full disclosure, we were 'hunting' about 30 yards from my dad's house!
my daughter was such an awesome partner last year, sitting every weekend early and late season without a kill, i wanted to reward her this year. the old man feeds these deer year round twice a day, so it wasn't like we weren't expecting this.
i set up the blind mid-day saturday, then we took both my kids (5 YO daughter and 1.5 YO son) for a little 'road hunt' up Mormon grade east of walla walla. some of my fondest memories are road hunting as a kid with the old man and his buddies. sitting on the center console of that '74 GMC Jimmy, drinking pepsi and eating doritos... man! good times! anyway, we took the drive, my daughter perched on the console (safely buckled in her booster...
) with the old man holding my son while he slept (also buckled safely!
). i guess id forgotten how rough mormon grade is... shawn had a hard time snoozing! a chunky doe almost jumped in the pickup with us on the way down, spooked by some other hunters.
i had no intention of shooting anything on our drive, but my daughter enjoyed it!
we hopped into the blind at 5pm. after about 7 minutes i figured out i had limited range of view. anya and i swapped seats. i sat for a couple of minutes and figured i bet make sure i could draw my bow. i drew and let down and anya started huffing and silently clapping. i told her i was just testing, and she whispered "no! the three point!" pointing up the hill. sure enough, hear he came! he trotted down the hill and grabbed a couple hamburger buns before turning to look back up the hill. i drew, let the pin settle and slipped a 100 gr shuttle T topped XX75 through his lungs at 15 yards. he scampered back up the hill, and where we lost sight of him he looked pretty unsteady on his feet. anya and i exited the blind and retrieved my arrow, which, to my dismay, smelled of gut!
i was sure of the shot, but as i looked to start a blood trail, i found none!
so into the house for almost an hour. as the sun dipped below scenic loop and my mom came and got shawn, dad, anya and i headed off on the trail. we found very sparse blood for about 80 yrds, to the top of the pasture. i was prepared for a tough track and was pretty bummed. then the old man says, "there he is." he made it about 10 feet from where we lost sight of him.
i tagged him and we took some pictures, then anya and the old man went after the four wheeler, because hey, it was almost 100 yards from the house!
i inspected the buck for the wound and found my shot was good through the lungs, right behind the right shoulder, but exited just behind the ribs on the left. i guess he was quartering more towards us than i thought. all his blood was pooled in the chest cavity and abdomen. all in all, i'd say he bled about 2 table spoons of blood outside the body. GRR!
Anya has decided she wants the antlers in her room, so i am researching freeze dryers and one of those fake skulls to attach them to (after a bath in pink paint). he's only a year and a half, but he's tasty!
(pic of him an hour and a half before i shot him) (anya and i after the shot - note the blind-friendly camo!) (and the Onza's first blood!)
