On Why We Always Should Shoot In A Safe Direction...

[nchunterkw]

So I was out on Saturday and was looking for a slightly different place to sit as it seems the deer had moved a bit due to my pressure over the past few weeks. I go to my usual spot, and then push south a little bit more and quickly bump 4 deer near the pine thicket. Dang it! So I quickly move out to the road (this is a neighborhood I am hunting) and push about 75 yards further south really quick then duck back into the woods. Nice little area with a creek bed and some large oaks. I'm just kind of hanging around checking things out. Bunch of squirrel traffic so I'm thinking this will be a nice spot...obviously still some acorns around..... I see some movement to my right. Another squirrel......well, no it isn't it's a nice doe. She is about 40 - 45yds out and there are LOTS of little saplings between me and her. I am squatting down so I'm not in a comfortable position at all. We stay like this for about 5 minutes. My legs are burning by now and she sees me and is curious. She decides to close the gap and while she is moving I am able ti sit down on the ground. Now she's about 30yds and looking at me but again the saplings....She finally decides to be scared and snorts and jumps away to the edge of the pines which is about 50yds away, but that's it. I can still see her moving so I just sit still. The squirrel army is continuing to invade my territory, oblivious to my existence. I take this as a good sign. Ms. Doe decides to be curious again and again closes the gap on me coming straight in. At 30yds, she turns broadside going back down where I first saw her, but pauses in a clearing in the saplings. Safe direction, no trees between me and her, 30yds, broadside....BANG. Ramcat flies true and it looks like a good hit and she takes off in a loop to the pines. I mentally mark where she went in, then I look where I shot. My arrow is about 10 feet high in a tree. What the heck? I walk over there to retrieve it and where she was standing is blood. Cool. Drop my hat to mark that spot. Go get the arrow. It's stuck in the tree but barely. I just knock it down with a stick.
Long story short, I had a great nonstop blood trail and she only made it 5 yards or so into the pines...maybe 50 - 60 yards total . The IN and OUT holes were perfectly aligned so all I can figure is that the arrow passed through and then hit a sapling or something and deflected UP. It didn't have much force left, but still. If I were not aiming in a safe direction it could have been bad. This is not so big a deal when shooting from up in a tree, but for those of us on the ground....I'm at something like 35 deer in NC with my crossbow and this is the first time this has ever happened.

Stay Safe, Be Smart, Be Disciplined and Shoot Straight. No deer is worth the risk of shooting in an unsafe direction.

Oh yeah....I gutted her out, drug her down to where I was sitting when I shot her...saw some good sign while dragging her, sat by another tree and killed another doe 30 min later. Good day all around.

[Boo]

You are right of course! It is easy enough to focus on the job at hand and not consider where the arrow is going after it exits the deer.
None the less, it’s a cool story! Are you starting to donate your deer yet?

[nchunterkw]

You are right of course! It is easy enough to focus on the job at hand and not consider where the arrow is going after it exits the deer.
None the less, it’s a cool story! Are you starting to donate your deer yet?

I donate at least something from every deer I shoot. I usually only keep backstraps and hind qtrs. The rest goes to burger and all gets donated, and then roasts from the others go to folks as I become aware. I've taken to giving away roasts along with a crockpot recipe or 2 so people aren't left to their own devices to figure out how to cook it. In this case 1 whole deer is going to the grind (except the B/S).

[Boo]

You are right of course! It is easy enough to focus on the job at hand and not consider where the arrow is going after it exits the deer.
None the less, it’s a cool story! Are you starting to donate your deer yet?

I donate at least something from every deer I shoot. I usually only keep backstraps and hind qtrs. The rest goes to burger and all gets donated, and then roasts from the others go to folks as I become aware. I've taken to giving away roasts along with a crockpot recipe or 2 so people aren't left to their own devices to figure out how to cook it. In this case 1 whole deer is going to the grind (except the B/S).

You are a good man Keith

[Bcxbow]

Way to go Keith congrats

[Brad Cayton]

Yep, you're a good feller! Thanks for the reminder. I also bowhunt in close quarters at times and always try to be sure of a safe shot but it's easy to get distracted.

[mr meat]

Congrats on the does

[DuckHunt]

Congrats on the two does. The first lumenok I ever fired lit a somewhat similar trajectory. My arrow passed through a doe about about 40 yards and my shot was a bit high. As the arrow exited I last saw it traveling at about a five degree incline further into the woods where I hunt. I was shooting from ground level and was a bit surprised to see the arrow gaining altitude after the target. The nock must have went out or slid under the leaves whenever it landed because I searched for a half hour and never located it. Over the past few seasons I still keep looking for that arrow because there are very few that don't eventually reveal themselves. I've even looked in the trees because it was at least head high when I last saw it.

[bob watkins]

very nice keith next is stick bow kill with your new bow

[Carnivorous]

Great hunt! Arrows do the strangest things!!!

[Normous]

During an evening wild boar hunt with member Paul Amenta I witnessed his Lumenok arrow deflect high coming out of a hog and impacting high about 8 feet up in a tree.

Some head scratching going on after that.