I have not been on here much this year, but
I got my first trad kill last night, and its a
great feeling.

I went to my Frederick Co. spot last night and carried the longbow in.
Had not seen a thing.  The camera shooting light was gone so I turned off
the camera, and pushed it back out of the way.
Not long after, I spotted a buck out in the cut corn field heading my my.
When I first saw him, I thought...naahhhh. I ain't shooting him.
But then he turned and followed the wood line edge which
was 50 yards away and I saw a G-3, so I thought, YEP, I'll shoot him.
He walked up to the top of the woodlot and turned away twords the corn field
so I hit the grunt tube.....nothing.  Hit it again LOUDER, and he stopped cold and
looked back.  2 Seconds later he was coming at me nose down.  As if it were
rehearsed he turned and walked right in front of me in the clear at 8 yards.

Funny thing is, I can't remember anchoring the shot, aiming or anything.
All I remember is drawing back, and seeing the arrow hit the exact spot
that I was looking at. ( Right behind the shoulder )
It happened so fast.  The shot and impact were strangely quiet.
No Whap, crack or thump.  But I hit him right.  The arrow did not pass through,
and turned out did not punch through the other side.  He took off hard, with
his head tucked down, and I thought I heard him crash in the thick hedgerow
at the wood line.

After I climbed down I started looking for blood, and there was none to be
seen.  I kinda walked right on through the wooded area still with no blood
or the arrow, and headed for the wood line where I saw him exit.
Well, I never found a drop, so I'm thinking this may be a "tomorrow morning"
search.

I called my friend Larry to see what he thought about the lack of blood.
Remember, I was 90% sure I hit him good.  Larry offered to come down
packing his Thermal Heat Finder Unit so I waited for him.
After he got there, we ended up finding the blood trail and the arrow
after all, but not from the Thermal camera.  Like I said I skipped over
the wooded area.  When we got to the wood line the blood had stopped,
or we never found anymore.  Larry went on and skirted an adjacent field
panning around and looking down into the other woods and spotted it.






Turns out it only went about 100 yds, and expired.
The shot was right where I thought it was and entered the vital area and
stopped at the opposite side.

I am now in the Traditional Kill Column, and it feels GREAT.
I have arrowed well over 100 deer with some decent sized bucks in
my life, and this guy is the smallest one I've shot at in quite a few years.
He's even a little goofy looking but he ranks up there pretty high
on my all time Trophy List.
Thanks Larry for the help, and the lift into the back of the truck.











I realized I have a trail-cam pic of him also.





This Kill Feels GREAT

Nice pictures. That deer is a big bodied hoss!  Congratulations!

Way to go sir! Big bodied deer!

Way to go!!! Congrats on your first trad harvest! A trophy in my book for sure. Nothing like the first.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

Congrats! Nice buck and great pictures.

congrats!

"Funny thing is, I can't remember anchoring the shot, aiming or anything".

And thats the way it should be, well done.

Congratulations on a great first kill. Great pictures and story, thanks for sharing.

Nice Buck, Congrats!    KY  

Way to go... Congrats

very nice, eric! congratulations!

Congrats on your first.

Congrats. and good shooten, nice trophy.

way to go! everything about the hunt and the kill means so much more when you do it with Trad gear!    Every animal we take with our choice of weapons is special.

Eric!! Glad to see you have "officially" crossed over to the Dark Side  

Glad to see a fellow MD trad bowhunter had some success!!!

Awsome job, congratulations!!!

Big bodied deer! Congrats!

Very nice. Congratulations on a fine deer!      

Very cool, congrats!

great trophy CONGRADS!! on md whitetail my handle is pyvirgin

glad your part of the family here way to go

check out my thread i started here CC just click on my handle and find the thread i have some pretty good photos to go with the story

Congrats!