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DAY 3

Monday Morning Hunt

I hunted the Creek stand for this mornings' hunt. This is the stand that I shot my 2nd deer here at Cimarron in 2003. The weather called for fog then clearing. It was windy and warm. At daybreak this small buck walked by my stand. It was quite early and I had to enhance this photo with Photoshop software.

A while later a small forky came by my treestand. I blew him out because I couldn't keep control my coughing. I've been sick since I started this hunt but it's getting worse. My kids had caught some bronchial infection and my daughter had it so bad that she'd wake herself up and climb into our bed. I knew it was not smart to snuggle with her before my hunt but she's six and besides, what's more important than comforting your child? I took my chances, but as last week went progressed, I could feel it coming. It hit me hard the first day of my hunt. It got so bad that I had Cabelas overnight me a "cough muffler."

I don't think the few bouts of coughing affected the amount of deer I saw. I could see them coming from a distance in this stand. It was just slow all morning. I stayed in until 11 AM then headed back to the house to rest up. I had run out of meds and had to run to the grocery store to get some cough medicine. It's just no fun being sick on a great hunt like this but the reality is I'd have to be on my deathbed to skip a hunt. So far, I was able to control my cough for the most part.

Monday Afternoon Hunt

I was feeling a little better after the meds but still not 100%. Kent and I discussed options for the afternoon hunt and with the strong winds, and the hot weather, he thought it best to head back to that North stand where I hunted Saturday evening. There was a great trail leading to the bedding area where he has a stand. The stand is in a very dark, thick tree belt and if I was a deer that's where I'd hang in this wind and heat.

Watch this magnificent buck as he walks in

I saw several deer early. A small forky was chasing a doe through the cedars. A small 8 passed behind me through the trees. At 5:40PM I caught movement from the East and as I zoomed in my video camera, I could see he was exactly what I was looking for. A tall, heavy 8 point. The adrenaline started pumping. I grabbed my bow and moved the video camera to film his approach. The deer was coming directly toward that major trail I was on. But he was getting too close. I was hoping he would turn and walk the fence line, that would give me a great broadside shot at 10 yards. But instead, he came right at me. I went Pssssstttt loudly but it failed to stop him. He jumped the fence and was now directly under my stand. If he got behind me he was gone. So I went Psssstttt again. The deer stopped and got nervous, then walked back to the fence. That's when everything went wrong.

Guys, I am very honest with my live hunts. We tell you the good, bad and the ugly. Well, I fell apart and made a bad hit. The stand is 20' up and the deer was only 5 yards from the tree. I shot too quick and did not take those precious extra few seconds to compose the shot and study the big picture. There's no excuse for it really, I knew the minute I shot I had screwed up. As you guys know, you can't take it back no matter how badly you want to.

See what you think - watch the shot on video

My arrow hit the deer too high and too far forward to be considered a good shot. We've now reviewed the video dozens of times and what we see is this: The arrow seems to penetrate to the left side of his backbone, tight behind the shoulder and coming (almost) straight down. If you look at the clip closely, you can see the arrow coming from the left (the video camera is one yard to the right). The arrow appears to penetrate to all but 10" of the back half, then it gets pushed back out with only 8-10 inches of penetration still in the buck. The deer jumped over the fence and ran down the fencline to the left. I watched as far as I could until he ran out of sight. I probably uttered a couple of unmentionables during this time. I stayed in my stand until Kent drove up and then snuck out quietly. Now it's a sleepless night wondering how tomorrows' bloodtrail will end. After watching the video, there is a ray of hope that due to the steep downward angle, my arrow may have hit something good, but honestly I think it's a long-shot. It will be a very difficult trail even with vital organ trauma. I'm not feeling confident, and I'm really mad at myself for making such a stupid mistake. I've had an exceptional streak of quick, clean kills since switching back to modern gear but this happens to everyone sooner or later despite all of the education, practice and experience. Damn.

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