About an hour later, a doe busted him at the exact time that he released the arrow and he buried the arrow right where she was standing a second earlier. Fast forward to this afternoon and he sat out. So, I was back in my stand and my daughter in hers.We were in the stands around 4pm. Out of no where at 5pm, I caught movement about 40 yards in front of me. A buck had came out of the ravine and was heading right to me. He was moving so fast, I barely had time to text my daughter I had deer under me. Since we're sitting relatively close together, we try to give the other a heads up just in case we both end up with an opportunity. Well, the buck made a beeline for the oak that is 15 yards in front of my stand. Right after I first saw him, I knew he was a shooter. It was certainly less than a minute from the time I first saw him until he was just barely quartering too at 18 yards under the oak. I sit about 24 feet up, so it was a fairly steep angle. I put the 20 yard dot about 3/4 of the way up just behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger on my Matrix 350 SE. The Rocket Hammerhead tipped Zombie Slayer found its mark as highlighted by the Lumenok. The bucked jumped and headed downhill toward the ravine about 60 yards away. Just after he went out of sight, I'm fairly certain I heard a tumble or crash.
I sat for 45 minutes before climbing down. There wasn't much blood the first 20 yards, but I did find a little.
When I ventured beyond 40 yards, the blood started to paint thicker.
Sensing that the deer probably wasn't far from the edge of the thick stuff, I took the opportunity to try out a new thermal tracker. The buck is about 20 yards away. Can you see him?
He's right there.
Here is the way I found him...
Here he is pulled out to more level ground.
So far this bow season has been phenomenal. Although I really like how maneuverable my Micro is in my tree stand, this Matrix appears to be in the right place at the right time. This is the second 8pt I've taken with it in as many weeks and both were taken with the same arrow. At first glance, it may ride again. We'll have to see after a closer inspection. I wasn't going to shoot another buck unless it was larger than the last. This one appears to be a year older and is slightly heavier all around. If I take another buck this season, it will have to be even bigger so I'm really raising the bar now. Well, for bucks anyway. No mature doe is safe.
