So opening morning of archery season rolls along and I am running around on Friday night after work like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything setup and loaded in the new trailer and get it hauled down there before dark. I fail at the before dark part but get it pulled down there and setup. I haven't been getting regular pictures of him and the camera on the feeder that has the archery blind quit so I'm not sure what to expect.
Last year I was just going to go down there and shoot him like a duck on a pond (obviously that didn't happen) and so I kept making trips with the truck and sleeping in the bed. This time I decided I would pull the trailer down there and just leave it for the duration.
I set the alarm for 6 since shooting light was at 7:00ish and I wanted to be in the blind at least 30 minutes before that. Everything goes smoothly and I am in the blind a little early and get everything setup. I probably looked hilarious hauling a chair, shooting sticks, cooler and the crossbow in a crazy strapped up fashion but I got everything there in one trip. Of course once I got in the blind I had left a chair in there so I didn't need to bring the extra chair.
On the way in I realize that the wind is perfect, just a very light southwest breeze. I set this blind up because that is the predominant wind, but it seems like last year the wind wasn't always very cooperative so it was nice to have the wind right.
I wait in the dark and eat a bagel and drink a diet coke and play on my phone a bit with the screen brightness set all the way down.
Shooting light rolls around and it is an absolutely gorgeous morning. Quail are calling, some road runners are doing their thing and some cardinals and dove as well. This place has some great birds to watch. One of the road runners comes and climbs/flies the tree right next to me. I should have taken his picture but I was just enjoying myself.
I'm enjoying the morning and I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. The blind windows were all shut except the 2 in the front and there was some dew so I couldn't see out of the others very well, but I could tell it was a deer coming to the feeder from the side. He comes around the side and it is him! He is following the script like an NFL referee at a chiefs game!
The only negative is that the feeder hasn't gone off so there is nothing for him to eat. He keeps coming and walks up to the fence around the feeder (I put a fence up to keep the pigs out of it, supposedly it makes the deer feel more comfortable and it keeps the pigs from eating all the corn every time). Since there isn't anything on the ground in the feeder enclosure I'm not sure what he is going to do.
He is at a quartering away angle looking into the feeder enclosure and I'm not going to wait to see what he is going to do. I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and squeeze the trigger. There's the noise of the crossbow going off and the immediate thwack of an arrow hitting something and he turns and runs off. No big back kick like he is lung shot, just turns and runs off.
I'm shaking and super excited but immediately start second guessing myself. I shouldn't have been so impatient. He probably would have stuck around a bit longer, did I hold at the right angle, why didn't he kick back like a lung shot? All those questions and more started flooding through my brain.
I texted a buddy and let him know that I had shot him but was second guessing myself. I pulled the binoculars out and ranged the shot (22 yards) and looked for the arrow. I found the arrow on the ground in the middle of the feeder enclosure but the lighted knock wasn't lit so that was another thing to wonder about. He said that since I'm not sure on the lung hit I should wait at least an hour.
I tried sitting and just enjoying the morning but the suspense was killing me. After about 20 minutes I got out of the blind and went over and at least checked out the arrow. It had blood but no bubbles. It was broken but I wasn't sure if it could have hit the fence on the other side of him and that might have broken it or what. I smelled it and wiped the blood off with my fingers and felt that it was for sure body cavity type blood but not sure I could tell anything more than that
