We found him still alive! I'm convinced the new arrows I have are faulty. I ended up shooting him three times and all three shafts broke on contact.
He went a lot further that I thought he could. I'm convinced the first shaft broke when it hit the shoulder and deflected way back. You see the entrance on his right shoulder in the pic and the shaft on that side was almost perpendicular to his body when I was watching him yesterday, but the exit was a few inches behind his ribs on the left side. One lung hit.
We found him bedded on top of a ridge and he spotted us first. No shot. However, he clearly was not feeling well and did not run. He walked away and I followed very carefully at a distance on the edge of visibility. He went into a creek bottom with steep sides and decided he didn't want to climb out. I closed to within about 20 yards, but could only see his antlers. I waited to see if he would go up the other side, which would have given me a good shot, but he never did.
After about a half hour I did a sneak and was able to put another arrow in him from about three yards and above him while he was bedded. That stunned him good and he rolled onto his side with his back towards me, but as he did the broken shaft from the second arrow (the first was gone already) came out without him rolling on top of it. That was a serious WTF!?!?! moment. I put a third arrow in him just for good measure and that one broke, too.
I've been using Easton XX75s for decades and have never seen anything like it.
Anyway, I got him and I'm ecstatic. There are bigger deer, but this is the biggest deer of my life and I got him with a bow!
He went a lot further that I thought he could. I'm convinced the first shaft broke when it hit the shoulder and deflected way back. You see the entrance on his right shoulder in the pic and the shaft on that side was almost perpendicular to his body when I was watching him yesterday, but the exit was a few inches behind his ribs on the left side. One lung hit.
We found him bedded on top of a ridge and he spotted us first. No shot. However, he clearly was not feeling well and did not run. He walked away and I followed very carefully at a distance on the edge of visibility. He went into a creek bottom with steep sides and decided he didn't want to climb out. I closed to within about 20 yards, but could only see his antlers. I waited to see if he would go up the other side, which would have given me a good shot, but he never did.
After about a half hour I did a sneak and was able to put another arrow in him from about three yards and above him while he was bedded. That stunned him good and he rolled onto his side with his back towards me, but as he did the broken shaft from the second arrow (the first was gone already) came out without him rolling on top of it. That was a serious WTF!?!?! moment. I put a third arrow in him just for good measure and that one broke, too.
I've been using Easton XX75s for decades and have never seen anything like it.
Anyway, I got him and I'm ecstatic. There are bigger deer, but this is the biggest deer of my life and I got him with a bow!
