Yesterday, January 1st, 2014, was a beautiful day in Southern Indiana.  There was a slight SSW wind and it was a balmy 41 degrees when I pulled on my Asbell wool sweater and headed for the woods.  

I had decided to setup on a well used trail I had discovered earlier in the year, but had not been able to check out personally.  The trail still looked used so I spotted a nice tulip poplar about 15yards off to set my Summit Viper climber into position.  

A beautiful evening to be on stand!

Thats some good looking country!  40 degrees?  that would feel like a heat wave right now lol.

Beautiful Place!

I had kicked up a fawn doe on the way in, but other than that it was a squirrel fest for almost the entire evening.  A couple of times I went to full draw on a gray squirrel and then a FAT fox squirrel only to be foiled by the finicky little ADHD critters as they darted away at the last minute.

As light started to drift away I thought of what a wonderful evening the Lord has blessed me with when all of a sudden there is a flash of brown and white screaming past me on the field edge!  What in the world?  A single doe crashes into the woods after running across an old Christmas Tree farm field.

Once into the wood's line she is well past me, but I am thankful for the sighting!  Then without warning she completely turns around and starts angling directly to me!  No way, I might get a shot!  She gets to about 25 yards and cuts slightly to the left and starting to angle away.  Getting between a cedar and a small poplar I mouth grunt her while bending my Tall Tines back in anticipation.  My American Leathers big shot crossover let the string slip off of my fingers so smoothly and the shot is on it's way.

Striking back a little, but angling forward through the quartering away deer my Simmons Tiger Shark tipped arrow slips through the doe solidly and she is off!

 

Looks good!
 

She half falls at impact and immediately I hear brush start to give away.  Then more thrashing, popping, and then dead silence.  I know it is done.  It's about 10 minutes until legal light is completely gone and I scurry down the tree to hopefully find a quick trail.  

Unfortunately I realize I have forgotten my flashlight!!  All I have is my iPhone flash for light as sunlight is fading.  Luckily this would be enough thanks to the Simmons!

 

Looks good and what a great way to start off the new year!!!!  

Here she is when I follow an incredibly easy blood trail with an iPhone flash!
 

Thank you Lord!  My new Swafford Mountain Lite cuts like a scalpel and is perfect for the job at hand!  I can't believe how well this knife works and how light and easy it is to pack around.  I am also thrilled my very first New Year's Day harvest and only January deer to have even taken is it's first field usage!
 

I hook her up to my HSS safety vest and proceed to pull her a couple hundred yards out to a field where I could get to her with my truck.  What a beautiful evening and I'm beat!  

 
 

For those wishing to know I used my trusty Tall Tines recurve 60" 50@28(pulled to 29 3/4), Oliver Stacy string, Simmons 175gr. screw-on Tiger Shark tipped Big Jim Gold Tip blem slipped off the string by an American Leathers Big Shot Crossover.

Oh and I can't forget I was wearing my TradGang.com hat I won off the St. Jude's auction last spring!

Congrats!  Great story and pics.

Nice deer, story, and pics.

Congrats!

Great story, thanks for sharing.

Those Tiger Sharks definitely make blood trails easy to follow! Congrats.

Wish we could get into the 30s here. This weekend is the last chance, so I'm going whether it's cold or not. I already have a doe in the freezer. In fact, I had butterfly chops for supper. So I'm looking for something with antlers to close the season, either Mr. Big or a spike will do at this point.

Great story and pics, btw. I never think to take pictures until it's too late.  

Congrats!  I love the trail the Simmons make. I got a doe about the same time and size and the Simmons left a trail I could see from forty yards while still in my tree.

Thanks for sharing.

Chris

Congratulations on a fine doe .

Congratulations on a great deer.  Thanks for sharing with us.

Great pic and story ..CONGRATS!! Nice blood trail too!!

good stuff!

Congrats!

Good job on a beautiful Doe

Congratulations!!!!