First bow kill

Well I got lucky. This is my first archery kill, and it was a sweet hunt. We got busted three times by good sized deer, one a 4x4 about 27" and the other was also a 4x4 just about 25". I ended up with this 3x3 20" wide and I'm ecstatic.

So here's my story... I set up in a cluster of three of four pines in the middle of a long sweeping meadow with about a 20% decline slope on the second day of our hunt. As I looked down into the meadow the wind was whistling briskly in my face. It was 5:50 a.m. and still dark as I sat down. Around 6:30 I was glassing and surprised as I looked down to find a nice looking 3x3 already 1/3 of the way across the meadow in front of me. Like an idiot I had left my rangefinder in my bag and knew I'd be busted if I tried to grab it, also as the deer was walking and eating I figured he would be into the pines on the upper right side of the meadow and gone. As I began to stand up the deer stared in my direction; luckily because of the cold morning breeze I was completely covered in camo. The only thing showing were my eyes. (don't you love camo?!) I froze half way up as my legs began to cramp until the deer put his head down and continued feeding. I then slowly finished standing and again the deer stared in my direction. Again I froze and again after a few seconds the buck put his head down and meandered from left to right.

Because I had no rangefinder handy I decided the only way to range this deer was to use the trusty method of 'pin bracketing' (that our residence pro Mark Gardner taught me, thanks Mark I owe you one!!!) The animal's chest rested between my 20 and 40 yard pin putting him at 40 yards. So I pulled back aimed at the lower vitals due to the decline and let her fly. 'Thud' was the next sound I heard as the buck turned and ran left were he'd come from and disappeared into the aspen. My heart pounded as I tried to sit and wait, wondering all the while whether the shot had rang true.

After about 20 minutes of agony I waited until I heard several cow chirps coming in my direction from the same general area where the buck had gone. I watched as 23 cow/calf came into my meadow and stood at the same area where my deer had been shot, but at around 50 yards. It was all I could do to hold off as I have an elk tag as well. I'm hoping for antlers and not wanting to pack two animals out that day several miles, I held off. Awesome scene!!! Once the elk had wondered away I found my bloody arrow lying 58 yards from my spot in the pines.

Due to the fact that I am new to archery and was unsure of myself I gave it another 30 minutes making it one hour total. Finally the time arrived to look around. To my dismay I found no blood and really started doubting myself. So I decided to walk in the general direction of the where the buck had entered the aspen. To my great satisfaction I found the buck piled up in heap about 60 yards from where he was shot. The arrow flew true and hammered the animal in the sweet spot puncturing both lungs.

This was a hunt to remember and officially solidifies my archery obsession. What a rush and what satisfaction to kill an animal with a bow, I'm hooked!!! =D>

Here's my photo...