tail. I moved to see if I could reposition myself to see without having to look thru the mesh. When I did I could not see him. He had moved on. It was looking more like a gut shot and I was frustrated with that.
A million things went thru my mind. How good or bad was the shot? Gut? Liver? Back of lungs? I just didn't know. I just knew the arrow hit left of where I wanted but the height was perfect. Should I just sit and wait until dark? What to do?
I gave it some time and decided I really couldn't make a good decision without seeing the arrow. I quietly unzipped the blind and stepped out. I took two steps and he got up about 30 yards away and made one lunge forward and was swallowed by the thick blueberries. I went back to the blind and sat and thought. I knew the shot was fatal but I could not see him well enough afterwards to determine the nature of the shot. It was clear to me at that point that this was one of those "when in doubt, get out" situations. I assumed that my first venture out of the blind sent him into a thick hemlock stand about 100 yards away and leaving the blind now would not push him farther. I was afraid if I stayed I would get anxious and curious and do something I might regret like taking up the trail or finding the first blood. The weather for the night was for light wind and clear skies and a possible frost. It was time to leave, get Laura and get out of Dodge. I decided to leave all my gear in the blind as I did not want to create any more commotion than necessary.
When I stepped out of the blind (the leaves were really dry and the air was still) I was startled to hear a deer blow at me from about 50 yards in the general direction the deer had gone, but slightly South of where I thought he had gone. I hoped it might be another deer and not the one I shot. I wanted him to bed down as soon as possible. Jumping him twice would not be good.
I made the walk down to Laura's stand, explained the situation. From where she was sitting she witnessed some of the movement of the deer I shot when he was on the Western side of my blind. In addition, she said she caught glimpses of at least 3 other deer in the area where I had heard the deer blow at me when I decided to leave. My hope was that those deer and not the one I shot were the culprits.
The next morning we found the arrow right off the bat. I was thoroughly relieved as the sign indicated a liver rather than a gut shot. We had a bit of a time finding first blood beyond where he had been standing after the shot. Never found any sign right there. But once we found the first blood the trail he was on was the one I thought he took when I first bumped him. One thing became clear to us as we trailed him. We had always worried about trailing deer on our property when we bought it. It was cut over about 20 years ago and was now thick with primarily blueberry bushes and ferns and other troublesome brush. But, the deer trails there were very obvious so that really made the trailing quite easy. Blood was on the ground, high on brush and grass. It was about a 100 yard trail but it ended right where I anticipated, it the thick hemlocks where we always suspected they bedded during the day.
Well, here I am with my prize. Not the eight pointer I wanted or the large doe I want to shoot for Bobby Urban's contest, but he represents an accomplishment that I had endeavored to achieve this year...get one from my Double Bull. I am sorry for my appearance in the photo, I was a bit unkempt and tired....but very pleased. The deer dressed out 8 pounds lighter than Laura's so she is still ahead of me in the local archery deer pool (we are the only two with deer in it, currently). He was also stiff as a board so posing him at that time was not ideal.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Bills4point.jpg)
We had to drag him through some rough and wet areas so I decided not to field dress him until we got him back to the blind, got him on the cart and move him to a small stream where I could dress him out, do the autopsy, and clean myself up afterwards. I don't know what we would have done without the cart. Getting him to it was just the beginning as we had another 1,000 yard back to the truck (I counted how many steps it was) and the river was too low to get him out in the canoe which is our usual MO.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Deeroncart.jpg)
On a side note, I was shooting my beloved DAS Master Hunter riser with 55# Border HEX 5 wood limbs, a 340 spine Beman MFX shaft with 250 grains of a 3 blade Razorcap. The deer was 9 yards at the shot and I determined the poor shot placement was due to several small blueberry twigs I was not aware of at the time of the shot. Since the deer had shown up before I had put on my face mask and gloves Laura told me that she could easily make out my bare face and hands thru the mesh. That, no doubt, is why he was reluctant to come any closer than he did. When Laura told me that I had her sit in the blind and sure enough, I could see every uncovered part (her face and hands, in this instance). Lessons learned and I feel good....and many thanks to Laura for being such a great partner and wife.
By the way, when I filed dressed him it appeared that the arrow hit slightly in back of the liver as there was a small slice along it. The broadhead had apparently severed a number of veins and arteries leading to and from the liver and also the digestive tract.
Bleeding out was much quicker that I had anticipated and perhaps if I waited a bit longer I could have trailed him and gotten him out that evening. He was probably dead when I got to Laura's stand. In any event I probably would handle it the same way given the weather forecast and past experience. All's well that ends well.
If I left anything out I will be happy to answer any questions.
Way to go Bill, I knew it would happen!
David
Congrats Bill! Should be some real good eatin! :thumbsup:
Right on Bill!! Congrats on your Double Bull buck.
Congrats Bill. Great story! Very nice deer.
Steve
Very nice!!!
Great story. Thanks for sharing, and cograts.
Good job. You made the right decisions and have some great venison to boot.
Good job all around.Nice kill and got more knowledge all good.Kip :thumbsup: :clapper:
:thumbsup:
Way to go Bill! :thumbsup:
Excellent decisions! I'll bet that was a rush having the deer so close at ground level! Thanks for sharing.
Congrats on your buck!
CONGRATS!!
Nice Work!!!
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Thanks all for your kind words and being patient. I kind of konked out last nite after dinner.
Laura and I each have two tags left. Our regular archery tags allow us another deer of either sex and we can take a deer with our bows using our firearms tag as long as we follow firearms regulations. So, it is still possible for me to get a bigger buck than Laura's (I didn't realize she was so competitive. She kept telling me as I was wheeling him out that he seemed smaller than hers) and/or take Bobby Urban's big doe pool (a very real possiblity if I get the old doe to cooperate). In any event this season for us has already been a success and I am very happy to share it with you all. Any other game we take this season, with the exception of Laura's taking her first turkey, will be donated to other families or to the Hunter's for the Hungry program run by the NH Fish and Game program.I sincerely hope you all enjoy your seasons as much as we have enjoyed ours already. And I am not just talking about killing animals. We have worked hard on our new property to combat the baiting, food plots and poaching gong on around us. We finally have turkeys coming in on a regular basis, have planted apple trees and provided other goodies to keep them cruising through our property which has not one mast tree on it due to it's being pretty much clear cut about 20 years ago. We finally realized last year that we had purchased a bedding area so hunting it and too much pressure puts them on high alert very early in the season. We have taken steps to combat that and we have seen more deer and turkeys this year than the previous two years combined. So my happiness with the "kill' has more to do with seeing hard work and effort paying off, particularly for Laura who has had a rather long "dry" spell and was beginning to wonder if she had what it takes to kill quickly and humaely. She is now one happy camper and ready to do it again. It is good to see her confident....and we still have 2 months of outdoors and hunting experiences to enjoy. I wish you all the same.
Way to go sir! Nice deer! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Good Story! Nice buck.
Thats a Groovy lookin trailer Bill!
Allowing good judgement to prevail provided you with good luck. Hard hit deer typically want to lay down as soon as possible and will likely expire there. Pushing a questionably hit deer is to be reserved for those limited and special circumstances.
Congrats and thanks for sharing!!
way to go, Bill...nice buck and way to show some patience! congrats!
Kennyb
Congratulations on a fine buck!! Just wondering how you control/eliminate the scent from the Double Bull blind? :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Very Nice!! Great story and Congrats! Shawn
Congradulations all around.I love it when hard work is rewarded :thumbsup: :thumbsup: it's esspecially nice when you can slather it with gravy.
Great Story!! Blind hunting is a kick!
Awesome pics and story,thanks for shar'n.
Great deer and report .... I enjoyed it very much :)
Thank you
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Way to go Bill.
So is the DB Blind the "stand" for now or you going to try another method for the next deer?
Nice deer!
Dave: I'll be 67 before this year is over. I am finding that hunting from treestands is getting hard to do....sitting for 3 hours or so, having to pee too much, sore back. I don't handle discomfort as well as I used to....and.....having deer so close on the ground is just a whole different way to go. I love it when I've killed on the ground in the past so I am thinking that the treestands I am most comfortable in need to have a lot of concealment for me as I twist and turn, stand and pee, etc. They are not out of the picture but in the past two years my movement has gotten me busted more than I am happy with. The Double Bulls are very comfortable and the deer on my property seem to not mind them at all. I found a nice hemlock yesterday than holds promise for a well placed stand so while I am not giving up on tree stands I am finding that the blinds have special qualities that I enjoy.....more comfortable, warmer, closer to the game. As I see it, treestands for me may be early season things but as the temps drop the blinds seem to be calling my name.