Ok, he's in the cooler and I'm all cleaned up so now I can tell the story and post some better pictures.
This was my first time hunting from this stand this year. I set it up to catch them going to the pond in the evening. The tree is leaning forward which made it very uncomfortable and I wasn't able to get a shot at the main trail I wanted to cover. I was very aggravated about not getting it set up better. I had already texted my Dad and made plans to move it Friday. So I sat there leaning forward for a couple of hours and then I hear something coming down the opposite hillside towards the small pond. Its pretty thick but I can tell its a buck. As he got to the pond I hear a car coming down the driveway to an old house on the hillside above me. It was my brother in law and my niece. I could hear her playing and talking. The buck got nervous and froze. They drove away a few minutes later but the buck was still cautiously staring up the hill. I heard another deer walking along the pond. Its a small spike that I have let walk numerous times this year. One side splits into a little fork at the tip. Pearly has been trying his best to get me to shoot it but I held off. The spike walks up the trail 5 yards in front of me and heads to the giant oak tree that's 25 yards above me. Once the spike walked up the hill I guess this guy figured it was safe so he headed my direction. I stood up as he walked behind a tree. When he got into the clear on the other side I see my arrow hit him behind the shoulder. I don't even remember drawing my bow. At the shot he quickly walked up to the flat under the oak tree. He looked around for a second or two and then he took off running down the point of the hill. He went just out of site and I heard him crashing. That's the best sound in the world after you shoot one. I called my brother in law and asked him to meet me at the house. I waited a few minutes after the crashing stopped to get down. On my way to the house, I walked up the trail he was on and saw lots of good blood. We gathered some lights and went back to look for it. We usually let my niece lead the way on a good trail but I wanted to make sure he was dead before she walked up on him. I took the lead and followed the easy blood trail. She called my name and I turned around to see her holding my arrow. I had walked right past it. Just a few yards ahead we found him tangled in some limbs. He probably didn't go over 50 yards. I couldn't believe it. I had finally killed a deer with a selfbow. What a feeling that was. I just stood there staring at it and tried to soak it all in. I wondered how many years it has been since a hunter killed a deer on our property with a wooden bow and stone tipped arrow.
I don't know if it was all the excitement or what but it looks like my eyes are bugging out
Our junior tracker
My equipment; my latest osage bow and a hill cane arrow tipped with a point made by Tracy. Thanks Tracy!
The arrow and point is completely unharmed. It took a chunk out of one rib, passed through a lung and center punched the heart.
