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2K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  SubconsciousShooter 
#1 ·
Well, I went hunting on Sat, and it was pretty warm. That morning I saw a few does, but nothing close. That afternoon I went out and hunting a small oak flat that was still dropping a few white oaks. At 4 pm I had a spike come by and skirt around me at about 40 yards.

A little before 5 pm it was beginning to get dark. I was contemplating whether or not to take a shot at a squirrel when I noticed this doe out in front of me at about 50 y. I was afraid that she was going to follow the path of the spike, but she slowly ( and I mean slowly) worked her way in while feeding on acorns.

She offered me a broadside shot at about 20y, but since she was continually working her way in, and she was completely relaxed, I decided to let her come just a little bit closer. Then what does she do? She steps behind a big oak and circles around, offereing me a perfect broadside shot @ 15 y; except for the fact that there is a wall of overhanging branches preventing any shot.

She stayed put there for what seemed like forever. I could hear her munching away of those acorns. All she had to do was take about 5 steps to my left. Now it was really getting dark, and I was afraid that she was never going to move.

At about 5:15, she took a couple of steps closer to me. I was able to find a basketball size hole in the brush, and I took the 10 yard shot with her slightly quartering to me. I could not see the shot ( I am going to get some lumenocks), but I heard it hit her.

I climbed down to investigate. The good news was that I had a complete pass thru, with my arrow sticking in the ground on the other side. The bad news is that it was covered in gut. I saw her run towards the 4 -wheeler trail that we came in on, and figured that she had crossed it. I angled away from her, while going back to the trail so as not to disturb her.

We later returned with a tracking dog. Long story short, no blood trail, but the dog found her piled up less than 80y from the shot. Shot her behind front shoulder (getting probably one lung), angled back thru liver and exited gut. Intestines hung out exit wound, plugging the hole. When we cleaned her, she was just full of blood.

Again used my Chek-Mate King's Pawn 55# @ 29 inch and used one of the same Axis 400 arrows that I used on one of the other deer. This time I used a 2 blade Magnus Stinger.

Sorry to be long winded.

Braden
 
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#4 ·
I know BowDonkey, but she was angling towards me, so I can't really blame the broadhead. But I am going to try the 4-blade stinger again. I have seen the 125g Landshark, will it really make that much of a difference? It really does not seem that much bigger, or does that concave really do something different? I am open for suggestions, I really would like a better bloodtrail. The 3 deer that I got did'y travel over 100y, but had skimpy bloodtrails, but some of that can be attributed to shot placement. I would have to guess that if this deer was completely broadside, that a pass thru the chest would have to leave a good blood trail. But those Land Sharks do interest me, has anyone used them?

Braden
 
#6 ·
Oh, it's a Kings Pawn! thought it was a Falcon. Both are great bows, not going to sell that bow are you?

There's a thread about broadheads on the Main forum where there was a lot of talk about the Simmons heads. James posted some stuff about the destruction that one did to a Doe he shot last month. I wonder too if it would've been different with a Simmons head... quartering-to shots are a bit iffy sometimes. Liver is a killer though, but tracking can be tough.

The mighty Doe! you got that right... any deer with a recurve is a mighty deer!
 
#7 ·
I think that the King's Pawn and the Falcon are about the same, just the KP may be longer. But I am not going to sell it. THings have just come together for me recently, shooting wise.

Going to go back to the 4-blade and see how that goes. The Stingers just fly so well out of my setup. May toy with something else in the offseason.

Like I said, still haven't gotten the traditional broadside shot yet. None of the deer have gone far, may not be the BH's fault on lack of bloodtrail. Could just be a good case of operator error.
 
#8 ·
Way to go Braden, that's a nice doe and good story.... There's been a lot of talk on the forum about broadheads here lately, and it's one of my favorite subjects to read about. I have had, as most here also have had a good bit of experience with the diffrent & various types of broadheads. It has also been fascinating to read where one guy has had terrible luck with 1 particular head while others have had great success with it. But i also understand that a few bad experiences with a certain head can be a confidance killer... I'm getting out of the broadhead adaptor thing myself after this year... they bend way too easy.


Lambow
 
#11 ·
Braden, a broadhead adapter is how you glue a head made for wood arrows on aluminum. They glue in the head to give it threads to screw into an aluminum shaft. Or I guess carbon for that matter. If I was gonna use one, I would go with the 200-225 grain ones. Lots tougher. Nice going on the deer. :highfive:
 
#13 ·
This was my 1st season useing carbon arrows to hunt with, and all of the broadheads i have are glue on. So, i had to use these 5 degree, aluminum,40 grn. broadhead adaptors. I found that they are more aggravating to align the head to them than wood shafts. But the main reason i don't care for them is that they would bend, on about every deer i shot, even on pass throughs into the dirt.
Though i had no complaints with broadheads effectiveness ( W W's).The steel adaptors that Boho was talking about are pretty heavy.I'm one of those fellas that don't like a bunch of weight up front... Thinking of useing the stingers, mag 1's, or muzzy phantoms next year.
Bob's right!! any deer taken with a bow is a trophy, and the younger ones sure do taste better.

Lambow
 
#14 ·
Simmons heads & blood trail

I can't pretend any great experience since I took my first trad. deer this year with a 135 grain Simmons head (51# ChekMate Falcon, CX carbon, 485 gr. total arrow weight). I shot down on the doe from about 25 feet up, she about 5 yards from the base of the tree. The arrow entered about 2 inches to the right of the spine about midways of her back, angled forward, & the broadhead exited her chest on the left side of the sternum. Although the broadhead made an exit hole, the arrow did not pass all the way through, the fletch end sticking out of her back as she ran off. The point of all this detail is that although the deer had a large hole in her chest, one lung destroyed, there was no blood trail whatever. She went about 90 yards, very little blood even where she went down. Her chest cavity was full of blood, but something stopped the hole. It wasn't the arrow because at some point in her flight it broke in two, the broadhead end and the fletch end being expelled. I recovered the fletch end but not the broadhead end. I can't imagine a better exit wound to leave a massive blood trail, but there was none. My point is, it's not always the fault of the broadhead (or other items in the set-up) when there's no blood trail.
 
#17 ·
I never really meant to imply that shooting a doe was not a true trophy. I even think that shooting a doe with a compound or rifle can be a trophy. It just depends on what gets you excited. I hunt mainly on a property that is strictly managed for trophy bucks, but you can shoot all of the does you want. I just wanted to do something that made shooting does more exciting, and shooting trad gear sure fits the bill. But that is just me. My brother is not a big deer hunter and has never killed a deer before. I took him rifle hunting earlier this year, and thought he was going to have a heart attack when this doe stepped out (he missed). If he would have connected, it too would have been something that we both would have been proud of. I am by no means an accomplished deer hunter, and would shoot 100 does this year if time, money, and the law allowed. All I know is that my heart was about to beat out of my chest when this doe started to work her way towards me. And those backstraps have been marinating for about a day and a half now.
 
#18 ·
All I know is that my heart was about to beat out of my chest when this doe started to work her way towards me
I hear you on that one, I thought my heart was gonna come out of my chest when I had a doe close the distance from 75 yards to 12 yards in a span of about 15 minutes!
 
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