First Bow Kill!

Growing up I deer hunted but wasn’t a die harder. As I got older I got more interested in becoming a bow hunter because I hated having to sit still in the freezing cold. So a few years ago bought a bow and started practicing. As soon as I was confident enough I went out. I ended up shooting a doe and felt very good about my shot placement. We found the blood trail immediately, it was good blood and a lot of it. After about 70 yards we ended up jumping her up and never to be seen again. I was very disappointed and discouraged. 

I started getting into bird hunting which pushed my excitement for deer to the back burner. Fast forward to living in Kansas now. We had a whitetail and pheasant butchering and cooking class coming up. We needed two does for the class so I offered to give it a shot again with my bow.

Danny and I, being the worst two people to put in a blind together, sat there not so patiently waiting for a doe to step out. ADD, silence, and no movement doesn’t mix well for people like us lol. (Picture 1) But anyways, a doe finally starts making her way to the feeder. She stood at the feeder eating for a few minutes which was 30 yards. It was almost the end of shooting light so it was starting to get hard to see my pins. I hoped she’d come in a little closer but she didn’t. So I decided to take the chance and let an arrow fly. She immediately dropped and turned her body away from me. I couldn’t tell where the arrow went. I immediately got worried that I messed up once again.

We sat there watching her run until we could no longer see her. Danny said “Hey there’s a small buck.” He put his nose to the sky and started sniffing. He was headed in the direction she ran. He continued on her path with his head down trying to find her. We got down and started looking for my arrow, but we couldn’t find it. Not even a drop of blood was around the feeder or the direction she ran. I replayed the footage but couldn’t see where the arrow entered but saw that it was still in her. So I knew I atleast hit her.

At this point it’s dark and we called Nick to come pick us up from the stand and help us look. We started heading in the direction she ran. As we’re walking with our lights on Nick said “Everyone turn your lights off. I see eyes” He started walking toward the eyes in the dark with no light. He whistled to me and Danny and said to come toward him. Once we got up to him he said “That little buck is standing over there with his head down. I bet he’s standing over your doe.” We started walking toward him with our lights on. The little buck just watched us as we got closer not worried about us at all.

As we got closer he finally ran off to about 60 yards, stopped and turned around and stared at us. Then Danny said “Hey Randi look, there she is”. Nick was right, she was laying right where the buck was standing. She went about 70 yards from the blind. She still had my arrow in her, it was only hanging on by the fletchings. Not a speck of blood to lead us to her but the buck did. He continued to stand off in the distance with a beautiful orange full moon in the background. (Picture 2)

I couldn’t have asked for a cooler experience for my first bow kill. Nature is crazy and I’m thankful that I get to live this life learning more about it everyday.