Hey all! Well this bittersweet roller coaster that is bow hunting is finally over. I shot an 8 point buck at 9:05 AM on Monday the 29th. I had been waiting for 6 years for a worthy buck to walk past me within range. Well, it happened extremely fast. I saw his horns flash through the woods about 75 yards away. All it took was a quick grunt and he was on me within a matter of seconds, grunting back. 25 yards, broadside, perfect shooting lane.
I barely remember aiming… my shot was a little far back and low… the arrow sticking out both sides of him. I didn’t compensate enough for the downward angle of the stand elevation. We let him sit for an hour and a half and went to check the blood trail. Time was not on our side, since it was our last day to hunt for the weekend.
After tracking him about 80 yards, we came up over the edge of a valley and there he stood. He was laying and we had gotten him up. He didn’t look good, at all. Staring at the ground and unable to run. He stood for a half hour, just letting us gaze at him through our binoculars. At this point the arrow and 2″ Rage had gone all the way through his body and was hanging by the fletching. Eventually he got restless and started walking away very slowly. It was decision time… do we back out and pray he lays down again or kind-of follow him so he doesn’t disappear? The blood trail wasn’t good, time wasn’t on our side, so I followed him. Hundreds of yards later, he crossed a road, and the blood was basically gone. I had lost him. Once the arrow fell all the way out, he started moving better. What a disappointment, and waste. My father in law alerted the neighbor whose land it was last seen on. I drove home with my head held low… just like his. 
The next afternoon the neighbors spotted him. He had come back to the creek bed near their driveway to die. Thankfully, within eyesight of the road, or they would not have found him anytime soon. The body was rotten and a total loss… but at least I have the horns to get a mount of some sort. Quite a story to tell for my first ever bow buck! Hopefully more, bigger bucks to come. Definitely a learning experience, to say the least. Turns out it wasn’t a total gut shot… I did clip one lung. It’s amazing how tough these animals are!! 
Another neat point… after checking trail cams… we got him on one that is a couple hundred yards away 15 minutes prior. So he was on the prowl, moving quickly through the property. 
