OT: Honey Creek-Black Cat Bow Deer Down

[86er]

12 days on the stand have finally paid off! Whew - a relief. I started bowhunting on Oct. 3rd and have been in the stand as much as possible, morning and night. One day, Day 5, I had a buck come in and a loosed an arrow. The buck got cut by the fletching and left a spot of blood, but he grazed, played with another really big buck that joined him and ran around. The nick on that deer was a combination of equipment failure and shooter error. I tuned all my equipment and made some changes to my clothing, stand position and release. On day 7 in the stand I shot the Boss Hog. No deer. Today I discussed the deer situation with the responsible parties and we mutually agreed on the number of does, management bucks and culls we should take for quality deer management. I have been using a decoy on alternate days. Decoys are controversial when the dominant buck is not necessarily your target. Fawns and spikes will come to a doe decoy but adult does rarely do. Bucks will come to a doe but only when it's "time". Young deer avoid bucks and does don't want to be harassed either (yet) so only bucks come to a buck decoy. Today I put my decoy (aka Two Tail) out as a doe by removing the antlers. At 6:00 a deer appeared out of no-where out front and to my left. It was absolutely fixated on Two Tail. At first I thought "Aw, just a little buck". Upon further study as the deer stood 30 yards away staring at the decoy I realized this was the kind of cull deer we talked about earlier today. It was a 2 year old and had uneven antlers and 3 points on one side with 2 on the other. The deer presented a broadside shot at 30 yards. When the arrow sailed the buck "ducked the string" more than any other deer I've ever seen. He actually dropped his belly into the mud and made a splash, then stood back up in an instant. I thought "Oh man - I missed". The deer looked around and then started to move towards the decoy one step at a time. I slowly knocked another arrow and got ready. The buck was literally less than 10 yards away now straight down from the stand. As I was about to draw back the little guy extended his neck and gave Two Tail a big kiss, then fell over on his side stone dead. Not a flinch or a quiver! Upon further inspection, the arrow did hit about 4" high but it got the top of a lung and came out through the middle of the opposite lung. I think this is the same deer I nicked 7 days ago! I'll look for a cut when I cut him up tomorrow morning. Here's the "Big Guy" -

[kimwcook]

Good deal, Joe. Beats the heck out of getting stumped and tastes better. Never really got into archery. At least not since my parents bought my brother and I a recurve when I was about 12.

[CEMENTHEAD]

Congrats on the deer Joe !! I tried myself today and had a tremendous......quiet day Lovin' the bow more and more............ it's like takin' 2 hours to watch 60 minutes. Thanks, Tom

[huntress]

Well it's about time! I guess you are a good hunter after all...LOL. Very impressive. I know I couldn't have done that. After all you have been through to get that deer, I bet it feels real good right now. Congratulations!

Sandy

BTW Like the face paint

[crs]

Good show Joe!
That looks like,prime venison. Pursuant to another current post, be careful with the liver and let me know how it turn out?
You hog backstrap was super!

[rjohns94]

congrats Joe. I'm venison poor right now. Working hard to rectify that. Glad to see some success elsewhere for folks.

[RKrodle]

Good hunting and congratulations! Any time you can get close enough to an animal to stick an arrow in it makes it a trophy.

[Nath]

Well done Joe

Nath.