Deer Hunt Cut Short

I got up around 4:00 this morning grabbed the PSE and the blind and headed out to a corner that sat on the Cumberland River. My good friend Andy Biggerstaff and his family owns this farm. Its open river bottoms with fingers of oak trees running parallel with the river. Great looking farm for deer hunting. I had a great set up. I sat between the river and a feeding area. I got the double bull sat up in place and hunting partner and I got camera and bow ready to see what my come out of the river bottoms for something to eat or drink. About 15 minutes of setting in the dark and noticing how bad the fog was going to get I hear something way out in front of us. There was a good thick fog on. We could see about 40-60 yards out. Then I see it. Shining like new money were the Head Lights of a Truck! I was about to freak out. I told my friend that I wouldn't get to mean with them but I would let them know how they blew our set up and to get there rears off my property. The damage had already been done we can't change that. I have to admit that if those "poachers" had shot a round off and got within 60+ yards from me I was going to see how close I could get to the radiator or tires. It is illegal to cast rays of light across a field. Even headlights of a car or truck. This was a major problem in our area several years ago. I sure didn't want them firing one off in our direction. Lucky they turned off from our direction a few hundred yards away. Rule of thumb, if you think for a split second that someone could be hunting in this area or if the farm don't belong to you go somewhere else. Great morning shot down hard. I wasn't in the blind no time. I guess you could say it was one of my shortest hunts. I am going down to the River Breeze Cabin this weekend to do some hunting maybe fishing. I know for a fact that no body will be back in there riding around. Its mountain goat country. I plan on putting one of my G5 broad heads though something.

Some days Diamonds, some days Stones

Kentucky deer season started this past Saturday and I was on was on location in Campbellsville, Kentucky with bow in hand ready to cut down. Their was a cold front coming in Saturday evening so I climbed up my Tree Lounge stand that was in the corner of a soy bean field. At one end of the soy bean field was the county road and homes. On the other side of the road are trees and a bluff that went to the Green River. At the other end was a river bluff with hard woods. The river made a "horse shoe" around the property I was hunting. On each side of the field were cattle pastures and thickets. Now that you know what the environment is like around me I will get to the goods! I'm about 20 yards off the property line in the edge of the woods and about 30 yards away from the soy beans sitting there playing with the camera and a doe comes walking by. I'm trying to get the camera on her and she walks right in to the beans. A few minutes later I hear some movement from my left. I grab my bow and get the camera around and this is a buck. I see that its an eight pointer about 15 inches wide so I start focusing on using the camera. I watch him for a few minutes at 30 yards and I thought for a second that he was a 10 pointer but couldn't really tell by the way he was facing. After reviewing the footage it was a 10 pointer. I was also excited about what I was filming. This was the first time filing by myself. He also walked out in the beans. A few minutes later a freaky little dear came underneath my stand so I got some more film. I got positioned differently in my stand as time went by. I was sitting on the top part of my Lounge when I heard some noise to the left of me. I see that it has horns so I get bow in hand. Its pretty thick in this area so its easy to be protected from the limbs and the leafs. I loose sight of the deer for like a minute or two then he steps out in a opening. This is the "Mue Grande" of them all. I get drawled back and I noticed the limbs in between us so I start finding gaps to shoot through and I found one. As I watched the arrow graze one of those limbs I see the arrow hit the target but its not the best place to put an arrow. I hit the deer right in the liver area. The buck jumps and runs 30 yards and stops looking back at where he was standing at. I was going for another arrow and the deer went in the beans. I gave it 30 minutes and got down I was tore up bad. I just had the biggest deer that I had ever seen while hunting and my arrow did not find its correct target. I get to the beans and its nothing but blood. Some spots were heavier than others but a great bright red blood trail. I even seen like clotty blood. I let the buck sleep on it. Next morning I go back to the stand and I find the arrow. Bright red blood tip to tip. I start the search, as the trail got longer the blood trail got smaller. The last blood I found was the size of penny at the end of a ticket within a 100 yards of the opposite river bluff. Never to been seen again! Sickness ran all over me. Maybe I shouldn't had taken that shot. Well, life is all about chances and I took one. Would I take that shot again, you can bet your bottom dollar. I practice daily. I even practice shooting between limbs. When I am shooting my bow I try to prepare myself for any type of hunting situation. Well some days are diamonds, some days or stones. I wished I had found that deer. I can only hope that I see some buzzards flying or get another encounter with that buck. I will say this, running a camera while hunting took my "deer fever" level down a notch. It was an awesome hunt! I seen several deer including the biggest buck I had ever drawled back on. I can't wait to get back up in that stand. I need to trim a lane or two down and turn my stand around toward the path of the deer then I should be ready to throw another arrow.