I was blessed to kill this 8 point last Tuesday. An unusually cold mornimg for this time of year in Alabama at about 20°, apparently it got the deer on their feet. I set up in a little draw in the woods where there were a ton of white oak acorns on the ground. I didn't see anything till about 8:45, when a bunch of does and little ones came in behind me. They winded me pretty quick and called a fire drill, blowing up and scattering. I figured that would be the end of any action at least for a good while, so I was surprised 15 minutes later to see deer movement straight in front of me about 60 yards away in some pines. I knew by the way the deer was moving it was a buck before I ever saw horns. Turned out to be two bucks, an 8 pt and a wide 6 pt. They came straight at me like they were on a mission, with the 8 pt in the lead. He came at me from about 10 o'clock and finally stopped briefly at about 7 yards. I was about 15 ft up in my Summit climber, so it was a pretty steep down angle, quartering to me. I took the shot, which hit him about midway of the ribcage, high but below the spine. As he ran off, I could see about 6" of my yellow barred fetched ash shaft sticking out of his back. He ran about 60 yards, then reversed and ran back at me for a few steps before turning and resuming his initial line of travel. I felt like that erratic behavior signaled a lethal hit, but of course, you never know. I climbed down and gathered my stand and stuff, killing 30 minutes before I started looking for blood. About that time, my son texted me (I was hunting near his house) as asked if I'd done any good - matter of fact, I have, sez I. He and both of my grandsons came back then to help with the trailing. Long story short, we never found a drop of blood (no exit wound), but grandson #2 found my buck about 80 yards from where I'd shot him, deader than easy credit. Equipment was my 58# Bamabow longbow, 4-fletch ash shafts, Zwickey Eskimo 4-blade. The Zwickey got two ribs going in, took out the right lung, and ended up in the liver. Looked like it deflected a bit on entry, taking a flatter angle that took a path more lengthwise in the body cavity.
P.S. after the 8 pt ran off, the 6 pt, totally undisturbed, walked over and stood in the exact spot where I'd just shot the 8 pt. I could have shot him as well, but we can't take two bucks on the same day here.
 

Congratulations on a nice buck! Nice to have your family involved as well. Thanks for the write up of your hunt, I really enjoyed it.


 

Thanks for sharing your hunt Ken! That is (was) a fat, healthy buck! Congratulations!   

Congratulations to you '2bl;  nice recap.

Shick

Nice one 

Great experience, enjoyed reading. I'm a Zwickey guy myself, but 2 blade with steel inserts. Gets me about 175 grains up front. Thanks for a great read!

Congratulations!

Congratulations on a nice buck and glad you had family close by to help with the recovery and to share the experience with!

Congrats! Thank you for sharing 

    

So, how far did he go and how did you find him?