Post by: subagang707 on September 03, 2014, 09:28:04 AM
Every animal I have been lucky enough to harvest previously I have harvested alone. I realize this as I am holding my pin on this doe and seem to be shaking more with my daughter standing right next to me. I ask her the range and she replies "20 yards"... Too many things going through my head at this point, range :dunno:, bubble :tup:, pin behind shoulder :tup:, squeeze trigger :dunno:, first time shooting an animal with my daughter present :yike:, don't miss :dunno:, etc., etc.... Range finder is not an option at this point but I am certain that she is closer to 30 yards.
The shot goes off as the doe has decided to no longer provide a perfect broadside shot and spins to the left and jumps the string to head uphill. I have no idea if the arrow hit and my daughter says that the arrow went low. The doe goes up hill for about 10 feet and then spins on a dime and goes back across the road and down hill. We walk up to the road (22 yards, she was closer :dunno:) were she crossed and see some blood spatter but it looks really dark and still not light enough to get a really good feel on where the arrow might have impacted. I no longer hear any brush crashing but the downhill side is very steep.
We decide to wait for an hour and then start tracking. My daughter is very excited that we have harvested a deer and I am a little worried that this may be a tremendously difficult tracking job as it is straight down hill (probably a 50-60% grade) and I am not sure where I hit her :dunno:.
The hour passes and we start the tracking (my daughter has hunted for 2 years but never had the privilege of this part of the hunt). I teach her some tracking techniques and she is going crazy with the camera, I think she took a photo of every blood spot along the way. Initially we had just blood spots hear and there but as we dropped further down the side of the hill the blood spots turned into spray and eventually 60 yards down the hill I can see the doe laying on top of some ferns about another 50 yards downhill. I get my daughter to reach where I am standing and ask her if she sees anything. She looks around and her face lights up when she spots the doe in her final resting place. High fives and fist bumps, hugs and cheers were had. We make our way down to our harvest (she is still taking pictures of every fern and bush that at this point are completely covered in blood).
We reach the deer (clean pass-through the neck, severing her carotid artery) and take a few pictures and notch the tag and I decide that it would be better to drag her back up hill and gut her on the road to keep the meat clean :bash:!! That was not a good decision, as I am definitely feeling it today. We get her gutted (more pictures taken by my personal photographer), put in the truck and she was hanging in the garage all skinned out by 1100.
Ended up being a very short archery deer season for me but well worth it for all of the memories. I will never forget the looks on my daughters face right after the shot, while we were tracking, crawling in the truck to go home, and hanging and skinning our harvest. I will cherish those moments for a life time, hopefully she will also.
Now I can concentrate on helping the wife arrow her deer in the next couple weeks and helping my daughter harvest her first deer this year with the special youth tag that she drew for modern firearm season.
I am truley blessed to have a wife and a daughter (my oldest, 15) who love the sport of hunting as much as I do and to have another daughter (my youngest, 12) who loves the Seahawks as much as I do!!! I will still be doing the High Buck Hunt with my buddies, it will just be a High Bear Hunt for me this year. I may think about modern elk season a little bit also!!
She had no boney protrusions atop her melon nor was she the biggest, but it is meat in the freezer and memories to last a life time!!!
Post by: Widgeondeke on September 03, 2014, 09:39:33 AM
CONGRATS to you both!
Post by: MLBowhunting on September 03, 2014, 09:40:23 AM
Post by: Katmai Guy on September 03, 2014, 09:50:41 AM
Post by: de0827 on September 03, 2014, 10:22:21 AM
Post by: Huntboy on September 03, 2014, 10:43:52 AM
Post by: elkoholic1 on September 03, 2014, 10:55:23 AM
Post by: hntrspud on September 03, 2014, 10:57:06 AM
Post by: ELKBURGER on September 03, 2014, 12:38:52 PM
Post by: nw_bowhunter on September 03, 2014, 03:48:36 PM
Post by: buck man on September 03, 2014, 06:51:13 PM
Post by: Gobble Doc on September 03, 2014, 08:25:49 PM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on September 03, 2014, 08:38:36 PM