I first saw and shot this buck on October 8 of this year. He came into a feeder about 9:30 in the morning and I hit him above the spine on a 25 yard shot. I got a bloody arrow but no deer. On October 14, I saw this buck walking a fence line about 300 yards from where I shot him the week before, and I promptly placed a second stand in that fence row about 150 yards from another stand I had placed last year. Fast forward, I have hunted many hours since 10-14 and never saw this buck again until this morning about 7 AM. He came in behind me on a calm wind and sensed something wrong but couldn't place the source of his uneasiness. He circled around behind me and appearred on my right side and since I am a lefty that is the place to be. He was starting to get jumpy when I put a G5 Tekan from my old Darton right behind his ribs. I hit him further back than I wanted and I gave him an hour to expire before I went to look for him. No blood, no arrow, no deer until almost 8 hours of looking, I finally found him in a nasty thicket on the adjoining property. He had covered about four hundred yards of the nastiest briers, blackberry canes , and thickets before dying in a small pocket of trees. With the shot far back, the mast from his system clogged up the holes resulting in no blood trail. I was glad to finally find him. He is a great buck for a bow in SE Oklahoma. This is my second buck with a bow this season and I killed a buck with a ML that scored 132 so I am tagged out before gun season even starts for the first time in my life. Three bucks is all you get in OK. This buck rough scored 129 with a 23" inside spread. I was blessed this year.

You get three bucks???? wow you are blessed!! Nice buck it's got a pretty good spread. The part you really need to be congratulated on is the fact that you didn't give up your search-well done.

the chef

Congratulations!

Sometimes perseverence pays off!

I am still getting the blackbery splinters out of my hands and legs, but it is a good reminder of the hunt. In Oklahoma, you can kill 6 deer total through all the seasons, but only 3 can be antlered and only two antlered can be with archery eqipment. You can kill four total with a bow.

Id have to agree with calgarychef on this one 3 bucks in one season is awesome im from central pa where your only allowed one, nice trophy too

I'm curious as to what was the residual damage from your prior arrow hit? Since it has been a month since your 10/8 hit -- was it healed?--was the broadhead still in there?
Just curious -- you are very lucky to get another chance.
G

Saturday, October 8, 2006- The first shot I had at him was from a very high treestand. He was closer than I thought and the shot went high. I saw my purple and white fletching sticking out on the side I shot him. As he spun around and headed into the cedar trees, the G5 Tekan caught on a limb and pulled the arrow the rest of the way through. That day I had a dark muscle-blood covered arrow but no blood on the ground.
I relived that shot over and over to try and think the whole thing through. The only hope I had then was that the angle had been steep enough and that I had hit the top of the lung on the other side. I looked for this deer 3 times during the rain that week as to leave no scent in this hot area of buck activity.( I saw 4 different 125+ bucks under this stand) No such luck. I resigned myself to the thought and sick feeling that I had wounded this magnificent deer and would never see him again.
Fast forward to Sunday, October 15. I hunted the same stand again for the first time since the shot. I left it about 10:30 and on the walk back to the truck I saw what i believed to be the same buck traveling an overgrown tree filled fence row between a bedding area and a feeding area about 300 yards from where I shot him a week ago. I was elated that he was alive. I set one new stand and I already had one in that fence line. I hunted these two stands several times over the next weeks and never saw him. I killed a buck with a muzzleloader (scored 132) out of my original stand in that fence row on November 4. On Sunday morning, the 12th fate smiled on me as I sat in the new stand, a tripod sitting over a cedar tree. i just has a seat and no rail. You sit very exposed but it had worked against many does, small bucks and yearlings that had walked by it.

Now I say all that to say this.... The wound was completely healed with small scabs on both ends of the wound channel. Upon further examination of the area, the arrow had sliced a clean swath through the muscle of the back strap without hitting any major blood supply. In my opinion, the meat had lain back together and healed cleanly due to gravity and the razor sharp cut from the broadhead.

Here is the other deer from the week before...

My brother in Law lives over by Purcell. Says there is good deer over there. May have to go hunt with him next year. Nice deer.
Timan