Just about 9:30 I heard a twig snap way off to my right. I had to strain to look that far in that direction. I saw legs moving through the brush. As it moved through I saw horns and I knew for sure that it was a shooter. I grabbed my bow as I alerted Steve. I believe that his words were, "O my" as the beast stepped into the open field below us. He moved silently and quickly across the field. I knew that he would be at 40 yards in the open soon so I drew up. Of course the deer stopped behind some thick junk and I had no shot. I actually let down and waited until he started to move again. As soon as he began walking I drew up again and bleated with my voice. He stopped in the perfect spot and glared in our direction. I put my 40 yard pin on his shoulder and released the arrow. Smack, right in the shoulder. I thought then that it was a lethal hit and we celebrated in the tree as the deer ran off!
We sat down and tried to calm down as we took in what had just happened. It was a Greene County Monster! A deer that you read about in magazines and books that only a few people have ever seen in person. This deer was the largest deer that I have ever seen in the wild. We watched the footage and agreed that the shot was a touch forward but was a lethal shot! We sat there in disbelief for about a half an hour as we gathered our composure. Steve contacted Dan and Lonnie who were hunting about 15 minutes away from us! We would wait for them to get there before we would take out on the trail of this deer.
After almost 2 hours we were back to where we last saw this deer. We searched for blood and any other sign that we could find in the open field. Nothing! First check of the day. I thought that there would be blood and we did not find any at first. We moved in the direction that the deer went and 10 yards inside the woods we found the first blood. It was dark red but not very plentiful. As we followed the trail we found more and more blood. He was heading straight downhill which was also a sign of a lethal hit. We had good blood for a while and then it began to decrease, and quickly. We found ourselves on a flat where he could have turned either direction, but no more blood anywhere around! We fanned out, circled looked for tracks, blood or any sign at all! We found nothing. Some of us went right and some left and some down to the bottom. We saw no signs at all! We searched for 3 hours and went back to Steve's to view the footage on a larger screen.
As we sat there looking, we realized that the broadhead hit bone. Not sure what it hit but definitely bone and penetration was minimal. But we couldn't understand why we didn't find the arrow. And we were sure as we followed the bloodtrail that there was froth in a couple of patches of blood that we found.
We searched the next day for hours walking hills and flats from the last point that we had blood and looking for some kind of sign that this deer was either still alive or piled up somewhere. We didn't find anything. We searched fro another 3 hours and then 3 more hours the next day to no avail! This deer may have survived this hit. I sure hope so, as it sickens me to think that it is running around with an arrow hanging out of it! I wish I would have shot him back a little further, the chance of a lifetime slipped though my fingers!
How disappointing. What a great encounter though, I never dreamed that I would have a chance like that. We still have a couple of weeks left to the bow season, and we are still hopeful of the chance to get a nice buck in our truck. We have seen more shooters and are excited about the chances that we are having!
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