HEy everyone.
I've been hunting hard since I got up here, but have been having a real tough time being successful. The first evening I sat in a Double Bull hunting blind with my dad. The blind had been set up the night before on a travel route, and 8 deer came in, but they immediately noticed the new addition (the blind) and got spooked and ran off. So the next evening I sat in a drainage ditch that was about 45 yards from the blind. Well, that evening 3 does came by. It was windy, so they were on high alert. When the nearest deer presented me with a shot, I drew back, aiming at the spot just above her left elbow. But as I reached full draw, I lost my focus. My "spot" suddenly melted away. When I released the doe spun away from me and my stone tipped arrow hit her in the neck. She ran about 20 yards, and then stopped. She was sitting in some thick brush, just looking around as though nothing were wrong. I watched her for about 8 minutes, when she finally just turned and walked away. I couldn't believe it. The arrow was sticking out on both sides of her neck, and I couldn't believe I didn't sever a major artery. But I didn't. I let her walk away and left her overnight. I looked for her all over the next morning, but there was nothing. No blood, no sign of her anywhere. I was absolutely sick.
So I let that spot cool off for a few days. I didn't get any opportunities, so after several days I returned to the Double Bull blind in the morning. At 7:30 two yearlings came in. They were staring at the blind and stomping....they were still very spooked but they soon calmed down. They slowly fed my way, but when they got to the front of the blind they got spooked, turned 90 degrees and started walking away. One gave me a quartering away shot at about 25 feet, so I drew back and sent a quartz tipped arrow right over her back. They both took off.
I haven't had any shot opportunities since. I've been pretty damn frustrated lately, but I'm not giving up. Gonna try again in the morning....I'll keep ya'll posted.