I think Clint should be a professional black jack player. His last two bowhunting cards have been the ace (an 11pt) of spades and a king (a 10pt) of diamonds. Before that, his first three bow seasons were a bust. But now, two seasons and two BIG bucks! And his first two bucks at that, both with traditional bow tackle - his restored 1967 Bear Grizzly 45# recurve. And to top it off he went and killed MY 10pt, the one I've been hunting for 6 weeks. I over shot him once on Nov 22, almost shot at him again Dec 5, and then watched him for an agonizing 10 minutes on Dec 7 as he lazily nibbled a morning meal of new brush shoots just out of range while his honey, a hot doe, eventually worked directly under me, blowing the whole set up. Friday afternoon we headed out extra early. It was the first warm day we had in several weeks, mid 70's, a crystal clear sky and dead calm, ughh...hard to bowhunt conditions! I recommended he sit the CrossCreek stand, one of three stands in a heavy wooded travel corridor paralleling a wide, dry, grassy draw. I passed on a Boss 8pt last week from a stand further down and felt he could get an earlier shot as it passed by. I wanted to shoot that buck because he's nicer than my buck last month, but with only one buck tag left I held off because I really wanted the 10pt, plus after many hunts Clint hadn't yet drawn on a shooter this season. Well wouldn't you know it, at 4:30 Big Guy works thru the brush towards Clint and its slow, determined footsteps through the crunchy leaves stirs Clint back into full conscienceness from his near nap experience! At the Y in the trail 20yds out the buck paused a long while, deciding which way to go, left or right - bad for Clint or good for Clint. Oh no! Left he goes, but pauses again, lifts his nose high into the air and draws in a several wiffs. But God smiled and Biggie turned around, and then right onto the trail in front of Clint, finally pausing broadside just 13 paces away. Now, here's where the story gets really good! After an baking in the hot sun for 1 1/2 hours the cool shade felt good as the sun dipped below the tree line. At 5:10 the shadows grow longer, setting the stage for an expectant hunt that MY 10pt was to make his debut. Suddenly Clint walks briskly up from behind, almost startling me out of the tripod. The expression on his face is worrisom at best. He whispers loudly, "we've got a problem". I grabbed my gear and down I came. C: "I shot your 10pt", but the arrow didn't penetrate". Z: "what'd'ya mean, how deep"? C: "I couldn't tell, maybe this much (gesturing with his fingers 6 - 8"), he ran off around to my right, broke through the brush line and crossed the creek. I could see the arrow dangling, not sticking out of its side". Z: "where'd you hit it, what time"? C: "about 30 minutes ago. The shot looked perfect, tight behind the shoulder, right on the spot I picked, about a 13 yard shot. I don't understand why the arrow didn't penetrate more . I found blood on this side of the creek, but couldn't find any on the other side so I came to get you before it got dark. The blood is bright and looks bubbly". Smiling, I patted him on the shoulder and said, "let's go take a look". We immediately got to work on the trail, blood was sparse at best. We tag teamed the trail, meaning I had Clint inch along on all fours looking for minute blood drops (his young eyes are much better than mine) on the waist high straw grass, and I worked ahead "quick scanning". I then remembered we recently found a deer trail system with a series of scrapes in the woods on the opposite side of the creek, and we we're only a few yards away from its entry/exit point. The bucks escape path was headed in that direction, so off I went. Just as I turned a corner in the deer trail near a large scrape, not 20 yards into the tree line I saw the big white belly and the awesome rack beyond. "Clint! Check this out". "Did you find him? "I think so". Golly, gee whiz... I wouldn't have traded the moments that followed for anything, not even a shot at MY 10pt! What's next for Clint? I don't know, but I want in on "The Deal".
PS: An autopsy revealed that Clint's perfectly placed arrow penetrated well into the chest, piercing thru one lung and roto-rooting the insides before working its way out and hanging up on the broadhead, which explains Clints observation of the "dangling" arrow. The Magnus 100gr. broadhead needle tip curled upon impact with one of the ribs, yet held together as it glanced off and slid inbetween two ribs and penetrated well into the right lung. Magnus has asked me to send it to them for analysis and will replace it with their newly redesigned "Diamond Tip" MA 100 model. |
