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Went out with the crossbow in the hellacious wind this morning. (56 mph gusts) I didn't think anything would be moving but it was a day off and It seemed like the thing to do. My ladder stand has a shooting rail around it, that makes for a perfect place to lay my head and take a nap before daylight. I woke up a couple of times before light, and checked around, and saw nothing, but then I guess the 18 hr day at work, the day before caught up to me and I was asleep until about 8:30. Looking up, I saw the 9 point that had been coming by the stand all season long with one exception, it was limping badly. Front and rear??? My binoculars couldn't focus at 10 yds, but I could see that there was a problem with the right front and left feet. The buck had 3/4" brow tines, strange for the bucks in that area as they have heavy browtines typically. I could see blood coming from the hooves of the rear leg, and decided to take him as a cull. He was browsing from some bushes, and when shot, he jumped and ran about three steps and stopped. ??? Kept chewing his cud, and I was shocked that I had missed him ??? ??? About 20 seconds after the shot, he staggered and fell to the ground.
Raised his head once and expired. Must be my year for mercy killing ??? This buck was taken on our DMAP, so with the short brow tines, I guess its good to get it out of the gene pool. If your wondering why the zip tye aroud the antlers, or the legs in the other pic of my deer, its the law that requires you to attach something to your deer with your name and license #. I use a ultra fine sharpe and the zip tie to do that. I write it on the front and back side so that it can't get drug off when pulling the deer..
