Killer Miller
Member
Didn't see a thing this morning. Went and got my tires balances on my truck and the oil changed. Went home and took a nap and was back in the stand by 3:15.
3:30 I hear deer running. All I see is a big rack running a doe right towards me about 200 yards away. 15 seconds later, they're right on top of me. The buck stops broadside at 15 yards and I'm already at full draw. I lean out just a tad so that I didn't hit a cedar tree branch. Let the arrow fly only to see it hit high, forward, and penetrate very little. He takes off running and runs over the hill about 80 yards away. Looked for some blood at last light, found none. Found my arrow broken off about 15 yards from where he stood when I shot him. There's about 5 inches of arrow missing plus the broadhead, so 6-7 inches I suppose.
I really thought that I hit in front of the shoulder and high, at the base of the neck. But with only that much penetration, it makes me think I hit the top, front part of the shoulder. Going to look around tomorrow morning. I didn't push the deer at all. I guess all I can do is pray that I hit some sort of artery and he laid down and expired, but I'm not too optomistic.
The even worst of it is 5 minutes (or less) after all that happened, I had a 145-150 inch mainframe 10 pointer come right in as well. I held off, as I didn't know if I was going to recover the first buck or not. He winded me after standing there at 15 yards confused for a minute or 2. I could have easily drawn on this deer as he walked in and had a nice, easy (easier said than done I've found out) 15 yard 'chip shot' at him.
What's my chances of finding this deer? Like I said, I thought I hit the dead center of his neck at the base (thickest part of the neck), but with only that much penetration it makes me think I struck the shoulder. I'm just sick right now. Not only did I not make an easy shot, but I even had another shooter come in 5 minutes later. I almost feel like I wish I had missed him clean, then I could have let an arrow fly on the 2nd buck. The deer I shot was 10-15 inches bigger than the 2nd one that came in.
3:30 I hear deer running. All I see is a big rack running a doe right towards me about 200 yards away. 15 seconds later, they're right on top of me. The buck stops broadside at 15 yards and I'm already at full draw. I lean out just a tad so that I didn't hit a cedar tree branch. Let the arrow fly only to see it hit high, forward, and penetrate very little. He takes off running and runs over the hill about 80 yards away. Looked for some blood at last light, found none. Found my arrow broken off about 15 yards from where he stood when I shot him. There's about 5 inches of arrow missing plus the broadhead, so 6-7 inches I suppose.
I really thought that I hit in front of the shoulder and high, at the base of the neck. But with only that much penetration, it makes me think I hit the top, front part of the shoulder. Going to look around tomorrow morning. I didn't push the deer at all. I guess all I can do is pray that I hit some sort of artery and he laid down and expired, but I'm not too optomistic.
The even worst of it is 5 minutes (or less) after all that happened, I had a 145-150 inch mainframe 10 pointer come right in as well. I held off, as I didn't know if I was going to recover the first buck or not. He winded me after standing there at 15 yards confused for a minute or 2. I could have easily drawn on this deer as he walked in and had a nice, easy (easier said than done I've found out) 15 yard 'chip shot' at him.
What's my chances of finding this deer? Like I said, I thought I hit the dead center of his neck at the base (thickest part of the neck), but with only that much penetration it makes me think I struck the shoulder. I'm just sick right now. Not only did I not make an easy shot, but I even had another shooter come in 5 minutes later. I almost feel like I wish I had missed him clean, then I could have let an arrow fly on the 2nd buck. The deer I shot was 10-15 inches bigger than the 2nd one that came in.
