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10/09/2000	Doe	Lancaster, SC	Bow	Afternoon	15 yards
The year 2000 promised to be a good year for deer hunting. Arnold, myself, and two other fellows had leased several hundred acres adjoining Arnold's property, and we formed the "Briarpatch Hunt Club." On this particular evening, I was hunting in the middle field on Arnold's land with my bow, while Arnold and Doug Beaver went hunting on the lease with their muzzle loaders. Arnold had seen several deer in the first field on the night before, so he was pretty sure that I would see something that night. Sure enough, shortly before dark, I heard the sound of deer entering the field behind me. I turned in my stand and looked back into the first field, of which I could only see a very small portion. Incredibly, a doe stopped directly in my sight window, and I was able to draw the bow back and prepare to release my arrow. Just before I shot, I realized what I had been doing wrong all these years when shooting my bow at deer. Although I am a decent shot with my bow on the target range, I have missed deer after deer after deer in the years that I have been bowhunting. Although I have been lining the proper sight pin up on the deer, I have not been lining the pin up through my peep sight. A very fatal mistake which causes my arrows to shoot at the correct height, but always wide. I took a deep breath and then moved the bowstring over until I was looking through the peep sight. Much better! I released the arrow and saw it hit the ground behind the deer. After a second's hesitation, the deer thundered off. I couldn't believe that I had missed again. The shot had looked perfect, until I saw the arrow hit the ground behind the doe. Shortly after the deer ran off, I had a couple of other opportunities for shots, but I held off, on the outside chance that I had made a pass through shot on the first deer. After about a half hour, Arnold and Douglas came riding up on their four wheelers. Doug had taken a nice 8 pointer on the lease. I told them that I had shot, and that we needed to look for my deer. I told them that if I had missed, I had missed clean, but that if I had hit the deer, it had been a good shot. Doug and I started looking for blood, while Arnold began to comb the woods around where I had seen the deer run off. My arrow had bounced into a thicket, so we were unable to find it to confirm a hit or miss. As we were about to give up, I went back to where I thought the deer had been standing. It was there that I found several spots of bright red blood on the ground. We knew then that I had made a good shot. I hollered as much to Arnold. Douglas had to go on home, so Arnold and I kept looking for the deer. I was trying to find a blood trail when Arnold called out that he had found the deer. She was lying in the woods some 50 yards from where I had made a perfect pass through heart shot. My confidence level in bowhunting was highly boosted, and I had a deer tag filled before the rifle season even opened up.

10/09/2000

Doe

Lancaster, SC

Bow

Afternoon

15 yards

The year 2000 promised to be a good year for deer hunting. Arnold, myself, and two other fellows had leased several hundred acres adjoining Arnold's property, and we formed the "Briarpatch Hunt Club." On this particular evening, I was hunting in the middle field on Arnold's land with my bow, while Arnold and Doug Beaver went hunting on the lease with their muzzle loaders. Arnold had seen several deer in the first field on the night before, so he was pretty sure that I would see something that night.

Sure enough, shortly before dark, I heard the sound of deer entering the field behind me. I turned in my stand and looked back into the first field, of which I could only see a very small portion. Incredibly, a doe stopped directly in my sight window, and I was able to draw the bow back and prepare to release my arrow.

Just before I shot, I realized what I had been doing wrong all these years when shooting my bow at deer. Although I am a decent shot with my bow on the target range, I have missed deer after deer after deer in the years that I have been bowhunting. Although I have been lining the proper sight pin up on the deer, I have not been lining the pin up through my peep sight. A very fatal mistake which causes my arrows to shoot at the correct height, but always wide.

I took a deep breath and then moved the bowstring over until I was looking through the peep sight. Much better! I released the arrow and saw it hit the ground behind the deer. After a second's hesitation, the deer thundered off. I couldn't believe that I had missed again. The shot had looked perfect, until I saw the arrow hit the ground behind the doe.

Shortly after the deer ran off, I had a couple of other opportunities for shots, but I held off, on the outside chance that I had made a pass through shot on the first deer. After about a half hour, Arnold and Douglas came riding up on their four wheelers. Doug had taken a nice 8 pointer on the lease. I told them that I had shot, and that we needed to look for my deer. I told them that if I had missed, I had missed clean, but that if I had hit the deer, it had been a good shot.

Doug and I started looking for blood, while Arnold began to comb the woods around where I had seen the deer run off. My arrow had bounced into a thicket, so we were unable to find it to confirm a hit or miss. As we were about to give up, I went back to where I thought the deer had been standing. It was there that I found several spots of bright red blood on the ground. We knew then that I had made a good shot. I hollered as much to Arnold.

Douglas had to go on home, so Arnold and I kept looking for the deer. I was trying to find a blood trail when Arnold called out that he had found the deer. She was lying in the woods some 50 yards from where I had made a perfect pass through heart shot. My confidence level in bowhunting was highly boosted, and I had a deer tag filled before the rifle season even opened up.