Deer....it's what's for dinner

[FirstFreedom]

OK, got my first archery deer Saturday morning, so I'm pretty pumped. He weighed 123 pounds after field dressing - do you add 15% or 20% to guess hoof weight? In any event, for this wooded area in eastern OK, he's medium to medium-large. If you go by the rule "long enough to hang a ring on", then he's an 8 pointer. If you go by "at least 1 inch", then he's a 6 pointer. I wouldn't have taken one that small, but for it being my first archery deer. Very close shot - about 7 yards. He walked to within 2 or 3 yards of me before turning away to walk in front of me, luckily. I was just sitting in a chair - no stand or blind. About 10:05 am. Lessons learned by this hunt:

-Far and away the most important: Wait, wait, WAIT at least one hour, even with a good hit, before beginning to track! I almost lost this deer for following too early. When I got up after only 5 minutes just to walk slowly the 7 yards to see if it was a good hit, I bumped him from a spot not 40 yards away (I realized later by the large pool of blood). But then I waited 20 minutes since I knew it was a good hit. Too early. I'm used to rifle, when they expire pretty quickly, in 15 or 20 minutes. So, I bumped him again, and he ran off snorting - I could not believe he was still alive, as much blood as there was on the ground. But found the spot where he had been laying the second time, some 75 yards from where I hit him. He ran a loooong ways this time and turned and I lost the trail, and then by happenstance spotted him later in the day when walking back up to try to pick up the trail again with a friend. Point is, with archery, I'm gonna wait at least 1 hour minimum from now on. I could EASILY have never found him by the way he turned, ran down the hill, and crossed a creek before expiring on the far creek bank. Is it true deer run to water when wounded?

-Doe bleat cans WORK (sometimes). He definitely came into the sound of a bleat can, with 3 or 4 minutes from the second time I had hit it that morning, in that location.

-You don't need no steen-kin blinds or stands!

-And, what I already knew...if you're drawing and he looks at you, freeze up...had to freeze twice before shooting. Easier said then done when drawing a compound. Very hard to stop halfway before the "break" of the cams when the deer looks at you, and not move or shake, esp. when he's less than 10 yards away.

-Always have a second arrow out of the quiver and ready to go. And when you hit a deer in the spine, he falls over. When I hit him, he immediately toppled over, and I saw 4 legs up in the air; he rolls completely over, then lays there a few seconds. I'm trying to get a second arrow out and shoot again, and this gives him a chance to get up and trot off. The arrow somehow fell back out of his body altogether and stayed at the point where I hit him, with the entire broadhead stuck in the under-right-side of the spinal column (I discovered later when butchering). He was going down a little hill, and so my arrow went in and through a lung, but with this upward trajectory, it went through the right inner tenderloin and stuck.

Anyway, exciting hunt and meat in the freezer. This was my 3rd year to archery hunt, and had been skunked until now with the bent wood & pointy sticks.

[springmom]

Congratulations. Amazing that he was able to go so far, so long, with those wounds. Good for you for finding him!

Mmmmmm....venison chili.......

Springmom

[swampdog]

Congratulations. Great story. The first one is always the hardest. You'll be burning them up, now.

Grilled tenderloin--- YUM

[castnblast]

Congrats on your first bow kill. It's exciting....everytime. A few pointers on tracking deer shot w/ arrows...

If it's raining, forget the hour thing. You'll loose the trail. Your deer lasted longer due to that spinal shot. A hit a bit lower will have them expire very, very quickly. What you descibed is typical of that type of hit. Also, I've had VERY good luck w/ expandables on deer and hogs. A 1.5" hole from an expandable has them often droping w/ in 50 yds if you get em in the lungs. No need to wait the hour. 15 minutes will usually do the trick. HOWEVER, a hit further back does necesitate the full hour. Just some words of advice. I've been bowhunting for 22 years now, and I love it. Every bow kill is exciting. Just wait till you are still hunting and accidentally bust up a pack of hogs that are holed up asleep in the middle of the afternoon. That will get you blood pumping!

[FrontSight]

Pics Pics Pics Pics!!!

[FirstFreedom]

Hee hee, thanks guys. I used a regular 35mm for pics, and so I've got to take the rest of the roll before developing (waste not, want not) - but this weekend is opening of muzzleloader, and my buddy and I have been seeing sign and deer everywhere, so I should be able to finish out the roll this weekend. I have a digicam, but its several years old, so therefore it's HUGE, and I don't lug it around often.

Castnblast, interesting there.... well when I gutted him, I noticed that he did have one fully intact lung - the left lung. And his heart was fine. So that explains why he was able to stay alive so long. I really don't *get* how it is that the trajectory was as upward as it was. I can see how I missed the left lung, since he was quartering away slightly, but I don't see how the arrow could have gone so far up as to lodge in the spine - mabye it deflected when it went through the meat of the shoulder as it did or when it went through a rib.

On the expandables, hmm, interesting - I'll look into that - I had always heard that you "waste" energy opening them up, which reduces penetration - much more important for elk than deer, I'm sure. My working theory after this experience was that I'm switching to Muzzys or some other chisel point - idea being that a chisel point, rather than the blade point I used, would have actually just bored well into the spine and severed it or damaged it. But then again, this is going to be a RARE occurence when this happens, so the expandables might be a better idea - the muzzys are 1 and 3/16ths" - which expandable do you use and whats the expanded diameter? Exactly 1.50"? Thanks.

P.S. I've been reading that you add 22%-30% to get hoof weight - one authority says 28%.
P.P.S. I aged him via teeth last night (kept the lower jaw), and according to my chart, this guy was only a yearling (1 year, 4 or 5 months), because of the tri-cuspid 4th pre-molar, and the 3rd molar was not fully erupted. Wow, thought for sure he was a 2 and 1/2. Didn't realize they grew that big down here in just 1.5 years.

[swampdog]

I've had really good luck with muzzy's. So much so that I've never tried expandables. You'll get plenty of penetration with the chisel point. It seems to bust bone rather than glance off it. I cleaned a 250lb bear last year my partner killed with a muzzy broadhead at around 20 yards. He got a quartering shot. After going completely through the bears ribcage, the arrow still had enough steam to literally shatter the bears offside "bicep". Complete penetration through a deer is no problem. I've had them go through the offside scapula before.

I will, however, check out expandables. I've heard good things from some people about them. I didn't get to go but a couple of times during bow season, but I plan a couple of archery trips later this season, when I get down to a tag or two.

Congratulations again. It's a great feeling.

[castnblast]

Firstfreedom, I use a chisle point expandable. Cabela's lazer strike. They are the same broadhead as the Rocket Sidewinders. It is a true 1.5". I don't think you spend too much energy opening them up. Last year my dog got the fence open and decided to go Javelina chasing. She got the short end of the stick, and was attacked. Tore her up. After a $900.00 vet bill, I declared war on them. Legal or not. Kids walk behind my house, and people walk their dogs, so I started shooting them w/ my bow everytime I saw them. In short, I killed 2 with one shot, blowing through 3 shoulderblades, and completely exited through the ribs. yes, you counted right. 2 dead javelinas, one shot, complete exit. No joke, no b.s. Javelinas have very thick, tough skin, even though they only weigh about 60lbs a piece. All the deer I've killed have had exit wounds since I started using them. I went to them when my son was born because I was afraid he would stick his hands in my quiver and get sliced up. I doubt I'll ever go back to a fixed blade.

I have a question...Did you sight in your broadheads with the actual blades? I ask because fixed broadheads do tend to plain some. It's not unusual for them to hit high. Another reason for the high hit could be the deer started to jump the string.

Second, Muzzy's are great. 1 3/16" cuts a nice hole. I've killed lots of deer with them. If I were to use a fixed blade, that would be it.

3rd. I like the expandables because you do not need to sight them in. They shoot EXACTLY like your field tips. I buy the cheaper bag targets that last about 2 years or so, and that's it. Arrows are easy to pull out, and I don't have to buy the high dollar foam targets, and I don't have to buy extra blades, and resight.

Here's a tip for you guys who shoot fixed blades. Buy two sights. Sight in your broadheads, and practice w/ your field sight. When you go hunting, just slide on your broadhead sight and you are in business.

[kwkoch]

My working theory after this experience was that I'm switching to Muzzys or some other chisel point - idea being that a chisel point, rather than the blade point I used, would have actually just bored well into the spine and severed it or damaged it.

++ on muzzy broad heads. i have been bowhunting for 18 years and have been using muzzy for the past 10 at least. the reason being is they are as tough as everyone says. i have hit deer in the spinal column in both the neck and back(the neck shot was all i had in between two trees and the back was deflected by an unseen limb--just to clarify that i dont suggest these shots regularly) both times the vertabrae were destroyed and the deer dropped like a switch was turned off. one thing that i do that is not typical because of the muzzy's toughness is i aim for the sholder on broad side shots instead of behind and i still get clean penetration everytime through both sholders.

everyone that i hunt with is slowly switching from mechanicals to muzzy. i have not shot a mechanical ever and dont plan on it. unless muzzy makes a mechanical i might try it.

[UniversalFrost]

+1 on the muzzy's. i started out with the 3 blade and am now using the 4 blade (my thinking is more blade surface area) . Never tried the expandable type (always worried about then getting breaking apart, etc...). As far as waiting before tracking, I wait 30 minutes at least depending on shot placement. Also congrats on the 1st archery deer.

[FirstFreedom]

Finally got developed.

First one is my archery buck hanging in camp.

Second one is my larger buck from rifle season & me.


Ummm, well hooey. Nevermind, it says that the jpeg exceeds the 244 kb limit - can't figure out how to make smaller - been trying to mess with it and make less file size with MS Paint, but it ain't working, so nevermind.

[FirstFreedom]

ok, swampdog is hooking me up with re-sizing...stand by.

[FirstFreedom]

here we go. Swampdog is da man.

[castnblast]

Great Deer, and pretty country. Are you in Maryland? Sorry, can't recall which state is the tollroad state.

[FirstFreedom]

Thanks! Eastern Oklahoma.

[Fremmer]

Nice deer. It looks like that brush can get pretty thick there!