I had missed a deer from the same stand a week earlier and knew it was on a travel cooridore. About 30 minutes before dark, I heard the perverbial twig snap back hard to my 4:00 position. A few minutes later 6 deer came slipping through the pines out in front of me into the hardwood flat. The lead doe was looking for me up in the trees (it was the same group that I had shot into the week prior) and almost circled in front of me at about 20 yards. The other deer were in tow and didn't seem so nervous.
Mamma doe had came nearly all the way around in front of me to my 9:00 position before she finally spotted me. In the time it took for her to recognize that indeed I was what had shot at them last time from the tree, the other deer had filtered around right in front of me. The mamma doe finally ran off, carrying the other larger does with her out to about 30 yard before stopping. The two little deer right in front didn't run immediately and looked a little confused as to what they needed to do. They pranced around in place for a few seconds and one fianlly got into the open at a little under 20 yards. He was quartering to me just a little and I knew it was time to shoot... before they ran as well. I picked a spot right on his shoulder and hit anchor and let it fly.
The arrow flew true and hit the deer where I was looking and as it spun to leave the douglas fir arrow snapped off. They all ran out of the hardwood the same way, and in 10 seconds or so I heard the button buck crash. After a short 15 minute wait, I was down and surveying what was left of my arrow. About 10 inches of shaft was missing and I knew the arrow had made it through the shoulder area into the vitals. I carefully followed their escape route and I easily found my deer there laying in there in the leaves. He went maybe 50 yards. Upon inspection, the Zwickey broadhead easily sliced through the upper shoulder area and nearly made it all the way through the vitals.
I was totally impressed with the power at which that osage bow launched the arrow. A 'quartering to' shot is not necessarily the best scenario, but my selfbow easily powered it through the heavily muscled area and actually went through some of the shoulder bone as well into the vitals!
