Lungdeflator
★★★★★ Legendary Member
My wife was able to tag out Friday evening. Not her biggest buck, but we are more than happy with it (I might have been more excited than her). Especially with her being 7 months pregnant and limited time to hunt.
Going into the season with her being pregnant, I had wanted to help her fill her tag ASAP. We had cameras out in a local coolie and were able to get some of the biggest bucks we have seen in that coolie. Things were looking great for the upcoming season. Opening weekend, we decided to take a trip to the badlands to try to get her on a mulie, her only chance of the year. She had a few close encounters, but couldn't close the deal. We got back and went to check the cameras in the coolie. We found there was now 200 head of cattle in the coolie. Going back through the pictures it was crazy how the deer moved out of the coolie after the cattle were moved in. The coolie was cold and after 4 hunts in it, we decided we had to try something different.
We planned to go hunt down by Garrison Friday evening and Saturday morning if needed. Friday we were running late after dropping the boy off for the night and an hour drive south. When we arrived we found a tractor out in the field right next to our spot, tilling, and with the rain coming Sunday, we thought he would be out all night. So, being late and with the tractor working close by, we didn't have high hopes. We were able to get in around 6:15pm, and setup on the ground in a small windrow on a travel route. To our surprise the tractor quit around 7pm. Around 725pm I caught movement in the trees and let my wife know to get ready. We could see it was a buck, but couldn't tell how big. As it stepped out it immediately looked our way and I thought it was over. But he put his head back down and continued on. I ranged him at 26 yards for my wife and that was the last sight I had of him. A few seconds later my wife drew back and shot. As the deer turned and ran, I saw what I thought was quite a bit of arrow sticking out of him. We looked at each other and I could tell my wife was disappointed. She told me she hit him too far forward. So with that and the arrow sticking out, we weren't very optimistic. We backed out to get the lights from the truck. We started where we last heard him running and found the last 6" of her arrow broken off with blood up to the vanes and a small leaf with bubbly blood on it. This was good. From that spot we followed minimal blood, to a spot were something must have broke free because the blood was coming out much better. We found a bed with some blood in it and got worried that we bumped him off. But the blood was much better and we continued to follow. About 30 yards after the bed, my wife just says "deer". I immediatley freeze and start scanning the darkness ahead for glowing eyes, expecting the wounded deer to be standing up, just about to bolt. Finally she says "No, dead deer!". And there he was, 15 yards up the trail.
Turns out he was quartering too more than she thought on the shot, the shot placement was good for a quartering too shot, it went in between the shoulder and the middle of the brisket, double lunged, and the broadhead almost poked out the backside of the opposite shoulder. He was really bloated when we found him and we think that the broadhead made just enough damage on the opposite side that all the air from the lungs made its way in between the skin and muscles and blew him up like a balloon. We don't hunt from the ground much and are always surprised by how much faster it seems when hunting from the ground.
Really happy for her and glad to have some meat in the freezer!
Going into the season with her being pregnant, I had wanted to help her fill her tag ASAP. We had cameras out in a local coolie and were able to get some of the biggest bucks we have seen in that coolie. Things were looking great for the upcoming season. Opening weekend, we decided to take a trip to the badlands to try to get her on a mulie, her only chance of the year. She had a few close encounters, but couldn't close the deal. We got back and went to check the cameras in the coolie. We found there was now 200 head of cattle in the coolie. Going back through the pictures it was crazy how the deer moved out of the coolie after the cattle were moved in. The coolie was cold and after 4 hunts in it, we decided we had to try something different.
We planned to go hunt down by Garrison Friday evening and Saturday morning if needed. Friday we were running late after dropping the boy off for the night and an hour drive south. When we arrived we found a tractor out in the field right next to our spot, tilling, and with the rain coming Sunday, we thought he would be out all night. So, being late and with the tractor working close by, we didn't have high hopes. We were able to get in around 6:15pm, and setup on the ground in a small windrow on a travel route. To our surprise the tractor quit around 7pm. Around 725pm I caught movement in the trees and let my wife know to get ready. We could see it was a buck, but couldn't tell how big. As it stepped out it immediately looked our way and I thought it was over. But he put his head back down and continued on. I ranged him at 26 yards for my wife and that was the last sight I had of him. A few seconds later my wife drew back and shot. As the deer turned and ran, I saw what I thought was quite a bit of arrow sticking out of him. We looked at each other and I could tell my wife was disappointed. She told me she hit him too far forward. So with that and the arrow sticking out, we weren't very optimistic. We backed out to get the lights from the truck. We started where we last heard him running and found the last 6" of her arrow broken off with blood up to the vanes and a small leaf with bubbly blood on it. This was good. From that spot we followed minimal blood, to a spot were something must have broke free because the blood was coming out much better. We found a bed with some blood in it and got worried that we bumped him off. But the blood was much better and we continued to follow. About 30 yards after the bed, my wife just says "deer". I immediatley freeze and start scanning the darkness ahead for glowing eyes, expecting the wounded deer to be standing up, just about to bolt. Finally she says "No, dead deer!". And there he was, 15 yards up the trail.
Turns out he was quartering too more than she thought on the shot, the shot placement was good for a quartering too shot, it went in between the shoulder and the middle of the brisket, double lunged, and the broadhead almost poked out the backside of the opposite shoulder. He was really bloated when we found him and we think that the broadhead made just enough damage on the opposite side that all the air from the lungs made its way in between the skin and muscles and blew him up like a balloon. We don't hunt from the ground much and are always surprised by how much faster it seems when hunting from the ground.
Really happy for her and glad to have some meat in the freezer!
