Week-end hunt
Oct 25, 2010 10:48:37 GMT -5
Post by Harley on Oct 25, 2010 10:48:37 GMT -5
Early Sunday morning I left for the woods with two projects in mind: To do more testing of the Swing-Lock Adjustable Die and to try - again - to kill a deer with my bow.
I worked at adjusting the die for the entire afternoon (more on that in the Savage ML forum), then headed to a food plot with my bow. The half dozen other hunters on the property this weekend had all gone home after the morning hunt, so I had it to myself.
At 4:30 I climbed into my stand; maybe five minutes before complete dark (7:10) four does walked out on the plot at 75 yards from me. They began feeding my way, but I was sure it would be too dark to shoot by the time they were in range. One of them broke away from the others and moved to within 15 yards, but was obscured by an over-hanging limb. The largest of the four moved to 40 yards and I drew my bow. She grazed a few more steps before turning broadside; it was now so dark that I couldn't follow my arrow's flight, but heard that distinctive sound that indicates a hit in the chest cavity. As she turned and ran it seemed to me that she was staggering.
I climbed down and looked for my arrow and blood, but saw nothing. So, I stacked my gear and put my GPS in my pocket as I went looking with the flashlight. An hour later, I quit for the night. I had found my first blood more than 20 yards into the woods. It was a large amount, both on the ground and the leaves of nearby bushes. I marked the spot with survey tape and kept going. I eventually found two more places where there was a large amount of pooled blood, both widely separated, before quitting. I was totally lost, but the GPS took me back to the plot.
I had planned to come home, but decided to spend the night to find the deer this morning, even though I knew the meat was ruined. I wanted my arrow and I wanted to see that deer.
At first light I was back in the woods; I found only one more mass of blood before the rains came.
The reason I've gone into such detail is I want your opinion. Here's what I think happened:
The deer had begun to crouch and turn at the sound of the shot; the arrow hit a little high (or maybe I just aimed high). She was hit above the lungs but below the backstrap, still in the chest cavity.
There was no visible blood for awhile because it took time for the chest cavity to fill with blood; when that happened the weight of blood compressed her lungs and she stopped to take a deeper breath, thereby expelling blood on the ground. That sequence was repeated every so often, and accounts for the blood pattern I found.
What do you think?
BTW, I'm now totally sold on the idea of a single sight pin set to allow shooting from 0-40 yards. I couldn't have made that shot if I'd had to adjust a slider in that light, and on a walking deer. Also, a multi-pin sight would have been way too confusing in the low light and moving situation. The Vital Gear sight has a true glow in the dark pin that is illuminated just the right amount.
Harley
I worked at adjusting the die for the entire afternoon (more on that in the Savage ML forum), then headed to a food plot with my bow. The half dozen other hunters on the property this weekend had all gone home after the morning hunt, so I had it to myself.
At 4:30 I climbed into my stand; maybe five minutes before complete dark (7:10) four does walked out on the plot at 75 yards from me. They began feeding my way, but I was sure it would be too dark to shoot by the time they were in range. One of them broke away from the others and moved to within 15 yards, but was obscured by an over-hanging limb. The largest of the four moved to 40 yards and I drew my bow. She grazed a few more steps before turning broadside; it was now so dark that I couldn't follow my arrow's flight, but heard that distinctive sound that indicates a hit in the chest cavity. As she turned and ran it seemed to me that she was staggering.
I climbed down and looked for my arrow and blood, but saw nothing. So, I stacked my gear and put my GPS in my pocket as I went looking with the flashlight. An hour later, I quit for the night. I had found my first blood more than 20 yards into the woods. It was a large amount, both on the ground and the leaves of nearby bushes. I marked the spot with survey tape and kept going. I eventually found two more places where there was a large amount of pooled blood, both widely separated, before quitting. I was totally lost, but the GPS took me back to the plot.
I had planned to come home, but decided to spend the night to find the deer this morning, even though I knew the meat was ruined. I wanted my arrow and I wanted to see that deer.
At first light I was back in the woods; I found only one more mass of blood before the rains came.
The reason I've gone into such detail is I want your opinion. Here's what I think happened:
The deer had begun to crouch and turn at the sound of the shot; the arrow hit a little high (or maybe I just aimed high). She was hit above the lungs but below the backstrap, still in the chest cavity.
There was no visible blood for awhile because it took time for the chest cavity to fill with blood; when that happened the weight of blood compressed her lungs and she stopped to take a deeper breath, thereby expelling blood on the ground. That sequence was repeated every so often, and accounts for the blood pattern I found.
What do you think?
BTW, I'm now totally sold on the idea of a single sight pin set to allow shooting from 0-40 yards. I couldn't have made that shot if I'd had to adjust a slider in that light, and on a walking deer. Also, a multi-pin sight would have been way too confusing in the low light and moving situation. The Vital Gear sight has a true glow in the dark pin that is illuminated just the right amount.
Harley
