Finally the sun is up enough to see well enough to see and legal shooting light. I stare hard my mind racing a hundred miles an hour as I stare into the brush toward the stock tank….nothing. Where did he go? As I scan the three shooting windows of my pop-up blind I notice movement in the brush straight ahead. It’s a deer and it’s moving toward my left! I strain five more minutes without any visuals when suddenly a buck appears in my center window moving slowly from my right to left. He is partially hidden by dense brush feeding slowly working his way into my shooting lane. I quickly move my camera, adjust the tripod to the correct height to film out of my center window, turn on my camera and hit record. I turn to my bow and get ready…..what is this….the video camera is flashing “TAPE…TAPE….TAPE” I realize in my haste to get on the road, and grogginess of getting up early I forgot to stick a new tape into my camera! ARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH I am recording……NOTHING! So much for filming now, it’s go time! He’s a good mature buck, thick, short legs, broad neck and 10 points. He slowly moves into my center shooting lane head first, followed by his neck then his shoulders…..at mid section now brush is still covering his rear I draw my bow. I note the brush is very close to my arrows flight on the right side but unconsciously my mind can see the trajectory and things look OK. I know this has to be approximately 21 – 22 yards so I settle my 20 pin on the left front leg, lower it to the knuckle, aim at the area of the heart….holding low….sight picture just burns into my unconscious mind and I trigger the release without thought…THWACK!!!!! Buck jumps and bounds up and hauls hard off my left. I hear him crash through the brush and then the unmistakable sound of a pile. Suddenly the nerves kick in, hands start to shake and I take a few deep breaths staring intently at the area of departure. This shot was surreal….No thought, I was just along for the ride mentally and my body was doing what it was conditioned to do (eyes, hands and bow form) YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!.
The reality of what just transpired kicks me between the shoulders and I scramble out of the blind leaving my bow behind and head toward my arrow. I find it covered with dark blood. It doesn’t look like a lung shot to me….I smell the arrow and the scent of heavy blood fills my nostrils.I head back to my blind and simply give things time. Finally I start my blood trail finding nothing, not a drop and I note one of the small game trails the buck used to blaze away toward the Southwest. Man my mind was racing as I walked that little deer trail, working down through the brush 20 yards, staring for sign and not finding much...I note up ahead.
I yell out THANK YOU LORD!!!!! I move around to the left to see where I hit him and find a perfect heart shot.
....and then I view this magnificent animals head gear still covered in frost on a cold South Texas morning.
I drop my bow and follow-up arrow and head off to
camp at a dead run to wake up Bruce and Richard.
Happy Hunting!
2 comments:
Great buck and great story. Marian, please ask Rob what year model Z-28 he owns. Could he post a picture of his car? When I was in college I got a brand new 1979 Z-28, it was the best car I ever owned. I traded it in on a 1983 Jeep CJ-5 which I still own.
JDP
jdp - It was a great buck and was honored that he let me post his story here. Glad you enjoyed it. Will get in touch with him for you. Thanks for your comment!
Marian
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