What a roller coaster for Kansas Archery this year.
I slipped in on a stud on a Sunday evening. At 22 yards he was slightly quarting to me. Not bad at all, but I do/did shoot mechanical heads, so I needed to miss the shoulder blade. I put the arrow the arrow exactly where I wanted it. He trotted of 100 yards and layed down (not fell down). I could see his head was up in the sage brush, so I sat still waiting on it to fall over. Looking down, I see Razor's from my broad head a few yards from me (bad sign). I could get about 20 yards closer to him without making any noise. In Kansas there is always plenty of wind, but not this day. I saw scared if I tried to move in, I would spook him and be in for a real rodeo. I decided a field point in the lungs (basically what I had after losing my blades) would kill him quickly (hindsight, I probably should have tried for another shot).
After about 20 minutes a group of does walked by him. He stood up, and layed back down within a few seconds (good sign). After about 20 more minutes he stood up and started to walk away. I started moving parallel to him to try and keep him in sight. He layed down after about 80 yards, so I thought this was the end. As dark started to roll in, a group of yotes came by and got him up again. He started walking north east, and I was able to follow him staying about 500 yards away for about 1/2 mile. Eventually I popped up on a ridge, and instead of him being broadside, I saw his butt walking away headed south east. There was no way I could keep up with this, so the gig was up. I marked his last location on ONx, and went back to beds. Not 1 drop of blood anywhere in any of his beds, I backed out and waited on light knowing this just turned into a body search.
On Monday my buddy and I (he lives out there) put in about 20 miles looking. On Tuesday I put in another 30 looking. On Wednesday morning I called it and gave up. In Kansas I could have shot another buck, but in my mind, I put an arrow in him, and believed it to be a kill shot, so that was my tag. I went home Wednesday, and my buddy said "the river is north west about 1/2 mile, I'm going to look there but dont think he went that way (last travel I saw was South east).
I get home, and had been here about 10 hours (15.5 hour drive) and get a call. My buddy had found my deer laying in the river. I hopped back in the truck for the 31 hour round trip drive to retrieve him.
The lesson here for me is I will never under any circumstances shoot a mechanical head again. The cutting diameter is just not worth it in modern archery. Final score 182 2/8th
I slipped in on a stud on a Sunday evening. At 22 yards he was slightly quarting to me. Not bad at all, but I do/did shoot mechanical heads, so I needed to miss the shoulder blade. I put the arrow the arrow exactly where I wanted it. He trotted of 100 yards and layed down (not fell down). I could see his head was up in the sage brush, so I sat still waiting on it to fall over. Looking down, I see Razor's from my broad head a few yards from me (bad sign). I could get about 20 yards closer to him without making any noise. In Kansas there is always plenty of wind, but not this day. I saw scared if I tried to move in, I would spook him and be in for a real rodeo. I decided a field point in the lungs (basically what I had after losing my blades) would kill him quickly (hindsight, I probably should have tried for another shot).
After about 20 minutes a group of does walked by him. He stood up, and layed back down within a few seconds (good sign). After about 20 more minutes he stood up and started to walk away. I started moving parallel to him to try and keep him in sight. He layed down after about 80 yards, so I thought this was the end. As dark started to roll in, a group of yotes came by and got him up again. He started walking north east, and I was able to follow him staying about 500 yards away for about 1/2 mile. Eventually I popped up on a ridge, and instead of him being broadside, I saw his butt walking away headed south east. There was no way I could keep up with this, so the gig was up. I marked his last location on ONx, and went back to beds. Not 1 drop of blood anywhere in any of his beds, I backed out and waited on light knowing this just turned into a body search.
On Monday my buddy and I (he lives out there) put in about 20 miles looking. On Tuesday I put in another 30 looking. On Wednesday morning I called it and gave up. In Kansas I could have shot another buck, but in my mind, I put an arrow in him, and believed it to be a kill shot, so that was my tag. I went home Wednesday, and my buddy said "the river is north west about 1/2 mile, I'm going to look there but dont think he went that way (last travel I saw was South east).
I get home, and had been here about 10 hours (15.5 hour drive) and get a call. My buddy had found my deer laying in the river. I hopped back in the truck for the 31 hour round trip drive to retrieve him.
The lesson here for me is I will never under any circumstances shoot a mechanical head again. The cutting diameter is just not worth it in modern archery. Final score 182 2/8th
