What a day and a half I had Tuesday and Wednesday, I was hunting in a stand near a big thicket I had made several years ago while doing some timbering, it is always a good spot when the bucks are rutting, they travel the edges looking for does, I saw a small 3 or 4 point early and had him a 12/15 yards but couldn't get a shot he moved on and about 45 minutes later he came back by but still no shot. as yall know I ant a trophy hunter, An hour or so went by and a fat little 8 point came in, he fooled around for a few minutes and finely gave me a shot at about 12 yards. Elevation was good but I knew I was a little back, about 2 ribs as it turned out from the back. I was thinking liver which is not a bad shot most of the time. I gave he 45 minutes after he went out of sight 75/80 yards from me. I eased down and looked for blood and about 10 yards from where I shot him was very good dark blood, liver for sure. I back out and went to the cabin and changed cloth and gave he a couple hours, I figured he was dead just out from where I last saw him. I went back in and picked up the blood, found the broad head end of the arrow in just a few yards and good blood trail, found the feather end at about 50 yards and both were covered in blood but after I found the feather end the blood slowed. I stayed on the trail and bumped him at about 150 yards so I backed out again and gave him 4 more hours,I went back to where he had bedded and found little blood to track. I didn't want to use sister because I didn't want to push him off the farm. I gridded off the area and cover all I could , put 6 miles on my boots back and forth 200 yards in each direction back and forth across the ridges and thickets. I just couldn't give up because I knew he was dead or going to be so I stayed at it till after dark.My rule of thumb is if the hit is behind the shoulder and in front of the hind quarter 4 inches up from the belly and a couple inches below the back bone the deer is dead, then it is just a matter of finding him and I knew this shot fit that. I got up early Wednesday before daylight and had about given up hope but as I read my morning devotional I read Philippians 3:13 amazing how that works, [great words to live by religious or not] and was all I needed to carry on so I decided to cover some ground I hadn't covered before, an old swamp pond area and a huge gully line that separates my farm from the next.This was 400 yards from where I had shot him. I covered the pond with no luck then went to the gully line. I had been within 25 yards of it the evening before but it is so deep I couldn't see the bottom and worn out so I didn't walk it, it was my last resort, I put another 2 miles on my boots that day and had decided if he wasn't there I had done all I could do and he had headed for parts unknown. As I entered the gully it was to deep to walk so I walked the edge so I could see the bottom and the ridge on the other side, I hadn't went 30 yards and there he was in the bottom of it. Man what a day. Now the work began, I had a lot of trouble just getting down to him, it is 14/15 feet deep and 20 foot across and almost straight up and down. I got to him by sliding down, I checked him out and he was fine,the night was cool and he probable hadn't died till late so I filed dressed him and then had to decide how I was going to get him out, I could have used some help but had no one around, so I decide I could do it my self, that how I roll most of the time anyway so not much difference.
I went and got my Kobota and worked it down through the thicket above the gully, cutting a few small trees and moving some logs, when I got fairly close I run out the winch, cable wasn't long enough go all the way, I had a chain and short strap, I hooked all that together and like a mountain climber I use it to go back down to him, then hooked him up and use the cable to climb back up where I could work the wench, I have a remote for the wench so I plugged it up and started winching him up and out, he hung up a few time and I would work him free but all in all it worked like a champ. I got him out the backed the Kobota up close as I could and finely got him loaded, to the cabin I went, hosed him out and weight him and put him in the cooler. 120 lbs 8 point ,Man what a day, as i said before I ant sure anyone deserves a deer but I will say I worked hard for this one.It has been a tough year in lots of way for lots of people and I feel very blessed to have had the energy and want to to see this one through. It was a liver shot just as I though , bottom lobe, I have seen deer hit there not go 50 yards and others go a long way, this one went a long way, Around 400 yards total, that don't seem that far until you run out of blood and he could have gone 200 or 300 yards in any direction in the wood , thicket/hills and gully lines then that becomes a long long way.
I have a few pictures, the first is when I first saw him, the 2nd is down in the gully with him and the 3rd is winching him out. Sorry for the long winded story but some may enjoy reading it. Yep Life is Good.
Pappy
