TL;DR
This was the kind of hunt that keeps me outdoors. After getting a late start, thinking my whole hunt was going to be ruined by inclement weather, and missing a chance at a good buck because of a lack of sleep, within seconds I have a deer down and a solid opportunity to screw with my hunting partner.
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This last Tuesday I drove down to Three Rivers WMA for a multi-day backpacking/hunting trip. I got a late start and after a 4 hour drive I got there around sundown and set up camp. I didn't check the weather and woke up to rain on my tarp. I fiddle-farted around and by noon the fog hadn't burned off at all and I was wondering if I had made a mistake. The forecast was calling for rain all day and part of the next. About that time a buddy of mine who recently has been going through some stressful times texted me saying he needed some outdoor time and asked if I wanted to go hunting with him on his place.
I load all of my stuff back in the truck and drive home. Spent the next day with the mrs. and Friday morning I woke up stupid early and went south to his place. We got in the stands about 30 minutes before sunrise and I was tired. My buddy was about 100 yards behind me and 30 yards off to my left. He was overlooking an open field between us and I was facing into some woods. I had nearly fallen asleep in my stand when I realize my phone had received a text. He had sent me a picture of a decent buck that walked 30 yards behind me. The buck was gone by the time I saw the text. Not much was seen the rest of the morning and it was all out of range.
The afternoon sit was a bust.
Saturday morning started off slow when suddenly I hear leaves crunching to my left. A small 5 point buck was coming right for the base of my ladder stand. He was close and he was in a hurry so I made a snap decision to shoot him. If I had any time to think about it I probably would have let him keep walking. He was coming straight on and about the time I got the sight of my crossbow on him he swerved slightly to his left which opened up a shot between his neck and shoulder. I hit him right in the sweet spot. He ran a half circle and died 50 yards in front of me. I went from bored and sleepy to giddy and full of adrenaline in under 10 seconds. He didn't make much noise when he went down so I waited just in case his bigger brother gave my buddy or me a shot.
About 90 minutes later my buddy comes walking up behind me because he hasn't seen or heard anything except squirrels. He asks if I've had any luck and I point to the blood spot in front of him. He perks up and we start "following the blood trail". He looked like he was about to punch me when we "found" the deer and he realizes I saw the deer go down from my stand. This was the first deer shot while we have hunted together that he refused to help me drag or gut.
The arrow went in between the neck and right shoulder, clipped a lung, center punched the heart, and came out right behind the sternum, barely clipping the stomach.
Great Story and Congrats on the deer!
